The Challenge
The environmental group wanted to streamline compliance and focus on proactive environmental solutions. The time spent tracking data and compiling reports was hindering their progress toward this. They wanted a software solution that would facilitate more efficient EHS data tracking and reporting. A particular concern for the company was the fact that the data required to demonstrate compliance at
the refineries was not owned by the environmental group, but rather was located in accounting databases, legacy mainframes, process historians, and other systems that support refinery operations. The solution the company required would need to pull data from these sources and associate the data with air, water, and waste data management tools.

The Solution
It was determined that the opsEnvironmental™ suite was the best choice for the company's environmental management needs. The software's multimedia compliance orientation would enable the company to streamline its entire environmental data management program. And a set of powerful tools, such as data-driven e-mail ticklers and web-based action management, convinced the company that this software would offer environmental staff increased control over environmental data without soaking up excessive staff time in the process.

After selecting the software, the company's refinery IT group worked with ESP implementation partner Data Systems & Solutions (DS&S) to create an integration layer between opsEnvironmental™ and the refinery process historian. This enabled automated retrieval of compliance data. Prior to the project, the company had standardized on the Oracle enterprise application integration (EAI) tool, Oracle Integration Server (OIS). In addition, each refinery had deployed Oil Systems' PI, a commercial process historian, for the collection of real time operating data. Data were being collected in PI from distributive control systems, manual data entry, and scheduled batch routines that pulled data from other key systems. Leveraging OIS and the data compiled in PI, an integration layer was built to automatically transfer compliance data into the company's new opsEnvironmental™ software.

The integration was designed with the end user, in this case the environmental engineer, in mind. A scheduler was configured to run the integration routine automatically if data review was not required. Most importantly, a simple front end allowed the user to choose the data to be integrated, review the data before it was passed to opsEnvironmental™, and initiate the integration if needed.

The implementation of opsEnvironmental™, and the integration between the software and the refinery process historian, has enabled the company to minimize the time spent manually collecting data. Now, the environmental staff can easily pull data from a variety of sources and systems. This streamlined environmental data management solution frees up valuable time for the company's environmental group, leaving them more time to focus on their core responsibilities.