ECMPS Support

This is the fourth of a series of posts that discuss communication between the Client Tool and the EPA Host System. The first post described the basics of communication between the Client Tool and EPA Host System. The second post covered initial synchronization which takes place the first time the Client Tool is opened after installation. The third post discussed the basics of synchronization.

This post will cover the synchronization of submitted data. The topics covered will include in what instances does synchronization of submitted data matter and what happens when submitted data is synchronized.

I would suggest reading the third post in this series before continuing with this one if you have not already read it or it has been a while since you read it. That post lays out some of the basic concepts of synchronization which are helpful to know for understanding the information in this post.

Submitted data are the data which are submitted to the EPA Host System from the Client Tool. The origin of the data is through data submissions from affected sources, and the data includes monitoring plan, QA test and certification, and emissions data.

Synchronization of submitted data really only matters when there are different installations of the Client Tool which access the same data. The reason for that is that synchronization of submitted data is based on comparing the data on the EPA Host System to the data which are in the Client Tool database. If only one installation of the Client Tool (e.g., one Client Tool database) ever accesses a certain facility's data, the data will always be in sync. The data can also always be in sync even if multiple users work with the same data. This will be the case for a network installation of the Client Tool in which multiple workstations access a single Client Tool database installed on the company network. The reason is that there is one Client Tool database which is kept in sync with the Client Tool no matter how many users access the data.

For the case of when synchronization matters, here is an example of what occurs to keep separate installations of the Client Tool in sync with submitted data. User A works with Facility X. User A corrects some part of the monitoring plan and submits the modified monitoring plan to the EPA Host System. User B also works with Facility X. After the EPA Host System has received the modified monitoring plan submitted by User A, User B logs on to the EPA Host System through the Client Tool. At this point User B has a monitoring plan for Facility X that is different than the monitoring plan for Facility X which is found on the EPA Host System. The Client Tool automatically recognizes that the monitoring plan data is out of sync. The monitoring plan data for Facility X is automatically retrieved from the EPA Host System and put in User B's Client Tool database. After the data is retrieved, User B's Client Tool is in sync with the EPA Host System.

Just like the synchronization of meta data, synchronization of submitted data automatically takes place when certain actions are taken by the user. These actions are logging in to the EPA Host System, retrieving data through the Retrieve Module, and submitting data through the Submit Module. Prior to an evaluation through the Evaluate Module, the user is given the option to synchronize the user's data, but the user is not required to synchronize. At any of these times, the Client Tool performs a synchronization with the EPA Host System to determine if any of the data which are associated with that user have changed on the EPA Host System. If there are differences in the submitted data between the EPA Host System and the Client Tool, the Client Tool retrieves the updated submitted data. The Client Tool will remain in sync until there are any further submitted data changes on the EPA Host System.

For more information on synchronization, view the PowerPoint presentation on synchronization by clicking here.

Labels: Communication