SDWIS PRIME UPDATE: May/June 2019

Things are ramping up as we approach the 2019 Data Management Users Conference and some important milestones for the SDWIS Prime project. If you’re looking to get caught up, we’d suggest visiting the ASDWA SDWIS User Community webpage to review past recordings of our monthly All Things SDWIS webinars: https://www.asdwa.org/data-management/sdwis-community-videos/. If you need access to this section of our site, please contact Anthony DeRosa of ASDWA [aderosa (at) asdwa.org].

Keeping Up with Prime

In addition to reviewing the recorded materials, please ensure that you and relevant staff are subscribed to receive email updates from ASDWA and EPA [contact Anthony for more information]. We would also encourage interested staff to track the project by subscribing to ASDWA’s Update newsletter – learn more at https://www.asdwa.org/subscriptions/.

Compliance Monitoring Strategic Plan – AWIA

American Water Infrastructure Act 2019, s. 2011, Improved Accuracy and Availability of Compliance Monitoring Data, requires EPA’s Infrastructure Branch to submit to Congress a strategic plan to demonstrate compliance with the national primary drinking water regulations. This plan will evaluate methods of sharing data between public water systems, states, and EPA – such as electronic reporting – along with any potential challenges in achieving improved accuracy of submitted compliance data and access to such data. EPA will leverage existing data to initiate this project but plans to reach out to stakeholders in the coming months for additional information about relevant experiences. We will discuss this effort in more detail at the DMUC.

IAWG Updates and National Interfacing Applications Inventory

The Interfacing Applications Workgroup (IAWG) is seeking a new state co-chair with the departure of Barrett Brown (ND) from the position. Interested candidates should contact Anthony DeRosa of ASDWA for consideration.

Among other ongoing tasks, the IAWG is working towards updating the National Interfacing Applications Inventory in the coming months. In 2012 and 2018, the IAWG collected information from primacy agencies to create a national inventory of interfacing applications. The new task for 2019 seeks to complete that inventory as a first step, to ensure that the entries are up-to-date and still in use. Additional actions include identifying what data each application consumes – specific data needs of each application would be used to inform SDWIS Prime development, including API prioritization. For each primacy agency, this task is a critical step towards preparation for transitioning to SDWIS Prime.

SDWIS Prime Documentation Workgroup

The UAT (user acceptance testing) Workgroup took up the task of updating documentation for SDWIS Prime. The workgroup met during the week of May 13th in Washington, D.C. and completed the following project tasks:

• Task One – migration of content out of Zendesk into a more easily accessible format.
  The team started the project by moving all content previously in Zendesk into Google Drive. The group converted Zendesk articles into Google Docs, all images were backed up, and several project-tracking spreadsheets were created to manage our work/progress. A style guide was created to maintain consistent formatting. The workgroup also created a list of acronyms and glossary terms. A list of critical issues was maintained, as the team found inconsistencies in the existing documentation that require clarification by EPA/Attain.
• Task Two – review existing content for edits, updates, or consolidation.
  The team reviewed all existing documentation for accuracy and made updates, corrections, and additions as necessary. Images/screenshots were updated. The group removed icon images that were embedded inline in favor of text-based references. Formatting was cleaned up. All documentation was tested and verified.
• Task Three – review documentation and information specific to testing SDWIS Prime.
  We reworked the “Getting Started” information to ensure that it is useful to anyone looking to test SDWIS Prime today.
• Task Four – future planning.
  The workgroup is currently working on documentation for the System Administration module. The team divided this module into seven sections that were each assigned to a member – drafts of these new areas are due by 6/24. Once complete, the team will schedule a call to review the drafts and set a plan to finalize them. The team plans to gather on the Monday before the DMUC and will present the project to the community as part of the Conference.

ASDWA/EPA Data Management Users Conference: 2019

As a reminder, the 2019 DMUC is in Atlanta, GA from July 23-25 at the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Downtown. A draft agenda, meeting and hotel registration, along with other logistics are accessible at https://www.asdwa.org/event/asdwa-epa-data-management-users-conference-dmuc-2019/

As in past years, ASDWA will broadcast all the plenary sessions for those who are unable to travel.

Lastly, a new feature for this year, we will have a Tech Support and Consult Room available throughout the Conference to provide on-site user support for all current SDWIS systems. The contractors (Systalex, The Group, and SAIC) will be available to provide technical assistance, document technical issues, and work to resolve these issues directly with the user.  This includes support for:

• SDWIS/State Software
• SDWIS/XML Sampling
• SDWIS/Lab to State
• SDWIS/Migrate to State
• SDWIS/Bridge
• Drinking Water Watch
• SDWIS FedRep
• Fed Production Control
• SDWIS ODS
• SDWIS Reporting Services
• Access to SDWIS Fed Production Control or SDWIS Fed Reporting Services

Please contact Renee Morris at morris.renee@epa.gov for any questions or to sign-up.

All Things SDWIS Webinars

Please note that the All Things SDWIS webinars for June and July have been cancelled. We’ll resume our normal broadcast schedule in August, after the DMUC.