CPA Firm Issues SOC 2SM Report on Controls over Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy at Locus Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 24 September 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management,

A SOC 2SM report is designed to meet the needs of existing or potential customers  who need assurance about  the effectiveness of controls at Locus that are relevant to  the security, availability, or processing integrity of the system used by Locus to process customers’  information, or the confidentiality or privacy of that information. The SOC 2SM report places Locus in a rare category among environmental data management providers to have attained this rigorous classification. In today’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and risk-management environment, it is essential that service providers like Locus demonstrate that they have adequate controls and safeguards in place so customers can be confident that their data are safe.

“We are pleased that our SOC 2SM report has shown that we have the appropriate controls in place to mitigate risks related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy of customers’ environmental, energy, sustainability, and compliance data stored in Locus Cloud,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “The culture here at Locus is to put our customers first at all times, and it is essential that they feel secure in trusting us with their data.”

The following principles and related criteria have been developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) for use by practitioners in the performance of trust services engagements:

  • Security. The system is protected against unauthorized access (both physical and logical).
  • Availability. The system is available for operation and use as committed or agreed.
  • Processing integrity. System processing is complete, accurate, timely and authorized.
  • Confidentiality. Information designated as confidential is protected as committed or agreed.
  • Privacy. Personal information is collected, used, retained, disclosed and destroyed in conformity with the commitments in the entity’s privacy notice and with criteria set forth in generally accepted privacy principles issued by the AICPA and CICA. 

A SOC 2SM report is an internal control report on the services provided by Locus to its customers and provides valuable information that existing and potential customers of the service organization need to assess and address the risks associated with an outsourced service.

Locus Scores in Green Quadrant of Environmental Management Software Report

Locus’ Cloud-based Software Recognized for Deployment Capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 17 September 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management, has been recognized as one of 12 leading environmental management software suppliers globally in the report “Green Quadrant® Environmental Management Software, 2012.” This report by Verdantix, an independent analyst firm who provide data, analysis and advice in the areas of energy, environment and sustainability,  reveals that Locus offers a compelling feature/function set, and its large-scale deployments across industries respond to customers’ preferences for solutions that can match the expanding scale of their EH&S programs.

The Verdantix report recognizes Locus for having strong environmental management software capabilities, and awards it high scores for providing domain-specific and predefined environmental monitoring functionality. It recognizes Locus for providing easily configurable gateways for integration, strong target setting, benchmarking, and analytics tools; among a group of suppliers, the report recommends Locus’ suite of products and services for both firms that require a high level of integration, and firms that have mature strategies.

Thanks to Locus’ presence in the environmental management market for more than 10 years, boasting a solid customer base, and because Locus’ services are offered through the Cloud, its business model allows for flexible pricing models, quicker product updates to follow regulations, and faster deployment. In addition, the report notes that Locus has invested resources to develop specialized capabilities in waste and subsurface water-quality data management within its EIM software.

‘’In the past, implementing EH&S software has been driven by compliance and risk-reduction concerns. Our analysis uncovered a new desire among customers in sectors like chemicals and manufacturing to use software to improve environmental performance. This expands the business case beyond a narrow compliance mind-set,” said Emilie Beauchamp, Verdantix Industry Analyst. “Software suppliers now offer new capabilities to respond to firms’ ever-growing requirements to manage, report and optimize their environmental performance across greenhouse gases, hazardous waste, water, toxic releases, toxic chemicals, and refrigerants.’’

Locus ePortal addresses this need for broad-ranging environmental data management functionality. It provides full integration of energy and environment-related sustainability applications into environmental enterprise-resource planning (EERP). This platform for end-to-end energy and environmental sustainability management has been the core of Locus’ offering via the Cloud since 1999.

“We are very pleased that Verdantix has recognized Locus as one of the top suppliers of environmental management software,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “The report recognized what long has been Locus’ strategy— shifting the agenda from that of a support and compliance process function up to a strategic and cost-reduction function for private and public-sector organizations. With our suite of diverse but well integrated products to organize water, energy, waste, and carbon emissions information across different regulatory frameworks, Locus will continue to lead the environmental software market,” noted Dr. Duplan.

“Forward-looking firms are already starting to deploy environmental management software on a global scale, but most multinationals have immature EH&S technology strategies. They manage their environmental data, systems, and processes through a patchwork of legacy apps, spreadsheets, and internally developed tools,’’ remarked David Metcalfe, CEO of Verdantix. “This Verdantix Green Quadrant product benchmark provides an independently researched, data-driven platform to help EH&S directors and CIOs accelerate and de-risk environmental management software selection.”

 

ABOUT VERDANTIX

Verdantix is an independent analyst firm. We provide authoritative data, analysis and advice to help our clients resolve their energy, environment and sustainability challenges. Through our global primary research and deep domain expertise we provide our clients with strategic advice, revenue generating services, best practice frameworks, industry connections and competitive advantage.

For further information, please visit www.verdantix.com.

2012 EPRI Groundwater Protection Workshop Wrap-Up

The most significant discussions focused on the recent Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) guidance to combine Underground Piping and Tank Integrity efforts with the Groundwater Protection program as a whole.

EPA Introduces New Air Quality Standards

Organizations around the world face increasing regulations focusing on environment, health and safety (EHS) issues. Managing these rules and regulations are a very resource-intensive activity with greater risk of brand damage, penalties, and fines for non-compliance.

Organizations have to spend significant resources in tracking these regulations carefully, and organizations have to be even more vigilant with changing international regulations, which can affect business agility and continuity.

This month Environmental Protection Agency announced new air quality standards intended to reduce the amount of soot that can be released into the air.

Environmental groups and public health advocates welcomed the move by the EPA, saying it would protect millions of Americans at risk for soot-related asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart disease and premature death.

EPA said that the new rule is based on a rigorous scientific review. All but six counties in the United States would meet the proposed standard by 2020 with no additional actions needed beyond compliance with existing and pending rules set by the EPA.

The rules include controversial regulations governing mercury emissions and cross-state air pollution emitted by power plants. The new rule would set the maximum allowable standard for soot in a range of 12 to 13 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The current annual standard is 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The EPA said it would start designating counties that fail to meet the new soot standards as soon as 2014.

Soot, made up of microscopic particles released from smokestacks, diesel trucks and buses, wood-burning stoves and other sources, contributes to haze and can burrow into lungs. Breathing in soot can cause lung and heart problems.

Locus Awarded contract to manage Jack Engle & Co. environmental data

SAN FRANCISCO, 4 June 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management, has been selected to manage the compliance and environmental activities of Jack Engle & Co., with its award-winning Environmental Information Management (EIM) and ePortal software.

Jack Engle & Co., one of the largest scrap metal recycling companies on the West Coast, brokers and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals, stainless steel, and high-temperature alloys. Jack Engle & Co. will implement EIM and ePortal to help manage its environmental data, compliance activities, and calendars in one centralized repository online. The data will aggregate from multiple Jack Engle sites and locations in the Western U.S.; the company plans to use ePortal to lower costs associated with its environment, health, and safety functions; manage permits and assets; and track regulatory data related to its sites and assets.

“We are really excited to streamline our compliance activities across the organization with Locus’ ePortal,” said Al Gaspar, Human Resources Manager of Jack Engle & Co. “Being able to access all of our data anytime, online, will help with our broader strategy to automate more of our operations.”

“Locus ePortal and EIM is a great tool for organizations of all sizes, and we believe that Jack Engle & Co. will reap the benefits of significant cost savings and increased efficiency in its environmental tracking, reporting, and monitoring.” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

 

ABOUT JACK ENGLE & CO.
JACK ENGLE & Co., a family-owned and -operated in Los Angeles since 1965, brokers and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals, stainless steel, and high-temperature alloys. The company has facilities in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Mexico. For more information, visit www.jackengleco.com.

The University of Texas at El Paso Selects Locus Technologies Cloud Software for Compliance Management

UTEP Main Campus to Integrate Environmental Management via Locus Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO and El Paso, Texas, 21 May 2012 — The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Department has selected Locus Technologies’ (Locus’) award-winning ePortal™ platform to provide a comprehensive, integrated system for monitoring and managing its compliance needs at its main campus in El Paso.

The UTEP EH&S department is responsible for a variety of regulatory compliance issues at the main campus, which is undergoing a major expansion. More than $290 million in new construction and renovation projects have been under way on the UTEP campus. University facilities services are working systematically to design new buildings to meet LEED specifications, re-design landscaping to conserve water, and retrofit existing facilities to reduce energy and water consumption. EH&S compliance activities are an integral part of all of these undertakings.

Prior to selecting ePortal, each person responsible for individual compliance activities was required to log tasks in Outlook calendars. Now, they will be able to centralize all activities into one, web-based Locus database. ePortal will provide the UTEP EH&S team with visibility and transparency from a full campus perspective of all activities, asset management, and campus construction to help ensure that the university is complying with all regulations. The university’s EH&S management will be able to take a more holistic view of its operations, enabling it to reduce departmental expenditures.

“Organizations of all types are looking beyond Outlook and spreadsheets to address their environmental and other compliance issues,” said Neno Duplan, president and CEO of Locus Technologies. “We are very pleased to become a partner of choice to the UTEP growth strategy by providing comprehensive software platform to better manage their compliance needs.”

“Management of our complex set of activities requires robust software architectures via the Cloud. We found in Locus’ platform a solution to meet our growth to Tier One head-on,” said Robert Moss, Assistant Vice President for Environmental Health and Safety. “By working with Locus, we will improve our ability to manage EH&S activities, which will in turn, improve our effectiveness. Locus’ ePortal helps us fulfill our commitment to sustainable growth as we prepare the campus for the evolving educational needs of our 21st century students.”

Locus Awarded GSA Contract Under IT Schedule 70

Locus acquires GSA contract to offer Cloud-based environmental and energy software to federal customers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 7 May 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management, has been awarded the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) General Purpose Commercial Information Technology Equipment, Software, and Services Schedule 70 Contract Number GS-35F-0370Y. Locus acquired the GSA contract to offer its award-winning EIM and ePortal software through a simplified acquisition channel to federal, state, and local government agencies across the country.

The GSA is responsible for improving the government’s workplace by managing assets, delivering maximum value in acquisitions, preserving historic property, and implementing technology solutions. The U.S. government has an urgent need for a centralized system to manage environmental data at its own sites (at agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, OSHA, or NRC), or to manage large environmental, sustainability, and compliance data streams submitted by private industry to regulating agencies such as the EPA, NRC, or DOT. Most environmental data are not submitted electronically under the legacy system, mostly due to technical limitations of the current platforms. Locus’ Environmental Information Management (EIM) will serve to help disparate government agencies to receive more data electronically and to manage and organize those huge environmental datasets that are currently scattered among many different systems.

Legacy systems have prevented government agencies from realizing cost savings through more efficient technologies; however, many governmental agencies, such as the EPA, DOE, and DOD, should see immediate benefits from implementing the Cloud-based software.

Locus environmental information management platforms have been deployed for more than 15 years by some of the world’s largest companies. Several DOE sites already use Locus software to manage their environmental data and have tested the scalability of the software within agency systems. Governmental agencies now can use the same system that has offered significant cost savings to organizations in the private sector by automating processes of data acquisition, management, and reporting. With the Locus system, governmental agencies will be able to focus time on actually reviewing incoming information for exceedances rather than on the laborious process of data input and analysis of spreadsheets and custom-built applications.

“Locus has been providing high-quality software solutions to the private sector for more than a decade, and has a demonstrated history of efficient and accurate software, excellent customer service, and a fair and transparent pricing structure. The time has come for governmental agencies to embrace Cloud computing and benefit from a centralized enterprise system,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “Locus ePortal and EIM, offered in a multi-tenant government instance, will allow U.S. federal, state, and local agencies to rapidly deploy the latest environmental and energy management software.”

Locus will be presenting at the 2012 EPRI Groundwater Protection Workshop on June 27-29, 2012 in Orlando, FL

EPRI is happy to announce the third annual coordination of the EPRI Groundwater Protection Workshop with the NEI Radioactive Effluent Technical Specifications/Radiological Environmental Monitoring Programs(RETS/REMP) Workshop.

Locus Verifiers Accredited Under New California GHG Reporting Rule

Locus among the first to be accredited by California Air Resources Board

SAN FRANCISCO 19 April 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has been accredited by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to provide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions verification services. Locus is one of a select few companies to obtain this accreditation.

Locus has provided verification services since 2010 for dozens of reporting entities. Recent amendments to the CARB regulation have prompted the regulators to retest and recertify all verifiers to ensure thorough understanding of the new regulations. Locus verifiers passed the first round of re-certification, in which less than half of previously certified verifiers were re-certified. Locus verifiers were also re-approved to complete verifications under all three specialty sectors, including transactions, oil and gas, and process emissions. Locus is approved to begin the verification process immediately for the 2011 reporting year. Verification of that data is due 1 September 2012.

The GHG verification services cover facilities in California that are regulated by the California Air Resources Board. Locus is accredited as a verification body through CARB and has lead verifiers certified in all reporting sectors. While verification is a requirement this year through AB 32, companies are also using third-party verification to promote their brands and the accuracy of their emissions information.

“We are very pleased to receive this confirmation that our verification staff are among the top experts in the field of greenhouse gases. Locus continues to expand its carbon practice at a rapid pace. Coupled with our carbon software services and domain expertise in all three key AB 32 reporting sectors in California, Locus is becoming a partner of choice for all companies wishing to be credible in their carbon reporting practices,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.