About City of Kelowna
The City of Kelowna has been a WaterTrax subscriber for over 10 years. They utilize WaterTrax to manage both their water and wastewater data and decided to take it a step further by engaging WaterTrax to build them an electronic reporting tool to help them submit compliance data to the Environmental Management System (EMS) for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.
The Challenge
In order to track all of the data required for the EMS compliance, the City of Kelowna was maintaining two databases outside of WaterTrax in order to generate the required output for submission to the Ministry of Environment. This required taking data from WaterTrax and other sources on a monthly basis and entering it into the second database to generate the report. This process would generally take Nicole Moggey, Senior Laboratory Technician at the City of Kelowna, an average of 2 hours per week to use the reporting tool, generate the data, double check it and produce a report. The City was looking for a more streamlined and efficient method to produce its required reports.
We are saving a significant amount of time now that we have this tool. With WaterTrax, I go to the EMS reporting tool where the template has already been set up, and all I have to do is change the date range and run it.
The Solution: WaterTrax
Working with the City of Kelowna and the Ministry of Environment (MOE), WaterTrax developed an electronic reporting tool that leverages the internet to reduce the amount of time that utilities spend generating their EMS reports. Previously, these reports would have been produced manually by pulling data from spreadsheets or lab reports and submitting them by email or hard copy to an MOE regional office.
With a one-time set-up of the electronic EMS reporting tool in WaterTrax, users are able to configure, assign, and save EMS specific parameter attributes to automate the output of required information. Users can then save templates allowing them to quickly run and generate their EMS report as required. The templates are automatically up to date with all data that has been entered into WaterTrax and can be run in seconds with a click of the mouse. This output has been designed to be fully compliant with the EMS specifications, and can quickly be uploaded through the EMS electronic data transfer mechanism. “WaterTrax gives us the ability to check the system anywhere which is very convenient. Consulting engineers, people on holiday, anyone can access it from anywhere in the world.”
The Benefits
Now that the City of Kelowna has the WaterTrax EMS reporting tool up and running, Nicole can run her EMS report in a matter of minutes. “We are saving a significant amount of time now that we have this tool.” says Nicole, “With WaterTrax, I go to the EMS report in the reporting tool where the template has already been set up, and all I have to do is change the date range and run it. It only takes a minute to generate the data.”
Nicole finds the tool easy to use and loves that she doesn’t have to waste any time learning a complicated computer program, “I can get on with analyzing the data in WaterTrax.” Previously, Nicole had to maintain two databases and had to double check every line item. Now the data is verified when it is entered into WaterTrax and potential data entry errors are eliminated. She has all of her calculations set up with the Formula Builder tool and they run automatically. The alerting function finds the errors as they are entered as opposed to when the report is generated, preventing any water quality issues before it’s too late. In addition to saving time generating the report, the City has been able to eliminate a secondary database and an older reporting program, bringing significant savings to the department. The City has also benefitted from the access to information that WaterTrax provides. Nicole states, “WaterTrax gives us the ability to check the system anywhere which is very convenient. Consulting engineers, people on holiday, anyone can access it from anywhere in the world.”
Solution Highlights
- Save time with electronic reporting templates for generating and submitting EMS reports
- Eliminate data entry errors with automated processes including data verification
- Schedule alerts to find errors, preventing water quality issues before it’s too late
- A centralized, streamlined system in the cloud allows for coordinated efforts anywhere, anytime