Today’s compliance and environmental data management regulations are becoming increasingly strict, requiring more detailed information to satisfy directives. To meet requirements, data must be collected more frequently, meaning an increase in the volume of data that must be managed, processed and reported. As companies globalise and begin to satisfy laws in new locations, that volume compounds, often with varying requirements to meet in different regions or nations.
The majority of environmental data software systems weren’t designed to handle the increased amount and complexity of data needed to meet more demanding environmental regulations. For more than 24 years, Emisoft has been developing and implementing environmental data solutions for heavy-asset industries facing the world’s most stringent regulatory demands. These are the eight key needs to keep in mind when selecting a system for managing high-volume, high-frequency environmental data.
1. PROVEN CAPABILITY
The first thing to consider is if the system has proven itself able to handle large volumes of high-frequency data for other customers. Don’t be swayed by an elegant look or feel of a environmental data management software option—it’s important to be critical and focus on the underlying technology of the system. The core of the environmental management system (EMS) will determine whether the system can meet your needs.
2. HIGH PERFORMANCE
There are plenty of performance factors to consider when evaluating software for high-frequency data management. Although response time for end-users and initial loading time are important to consider, the most important performance indicators for a high-volume, high-frequency data solution are data import and data processing capability.
3. TRANSPARENT, TRACEABLE DATA HANDLING
In high-frequency, high-volume data settings, changes happen quickly, and the amount of data can be overwhelming. Many systems process data in a “black box”, into which data is fed and out of which come results. In order to maintain control, understand the processes and manage your data, it’s important for data processes to be fully transparent, with a complete and accurate change log always available for both internal and external auditing.
4. ROBUST CALCULATION ENGINE
Performing millions of calculations every month requires an environmental data management solution with a scalable, robust and proven calculation engine. In solutions designed to manage high-frequency, high-volume data, the calculation engine is the heart of the process and is the component that sets the best systems apart.
5. SOPHISTICATED FACTOR HANDLING
To manage high-volume, high-frequency data, factor management must be transparent, flexible and able to be set up according to defined requirements. Factors could be provided by an external source, such as a national regulation authority, or be dependent on lab measurements or equipment.
6. AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS AND QA PROCESSES
With data flowing into the system at high frequencies and quantities, the process of data quality assurance needs to be automated. The best environmental data management solutions can automatically check for errors according to defined thresholds and requirements to ensure sufficient data quality.
7. EASY, OFF-THE-SHELF INTEGRATION
If you need to collect data automatically from different sources, it is important to choose an environmental management system with a strong off-the-shelf integration engine. This helps you avoid any difficult or demanding maintenance needs of custom integrations, which could be problematic in high-frequency data scenarios.
8. FLEXIBLE REPORTING AND DATA EXTRACTION
Once data has been collected and processed, a good environmental data management software should make your raw data available for multiple purposes, such as internal reporting, external reporting, scheduled reports and ad-hoc reporting and analysis. It’s difficult to know which types of analysis and reports will be required in the future. Therefore, it’s important that your software solution includes a flexible and comprehensive report generator, rather than a large list of coded reports.
Globalisation is leading to more complex business structures, with more detailed and varied ranges of requirements for both internal and external authorities. As that complexity increases so does the need for a robust yet flexible environmental data software solution.
If you’re working to keep up with increasingly stringent regulations or facing the challenges of processing high-frequency environmental data, get in touch with a member of our specialist team.
This blog was written for Emisoft, an environmental reporting SaaS company. View the original here.
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