Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!arc.ab.ca!richmond From: richmond@arc.ab.ca Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: RE: Info Engineers (Attn: 437 lines) Message-ID: <1268*richmond@arc.ab.ca> Date: 21 Feb 91 03:28:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 413 This is an extension of my previous post (message id: <9102031827.AA72323@inel.gov> on the subject of logical workstations for characterization of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. For the sake of the discussion example, I am calling the organization building the system the Nacirema Chemical Works (NCW), a manufacturing concern which has multiple hazardous waste sites on the EPA National Priorities List. To the best of my knowledge, no such firm exists. If it does, the choice of the name is purely coincidental because Nacirema is "American" spelled backwards. This is a well known convention for expressing a description of a large, amorphous business organization with operations are many sites. %*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*% NACERIMA WASTE HANDING AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION INFORMATION SYSTEM 1. Mission Statement This DOCUMENT describes how the design of a logical workstation to support hazardous waste cleanup would require a "mission statement" to address the data, organizational, and related technological issues related to building the system. The system is the Waste Handling and Environmental Restoration Information System (WHERIS). 1.1 Background Federal Regulatory Requirements The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Nacirema Chemical Works (NCW), which has multiple hazardous waste sites on the EPA National Priorities List (NPL), have entered into a mutual Consent Order and Compliance Agreement (COCA) to achieve and maintain compliance with applicable hazardous waste laws and regulations. Plans to clean up hazardous waste at NCW sites specify the work that will be done to (1) complete remedial investigation/feasibility studies (RI/FS); (2) cooperate with EPA to prepare defensible records of decisions (ROD); (3) clean up and close sites; and (4) conduct long-term monitoring to validate the effectiveness of remedial actions. Mission Critical System WHERIS is the primary repository of chemical and other waste attribute information for Superfund sites at NCW. It is the primary mechanism by which NCW stores and retrieves these data, which are required to complete documents specified and defined in the agreements with Federal and state regulatory agencies. The primary document created by NCW, and supported by WHERIS, is the RI/FS. Input from the system also goes into the ROD. Because these documents are essential to the completion of cleanup activities, WHERIS is a "mission critical" system for NCW. 1.2. Objectives Reporting Objectives Reporting requirements to EPA and the states in which the sites are located include the development of automated information systems (AIS) to provide for consistency of storage of information as well as rapid access to it. The objectives of WHERIS are to provide support to NCW in meeting the reporting requirements of regulatory agencies; assist managers and engineers engaged in site characterization, cleanup, and monitoring activities; and store and provide retrieval of data required for RI/FS and ROD documents, site cleanup action, and closure decisions. WHERIS is distinct from a manual or automated records management system, including one using optical disk, in that tabular data stored in WHERIS are available for manipulation and transformation either directly or with arithmetic, logical, spatial, graphical, or by other kinds of operators. By comparison, tabular data stored in an optical image system are not directly available in that format for calculation and analysis leading to values to be incorporated in an RI/FS or ROD. The hardcopy records stored in optical images are permanent backup to the dynamic environment of WHERIS. WHERIS is a means of integrating and coordinating various data management, analysis, and reporting functions for environmental restoration activities. Users of WHERIS require its capabilities to answer the following five key questions about NCW data: 1. What data are available to me? 2. Are these data relevant to my job? 3. Where are the data located? 4. How can I access the data? 5. What can I do with the data? Quality Assurance Objectives WHERIS is the tool used by NCW to control nonconforming data items with respect to their use in RI/FS and ROD documents. The mission of WHERIS in controlling nonconforming data can be described by five questions regarding the "meta-data," or information about the data in WHERIS. To answer these questions, the following meta-data about WHERIS attribute or results information must be available: 1. Who collected what data when? 2. What were the characteristics of data collection methods and devices? 3. What are the transformation functions applied to interpreted data to support RI/FS and ROD documents? 4. How are the citations and documentation about the data accessible? 5. What were the structure and format of the data before being integrated into RI/FS and ROD documents? Data Management Objectives Data management objectives for WHERIS are bound up in quality assurance objectives for NCW. Four data management objectives are The data are valuable resources: Data are collected, stored, and used to support critical environmental restoration decisions. Thus, data are extremely important resources. This defines the "mission critical" nature of the data and the host computer system. Storage and retrieval of NCW data for decision making cannot be delegated to a third party or a subcontractor with limited scope of work and duration of funding. Additionally, where contractors are used to acquire primary data, delivery orders must specify storage of validated results data in an NCW system and not in a contractor's system. The data are distinct from technology: Data requirements are embedded in the WHERIS mission. Program needs for data, including the satisfaction of regulatory requirements, to support decisions on waste site cleanup and closure are distinct from the technology to electronically store, retrieve, and manipulate this information. Accuracy is essential: Effective management of data to support waste site decision making requires that accurate information about that data (meta data) be kept, and in such a manner that it can be retrieved as easily as the primary data itself. Redundancy should be avoided: A common approach across waste sites or their future organizational equivalents, to defining, modeling, designing the acquisition of, and documenting the sampling and analysis results, or other waste attribute information, will make it easier to share data among systems and offices. Objectives for Data Types The principal objectives of WHERIS are to provide consistency in storage of and rapid access to information concerning cleanup of waste at NCW. Types of information include chemical sampling results and geological, meteorological, and radiological analyses and results. WHERIS contains five kinds of data to support reporting requirements: Raw sensor information: Data values derived from measurement devices, although these are not usually incorporated in RI/FS and RODs. Calibrated data: Raw physical values corrected by calibration operators, which then enter the quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) process. Validated data: Calibrated data filtered through quality assurance procedures, which can be used directly in RI/FS and RODs. Derived data: Aggregated validated data sets, e.g., averages, sums, and the products of statistical or other analytic tools or models. Interpreted data: Derived, validated data combined with validated data sets from other sources and merged in applications such as geographic information systems, scientific visualization, and reports. Objectives for the User Interface The general objectives for the WHERIS user interface are to provide NCW users ease of access to retrieve data and the use of analytic tools for preparation of reports. Additional objectives are that user interfaces for WHERIS applications: 1. Are domain specific, e.g., chemical, geological, atmospheric. 2. Support novice and expert modes. 3. Provide the capabilities to browse different data sets. 4. Have hooks to special application programs, e.g., graphics and geographic information system (GIS). 5. Provides user access to different levels of storage in a transparent manner. 6. Maintain audit trails of data sets used and transformation applied. 1.3 Summary of Needs The primary focus is that data management tools and techniques are part of a decision support system (DSS) directed at the RI/FS and ROD processes. Thus, needs within NCW are addressed by the following functions supported by WHERIS. Determine the extent, transport mechanisms, and fates of contaminants. This includes site characterization, contaminant source determination, trend analyses, and treatability studies. Produce site maps with sampling locations to be included in administrative records of sites with signed RODs. Identify the most common contaminants at National Priority List (NPL) sites and plot their locations. Assist in evaluation of the effectiveness of proposed remedies for site cleanup. This includes support for the RI/FS process, verification/ validation of models, support for field analytic techniques, and laboratory performance evaluations. Assist in the assignment of priorities for site cleanup so that the worst sites are cleaned up first. This includes assisting in development of standards and criteria for decision making, supporting documentation requirements for Administrative Records (AR), ROD, and inquiry response, e.g., responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, site management support, and emergency preparedness planning. Validate groundwater models. Support risk assessment. Predict concentrations and residence times. 1.4 Anticipated Benefits Cost: The cost of developing WHERIS will be kept down by using off-the-shelf, commercial software and existing telecommunications facilities. This will eliminate redundancy in computer hardware and software. Access: Users will have the ability to read data from the terminals they already have installed in their offices. They will have the ability to either use structured menus or develop custom "ad hoc" queries and reports. The system will provide new or additional sources of data across the organization which previously had been available only to a few. Simplicity: Users will not be required to use different databases and systems to integrate data from multiple environmental media, e.g., surface, subsurface, air, groundwater, facilities. Site managers developing proposed remedies for cleanup of waste will benefit from accessing electronically stored data about the efforts of others facing the same kinds of problems. However, security will exist at two levels: (1) access to the host computer, and (2) access to the database functions. Data Integrity: A uniform, common data storage repository will promote data integrity and validity. A single data element dictionary will control the definition of terms and their uses in the system. Managers will have more confidence in their decisions because they will have better access to information. Data ownership will be retained by the principal investigator for each waste site. Speed: Time savings will occur as a result of greatly increased accessibility to the central repository for Superfund data at NCW. The time to produce reports will be shortened, and the system will enhance reporting capabilities. Communication: Better public understanding of AR decisions is possible if site maps are included with sampling points and data. Organization and communication of analytic results to site managers and engineers will be enhanced by use of the public data networks. Audits: A common database will provide the ability to look retrospectively at individual or groups of sites and determine not only the effectiveness of cleanup methods and technologies but also the permanence of the remedy. If data are scattered across individual personal computers or the personal paper files of site engineers, it will be impossible to establish consistency regarding data management in developing RI/FS and RODs. Feasibility: WHERIS will provide a higher level of confidence in decisions. Site managers and engineers faced with multiple impacts on various environmental media will be able to integrate and evaluate different data sources and rapidly test "what if" type analyses to define feasible cleanup remedies. 1.5 Constraints Organizational In order for WHERIS to fulfill its mission, other parts of NCW must perform certain tasks. 1. The most important task is that the outcome of implementing sampling and analysis plans must be the production of validated data sets with geographic locators (latitude/longitude). 2. Developers of sampling and analysis plans must factor the transmission of data to WHERIS into their project plans. 3. Standardization must be required and implemented for validation flags, geographic locators, and data entry formats for electronic capture of raw values and subsequent management through a quality assurance process. 4. All data values must be accompanied by spatial location coordinates and meta data about the collection of the information. 5. Data management must be recognized as a scientific and project specific discipline not only within the team of employees assigned to WHERIS but also for staff developing and implementing sampling and analysis plans and those preparing RI/FS and ROD documentation. Technical Although of less significance than organizational factors, technical considerations also include 1. Data set transmission on public data networks 2. Conversion of historical data sets to WHERIS formats 3. Compatibility among multiple data sets from multiple sources 4. Interoperability of various commercial software packages 5. Quality assurance of third party, commercial software 6. Capacity for long-term, permanent storage consistent with long-term site monitoring while preserving ease of automated access 7. Timely release of data from the quality assurance process. 1.6 Products The following list of products that will be produced by WHERIS is representative rather than exhaustive: Data Entry: NCW will enter all data into WHERIS for its own sites and for its subcontractors. Queries: WHERIS users will have the capability to make customized queries and to select and sort portions of the total database for viewing. Users will also receive standard reports. Listings: Results of queries to the database will be printed on paper or displayed on the screen. Reports: Results of data manipulation or analytical processing will be printed on paper or displayed to the screen. The emphasis will be on user-driver retrievals of NCW data sets. GIS Interface: These capabilities will allow the visual overlay of environmental monitoring data with site data, facilities, and other surface and subsurface features. Maps: In conjunction with the GIS interface, users will be able to produce color maps of the location in space and time of the transport and fate of waste. These types of outputs are especially useful not only for site characterization but also for communication with the public and government units with regulatory authority. Charts: Plots and graphs will be used to visualize trends of contaminant concentrations over time. Import/Export: To facilitate the use of other software packages, e.g., dBase and Lotus, users will export or import data in appropriate formats. This will include development of interfaces to IBM/PCs, Apple Macintosh personal computers, and engineering workstations. * Chance favors only the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur * ------------------------------------------------------- * Dan Yurman Idaho National Engineering Laboratory * PO Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3900 * djy@inel.gov 43N; 112W -7 GMT * ------------------------------------------------------- * Standard INEL disclaimer included by reference Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com