As most stakeholders know by now, the next few months will be a time of busy preparation for mandatory reporting under ECMPS. At the Stakeholder Meeting, we shared some charts that showed the challenges that lie ahead.
First, during this year in which submission under ECMPS was optional, we have seen the voluntary participation grow steadily each reporting period. However, as the chart below shows, the number of sources which have yet to make the transition is substantial.
Given this large number who will be coming in during the first two reporting periods of 2009, we would suggest that sources take advantage of the testing environment which is available. With so many sources switching to ECMPS in 2009, there will be a great deal of requests for technical support. Anything sources can do to prepare themselves and prevent "long lines" in the technical support queue, can only help.
Our experience at technical support has been that sources who tested before making the transition to officially submitting under ECMPS, had a much better time in making the transition. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)
The next chart shows testing registration and participation in testing. The blue columns show the cumulative number who registered to test during each quarter, and the red columns show the number of testers who logged in to the Test EPA Host System at least three times during the quarter. The three logins were considered a minimum participation in testing the Client Tool. Again, the numbers are encouraging, but it would be more encouraging if the actual participation level was higher. For example, the projected participation for this quarter is only 66% of registered testers.
Based on this chart, we at technical support have the same recommendation--test the Client Tool. It is not enough to register to test, you need to actively test the Client Tool.
The final chart, shows the types of production technical support requests that we have received since the production Client Tool was released in April.
The smallest category is Policy Issues which requires Technical Support to defer to EPA in order to receive an answer. An example of this might be a question about an unusual configuration.
The next category in increasing size is Application Bugs which are questions which are related to actual bugs in the software. For example, if a user identifies that an evaluation check does not work correctly and we confirm this to be the case, the ticket is put in this category.
After Application Bugs, the next largest category is Technical Requests which are non-development issues such as questions about installation or connecting to the EPA Host System through a proxy server.
The second largest category is General Inquiries which are typically requests for information that run the range of basic questions about ECMPS to questions about how to perform a specific function in the Client Tool.
Finally, the largest category is Data Issues which consists of questions about how to report data under the XML format and the new ECMPS reporting instructions.
Given the large number of Data Issue questions, we can only recommend once again that testing be performed. This can only decrease the number of data questions which stakeholders will have when they transition to the mandatory reporting under ECMPS in 2009. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)
First, during this year in which submission under ECMPS was optional, we have seen the voluntary participation grow steadily each reporting period. However, as the chart below shows, the number of sources which have yet to make the transition is substantial.
Given this large number who will be coming in during the first two reporting periods of 2009, we would suggest that sources take advantage of the testing environment which is available. With so many sources switching to ECMPS in 2009, there will be a great deal of requests for technical support. Anything sources can do to prepare themselves and prevent "long lines" in the technical support queue, can only help.
Our experience at technical support has been that sources who tested before making the transition to officially submitting under ECMPS, had a much better time in making the transition. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)
The next chart shows testing registration and participation in testing. The blue columns show the cumulative number who registered to test during each quarter, and the red columns show the number of testers who logged in to the Test EPA Host System at least three times during the quarter. The three logins were considered a minimum participation in testing the Client Tool. Again, the numbers are encouraging, but it would be more encouraging if the actual participation level was higher. For example, the projected participation for this quarter is only 66% of registered testers.
Based on this chart, we at technical support have the same recommendation--test the Client Tool. It is not enough to register to test, you need to actively test the Client Tool.
The final chart, shows the types of production technical support requests that we have received since the production Client Tool was released in April.
The smallest category is Policy Issues which requires Technical Support to defer to EPA in order to receive an answer. An example of this might be a question about an unusual configuration.
The next category in increasing size is Application Bugs which are questions which are related to actual bugs in the software. For example, if a user identifies that an evaluation check does not work correctly and we confirm this to be the case, the ticket is put in this category.
After Application Bugs, the next largest category is Technical Requests which are non-development issues such as questions about installation or connecting to the EPA Host System through a proxy server.
The second largest category is General Inquiries which are typically requests for information that run the range of basic questions about ECMPS to questions about how to perform a specific function in the Client Tool.
Finally, the largest category is Data Issues which consists of questions about how to report data under the XML format and the new ECMPS reporting instructions.
Given the large number of Data Issue questions, we can only recommend once again that testing be performed. This can only decrease the number of data questions which stakeholders will have when they transition to the mandatory reporting under ECMPS in 2009. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)
Labels: Industry Testing
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home