ECMPS Support

January 1st marks the beginning of the 2009 quarter 4 reporting period. Sources required to report emissions data under the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) have until January 30th to submit their emissions data to the EPA using the ECMPS Client Tool.

During this reporting period, the EPA expects to receive over 3,900 emissions data submissions. Given these large number of files that need to be submitted over the next 30 days, we, at technical support, encourage all sources to start working as soon as possible on the evaluation and submission of their data.

Start Early

We want to encourage sources to start early primarily because, with the large volume of submissions expected, if you have questions, you will get a faster response to your technical support request, the earlier in the month that you submit your request. If you wait until later in the month to begin working with your data and you run into problems that require technical support, your request will be added to a much longer queue than if you had submitted the request earlier in the submission period.

Technical Support Information

Information on getting technical support through the resources on the Web site or by submitting a technical support request has all been consolidated in the Web site's Help section. We would like to highlight that, as necessary, FAQs and Known Issues will continue to be updated throughout the submission period. Hours for technical support are listed on the Contact Us page. Note, that technical support will be unavailable on the business day of Monday, January 1st because it is New Year's Day.

Resubmission Requests

Requests to resubmit QA or emissions data should be made using the Resubmission Request Form. Beginning with the 2009 quarter 3 reporting period, the form was been put online in order to streamline the process of receiving the information for the request and providing the necessary submission access.

Keep Up-To-Date

To keep up-to-date with ECMPS News items, we would suggest subscribing to ECMPS News.

You can receive the ECMPS News posts via email by subscribing to ECMPS News or adding the ECMPS News feed to your RSS Reader. To subscribe via email, simply enter your email address in the box provided on the upper right part of the ECMPS News page and click the Subscribe button. To receive the RSS feed, click on the RSS feed, which also located at the bottom of every page on the Web site.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on New Year's Day, Friday, January 1st. Technical support will be available again on Monday, January 4th. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office until January 4, 2010, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010
• Independence Day (Observed) - Monday, July 5, 2010
• Labor Day - Monday, September 6, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Christmas Day, Friday, December 25th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, December 28th. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office until January 4, 2010, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• New Year's Day - Friday, January 1, 2010
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010
• Independence Day (Observed) - Monday, July 5, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The holiday season is here, and that means that technical support staff will be taking days off to be home for the holidays.

Technical support will continue to be provided over the next several weeks, but as some of our staff take well deserved time off, it might take a little longer than usual to respond to and resolve your technical support requests.

Also, note that there will be no technical support available on December 25, 2009 and January 1, 2010. However, beginning January 4, 2010, the technical support team will all be back in the office.

From everyone at ECMPS technical support, we hope your family and you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

Labels: Technical Support

In observance of Thanksgiving Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Thursday, November 26th and Friday, November 27th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, November 30th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Christmas - Friday, December 25, 2009
• New Year's Day - Friday, January 1, 2010
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

Although the third quarter reporting period ended just over two weeks ago, the next reporting period will be here before you know it. As the next reporting period in January will be the final reporting period for 2009, it is anticipated that there will be a number of resubmissions.

In order to streamline the process for requesting resubmission of QA test data and emissions data, an online resubmission request form was added to the ECMPS Technical Support Web site prior to the last submission period. Please use this to request any resubmissions. The form is sent to the ECMPS technical support staff and carbon copied to the regional EPA Analyst(s).

Before the next submission period enhancements to the form will be made to further enhance the process. Look for those enhancements to be rolled out around the middle of December.

Labels: Technical Support

We are about to hit the technical support rush hour which occurs at the end of each reporting period.

As technical support requests increase in these last two weeks of the month, please be patient. At technical support, we are working to answer your questions as fast as we can, but the later you wait to submit your question, the more likely it will not be answered in time. And, if you really wait until the last couple of days to submit a request, it is very likely that you will not get a quick turnaround because there will be a large number of requests ahead of yours in the technical support queue.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

Recently, the number of subscriptions to ECMPS News increased to over 500 subscribers.

ECMPS News is the primary means for providing up-to-date information about ECMPS technical support. The ECMPS News posts include information about new releases, schedules for upcoming releases, planned outages, and new technical support information available on the rest of the Web site. Subscribers receive this information via email or RSS feed. Rather than having to check the Web site to determine what is new, you can simply have the new information delivered to your email inbox or RSS feed reader.

If you are not subscribed, we would suggest adding your email address to the list of subscribers in order to receive ECMPS News via email. New emails are only sent when new ECMPS News posts are made, and there is only at most one email per day. Finally, the emails are sent in the early morning so that the ECMPS News emails are one of the first new emails in your inbox when you open up your email in the morning.

To subscribe, click here, or enter your email address in the box in the upper right corner of the ECMPS New page and click the Subscribe button.

Labels: Technical Support

In observance of Columbus Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, October 12th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, October 13th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 26-27, 2009
• Christmas - Friday, December 25, 2009
• New Year's Day - Friday, January 1, 2010
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

October 1st marks the beginning of the 2009 quarter 3 reporting period. Sources required to report emissions data under the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) have until October 30th to submit their emissions data to the EPA using the ECMPS Client Tool.

During this reporting period, the EPA expects to receive over 4,150 emissions data submissions. Given these large number of files that need to be submitted over the next 30 days, we, at technical support, encourage all sources to start working as soon as possible on the evaluation and submission of their data.

Start Early

We want to encourage sources to start early primarily because, with the large volume of submissions expected, if you have questions, you will get a faster response to your technical support request, the earlier in the month that you submit your request. If you wait until later in the month to begin working with your data and you run into problems that require technical support, your request will be added to a much longer queue than if you had submitted the request earlier in the submission period.

Technical Support Information

Information on getting technical support through the resources on the Web site or by submitting a technical support request has all been consolidated in the Web site's Help section. We would like to highlight that, as necessary, FAQs and Known Issues will continue to be updated throughout the submission period. Hours for technical support are listed on the Contact Us page. Note, that technical support will be unavailable on the business day of Monday, October 12th because it is Columbus Day.

Resubmission Requests

Requests to resubmit QA or emissions data should be made using the new Resubmission Request Form. The form has been put online in order to streamline the process of receiving the information for the request and providing the necessary submission access.

Keep Up-To-Date

If you have not been able to keep up-to-date with recent ECMPS News items, we would suggest reviewing recent news items on the ECMPS News page. Some of the recent posts include:

• A Known Issue with Updating the Shared Database to the 2009 Q3 Version
  


• Service Pack 1 for the 2009 Q3 Version


• The New ECMPS Support Web Site

Also, if you have not already subscribed, we want to remind you that you can receive the ECMPS News posts via email by subscribing to ECMPS News or adding the ECMPS News feed to your RSS Reader. To subscribe via email, simply enter your email address in the box provided on the upper right part of the ECMPS News page and click the Subscribe button. To receive the RSS feed, click on the RSS feed, which also located at the bottom of every page on the Web site.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

ECMPS Technical Support is excited to announce that the enhancements to the ECMPS Support Web site have been rolled out.

The most obvious difference from the old Web site is the look-and-feel. The changes were made to make navigation of the site much easier and to organize the information around several categories, namely ECMPS News, Software Downloads, Learn about ECMPS, and Help. To view the overall organization, you should click on the Site Map link which is available on every page in the upper right-hand side.

All of the information which was previously available is still on the new Web site. In addition, a number of new features were added, including changes to the Help section to help you more easily find answers to your technical support questions.

For a more detailed description of the changes to the Web site, you should read the FAQ entitled, "Why does the site look different?" We invite you to take a look at the site to become more familiar with its layout, and we also invite you to give us your feedback.

Labels: Technical Support

The problem which prevented users from logging into the EPA Host System has
been corrected.

Labels: Technical Support

There is a known outage at this time. EPA computing personnel are
working to correct the problem. We will post a notification when the problem
has been resolved.

Labels: Technical Support

Recently, a number of people have found that it can take a long time to open the emails which are sent from the Support Blog.

The problem, as it turns out, is related to Google's Blogger software which I am currently using to write this Blog post. It adds a malformed image hyperlink in the email which causes a delay in opening the email, as the email client (Outlook, Lotus Notes, Thunderbird, etc.) tries to locate the image based on the malformed hyperlink.

A number of users (outside of ECMPS Stakeholders) have been affected and have raised the issue with Google. Google has not added this as a known issue or provided a status update as to when this would be fixed. In the meantime, the work-around is simply to wait until the email opens, or if the email hangs the program, please visit the Blog for updates. If anyone experiences any other problems, please contact technical support.

If you would like to add your feedback to Google to help to expedite the fix, send an email to aff-blog-feedback@google.com.

Labels: Technical Support

In observance of Memorial Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, May 25th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, May 26th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Independence Day - Friday, July 3, 2009
• Labor Day - Monday, September 7, 2009
• Columbus Day - Monday, October 12, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

There is a known outage at this time. EPA Computing Personnel are working to correct the problem. There is no ETA when the problem will be resolved. However, it is anticipated that the problem can be quickly corrected.

Labels: Technical Support

Limited Technical Support Until the Next Release

In order to focus on the release of the next version of the ECMPS Client Tool which is scheduled for March 17th, technical support will be limited from now until the release of the next version. If possible, hold your questions until after the release.

Any questions submitted will be maintained in the technical support queue, but it is unlikely that a question submitted during this time period will be addressed until after the release.

As a reminder, the EPA Host System (the production system) will not be available beginning on Monday, March 9th. That means that production users will not be able to log in to the EPA Host System, sync data from the EPA Host System, retrieve data from the EPA Host System, or submit data to the EPA Host System.

Also, for those who are using the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP), technical support for CTP will end on Friday, March 13th. At that time, access to the Test EPA Host System will also be ended. All CTP users should then plan on switching to using the production version of the Client Tool.

Labels: Release Schedule Information, Technical Support, Transition to ECMPS

There are a number of odds and ends that need to be mentioned.

1. As has been previously reported, the access to the production EPA Host System will be unavailable from March 9th until March 17th when the next version of the Client Tool software is scheduled to be released. (By the way, as of now, everything seems to be on schedule to release the software on March 17th.)
   
   Sources who have been working with technical support in order to submit 2008Q4 data have been informed about the fact that, in some cases, they will need to wait until the release of the next version of the software to complete their submission.


2. Second, ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) is ending on March 13th. Everyone who has been working with the CTP and has not installed the production version, should plan on switching to the production version once it becomes available. Note, you cannot upgrade from the CTP to the production version. You must install the production version. If you want you can uninstall the CTP, but it is not necessary.
   
   Under ECMPS, it is no longer necessary to have a test environment such as was found in ETS-FTP. In ECMPS, all of your data are evaluated before you submit your data to the EPA. In other words, because the evaluation of the data takes place in the Client Tool, there is no need to submit your data to a test environment. All data which are submitted to the EPA from the Client Tool have already been fully evaluated. (There is an option to submit data with critical errors, but this should only be used in order to submit data to meet the submission deadline, and the data submitted with critical errors must be resubmitted without critical errors as soon as possible.)


3. The support Web site is undergoing some work to improve the delivery of information. In conjunction with the switch to mandatory reporting under ECMPS, the ECMPS Support Web site will be updated to reflect that change. References to testing and the CTP will be removed, and the Web site will have a cleaner, easier-to-use interface to allow stakeholders faster access to support information. The improvements to the Web site can already be seen in the enhanced search functionality. Perhaps, you have used the Web site search previously and did not find it very useful. The search is much more powerful and comprehensive in its indexing of all of the information which is found on the Web site. Look for the complete Web site change to take place around the time of the release of the new version.


4. The next version of the Client Tool which will be released on or about March 17th will be available for 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. The version which will be available for download from the ECMPS Support Web site and the EPA Web site will be 32-bit versions. Users who need 64-bit versions should contact Technical Support.
   
   We are not putting both versions on the Web sites in order to limit confusion in this first mandatory reporting time frame. Most users are still working with 32-bit versions of the Microsoft operating systems. As time goes on, newer machines will have the 64-bit version, and that version will be made available from the ECMPS Support and EPA Web sites.


5. Finally, a reminder about keeping up-to-date with ECMPS. Currently, there are several ways including simply viewing the Web site. The site includes FAQs, information about Known Issues and EPA Host System access status in addition to all of the documentation and other information available to assist you in reporting data and using the Client Tool. For the latest updates that affect your reporting of data, you can sign up to receive emails the day after a post is added to the Support Blog. Finally, for even quicker information, we have recently added Twitter. This is a microblog which will send you information shortly after it is posted. And, you can have Twitter send that information to your cell phone if that is the best way for you to get that information. All of these ways of communication will only become more important in the next several weeks as we move into the 2009Q1 reporting month.

Labels: Release Schedule Information, Scheduled Outage, Technical Support

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 16th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, February 17th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Memorial Day - Monday, May 25, 2009
• Independence Day - Friday, July 3, 2009
• Labor Day - Monday, September 7, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on New Year's Day, Thursday, January 1st. Technical support will be available again on Friday, January 2nd. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office for the holidays, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone. Our technical support staff will be up to full strength beginning on Monday, January 5th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 25, 2009
• Independence Day - Friday, July 3, 2009
• Labor Day - Monday, September 7, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25th. Technical support will be available again on Friday, December 26th. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office over the next two weeks for the holidays, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 25, 2009
• Independence Day - Friday, July 3, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

In observance of Thanksgiving Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Thursday, November 27th and Friday, November 28th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, December 1st.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 25, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

There will be limited technical support for CTP users November 24-26. This will allow our technical support staff to focus on providing support for production users who need to complete 2008Q3 submissions.

In addition, there will be NO technical support for CTP and production users on Thanksgiving which is Thursday, November 27th and the following day, Friday, November 28th. Our office is closed on Thanksgiving and our technical support staff is also taking the day off on Friday.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

The testing period for the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) has been extended until January 15, 2009. (It was scheduled to end November 21, 2008.) This extension allows stakeholders more time to work with the Client Tool in order to prepare for 2009 when Part 75 reporting must be done using the ECMPS Client Tool.

It is not likely that the test period will be extended beyond January 15, as we will need to use that time to prepare for 2009Q1 production.

Note that, the deadline for registering to test is Friday, January 2, 2009. More information about the CTP and how to register can be found here.

As was previously announced, CTP technical support is limited during the last two weeks of October (Monday October 20 through Friday October 31). This allows our technical support staff to focus on providing support for production users during the crunch time of the submission period. In addition, CTP support will also be limited around the Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.

During these limited support time periods, you may continue to send emails to ecmps-testing@pqa.com during these weeks, but your issue may not be resolved immediately.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

In observance of Columbus Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, October 13th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, October 14th.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

Thanks for all of the well wishes on our move. The move went smoothly, and we are now enjoying our new space. All technical support systems are up and running and ready to assist with providing technical support. Also, our technical support staff is moved in and ready to answer your questions. Let us know if you experience any problems with either sending a technical support email or placing a technical support call.

Labels: Technical Support

As mentioned in previous posts and via email, Perrin Quarles Associates (PQA) is moving its offices from September 19-22. During that time, we will not be able to provide technical support for either the production or CTP versions of the ECMPS Client Tool. We would suggest waiting until after the move before sending any technical support emails.

Labels: Technical Support

Just a reminder that in order to prepare for the release of version 3 of the production and CTP versions of the Client Tool, technical support is limited this week. Users who ask for technical support should expect a delay in the response to their requests for assistance.

Labels: Technical Support

Perrin Quarles Associates (PQA) will be moving its offices from Friday, September 19 through Monday, September 22. During that time, we will be unable to provide technical support for production and CTP users because both email and telephone services will be unavailable. We would suggest that users wait until after the move to contact technical support with their questions.

Note, that after the move, the contact information will remain the same. Emails for CTP technical support should still be sent to ecmps-testing@pqa.com and emails for production technical support should still be sent to ecmps-support@pqa.com.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

In observance of Labor Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, September 1st. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, September 2nd. However, note that as has been previously announced, there will be limited technical support from September 2nd through the 5th in order to allow us to prepare for the release of version 3 of the ECMPS Client Tool.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 2008
• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

In observance of Independence Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Friday, July 4th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, July 7th.

Please send any technical support questions you have on Friday to the appropriate technical support email address--ecmps-testing@pqa.com for the CTP and ecmps-support@pqa.com for production users. We will begin to address your questions beginning on Monday morning.

Note, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Labor Day - Monday, September 1, 2008
• Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 2008
• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support