Locus offers practical tools to monitor water usage, anticipate demand fluctuations, and ensure compliance with environmental regulations.

Nancy-Jeanne discusses important deadlines and procedures for quarterly fuel transactions related to the California Air Resources Board’s LCFS.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 16, 2024 — Locus Technologies, (Locus), the pioneer in water, Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) compliance and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) software solutions, announces expansion of its water management SaaS platform to include management of produced water within the oil and gas industry. This cutting-edge solution, seamlessly integrated with Locus’ suite of applications, underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to driving sustainable practices while optimizing operational efficiency.

Locus has engineered a comprehensive application designed specifically for the efficient and sustainable management of produced water. This latest addition to Locus’s suite of water solutions aims to address the complex demands of the oil and gas industry while ensuring compliance, conservation, and operational excellence.

The new application is seamlessly interoperable with other Locus solutions catering to the oil and gas sector, such as ESG, air emissions, waste management, and water quality management. Locus software empowers organizations to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and enhance overall efficiency across their operations by streamlining data integration and providing actionable insights.

Locus’ CEO, Neno Duplan, emphasized the company’s dedication to delivering comprehensive water management solutions while driving advancements in technology for the beneficial reuse of water beyond the realms of the oil and gas, and energy industries. “We remain focused on delivering comprehensive water management solutions to our customers while advancing technologies for the beneficial reuse of water inside and outside of the oil and gas industry, which holds the promise of further improving the sustainability of our customer’s operations,” stated Duplan.

With a proven track record in providing leading-edge EHS and ESG software solutions, Locus continues to spearhead advancements in compliance, sustainability, and corporate responsibility across diverse industries and geographies.

About Locus Technologies

Locus Technologies, the global environmental, social, governance (ESG), Sustainability, and EHS Compliance software leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to be credible with ESG reporting. From 1997 Locus Technologies pioneered enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) for EHS Compliance, water management, and ESG credible reporting. Locus apps and software solutions improve business performance by strengthening risk management and EHS for organizations across industries and government agencies. Organizations ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises, such as Chevron, Sempra, Corteva, DuPont, Chemours, San Jose Water Company, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Port of Seattle, Onto Innovations, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, have selected Locus.

Locus Technologies’ headquarters is in Mountain View, California.

For further information regarding Locus Technologies and its commitment to excellence in SaaS solutions, please visit www.locustec.com or email info@locustec.com.

GeoBI-Business-Intelligence-geospatial-environmental-data-maps

GeoBI

Business intelligence (BI) is a critical component of any organization. BI lets you analyze data on your processes and products, so you have the information needed to make decisions and take actions to improve your business’s performance. BI applications have been available for several years, with offerings from many companies including Microsoft, Oracle, SAS, Qlik, and Tableau.

Initially, BI was focused on just a few areas such as finance, logistics, and sales. As BI effectiveness evolves you need information covering all aspects of your business. One key information set is spatial information, which is usually managed in a geographic information system (GIS). GIS applications have been available since 1965 but only became widely commercially available in the 1980s when ESRI released its first GIS applications. Since then, GIS has spread from the desktop to mobile devices and the cloud.

Often, an organization’s spatial data is separate from other data, kept in its own department or application. For example, your organization might have a GIS department that manages geographic information for your facilities. However, spatial data might also be in other departments such as sales (locations of clients); physical plant (buildings, infrastructure, assets); logistics (sales or delivery routes), or even human resources (safety incident locations). It can be challenging to bring together these disparate spatial data sources and integrate them with non-spatial data stored in spreadsheets, databases, files, and other data warehouses.

Several recent business trends, however, have made it much easier to bring together both spatial and non-spatial information to support GeoBI or Geographic Business Intelligence. First, the rise and ubiquity of the internet ‘cloud’ has made it possible for an organization to put all their data into the cloud. Your business staff can now access all your data, regardless of the physical location of the data or your staff. Second, GIS has evolved from its earlier days when it was a way to automate traditional cartography. Now, GIS supports advanced spatial analysis and visualization techniques, including buffering, contouring, interpolation, network analysis, and 3D mapping. And third, new applications and methods have broken the barriers between spatial and non-spatial data. GeoBI software applications can manage both types of data, letting you combine all your data for analysis and visualization. Applications that don’t explicitly support both types can be connected through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) for seamless transfer of data.

GeoBI and Locus

Locus Technologies has been a leader in bringing GeoBI to environmental data management. Locus’ software supports non-spatial data analysis via reporting, charting, and expert query functionality. The Locus GIS+ add-on lets you add spatial data to your analysis with the GIS+ functions for spatial query, data classification, time series analysis, buffering, and contouring. Let’s look at some examples.

  • Water quality: Clean water regulations may require your facility to identify and report any instances of chemical concentrations in water sources that are above certain action limits. To do this, you can load analytical results from chemical sampling into the application. Once the data is loaded, you can add the sampling results to the GIS+ along with overlays of plant assets, watersheds, aquifers, and other relevant geographic information. You can quickly generate maps showing concentrations at sample locations. In this way, you can identify ‘hotspots’ where your facility may be in non-compliance with regulatory requirements.

    The example below shows the GIS+ displaying tritium results from water samples along with watershed boundaries. The map represents each location with a symbol that is colored and sized to reflect the actual maximum value at that location. You can easily see spatial patterns and identify two areas of concern near the center of the map – one with orange and yellow circles, and another with red circles. You could then use other functions, such as charting or contouring, to further explore the results at these locations.
     

  • Air quality: Your facility may fall under clean air regulations such as the US EPA’s 40 CFR Part 60 Subpart OOOO standards. In short, this subpart establishes emission standards and compliance schedules for the control of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions). As an environmental manager, you could simply use a BI program to write and run a text query such as show me all emission assets that have exceedances under 40 CFR Part 60 Subpart OOOO 
     
    However, Subpart OOOO often applies to the Oil and Gas industry where maps and GIS are heavily utilized. If you have data and maps, you can associate a data query to an area that is “lassoed” on the map. The example below shows several emission sites that have been grouped together by a user-drawn area. Locus shows a table of all data for the “lassoed” locations, including analytical results and regulatory exceedances. By simply putting a lasso around another set of emission locations, the query is automatically updated with the relevant results. No query needs to be written – you just need to lasso locations on a map! 
  • Safety: In a similar fashion, safety personnel can use a map to find different incident categories without having to train on reporting and query detailsWhen an incident occurs, efficiency of logging the essential information is paramount, and simple pulldown list coupled with graphics expedite the process when time is of the essence.   
     
    Below is a map where the manager and incident for rapid input was pinned to a location and for follow-up on a particular region the manager can apply a lasso query to list all Significant Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs), for root cause and other analysis.

GeoBI and You

The above examples show how GeoBI can bring all your data together for use in analysis and decision-making, leading to a more complete picture of your facilities and processes. Furthermore, by having one suite of applications for your GeoBI needs, your organization can be more efficient. If spatial and non-spatial data are in separate silos, accessible only by different staff, it is difficult for one person to perform a complete analysis. Files, maps, spreadsheets, and other data objects must be shuffled between different persons and applications. With your data in Locus software, a full GeoBI analysis can be performed by one person, leading to productivity gains and cost reductions.

In the future, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to GeoAI, which would combine GeoBI with powerful features such as predictive analytics, pattern mining, and anomaly detection. Stay tuned for a future blog post on these exciting possibilities!

Acknowledgments: All the data used in the examples was obtained from the publicly available chemical datasets online at Intellus New Mexico. 

Want to learn more about Locus Software Solutions? Reach out to our product specialists today!

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    paper-forms-excel-to-digital-locus-platform-environmental-data-laptop-simplify

    I am constantly reminded by the number of calls we receive, that no matter how robust a SCADA and HMI system is, there is always a requirement for in-field O&M verifications and documentation. It’s almost universal and spans a myriad of industries, large and small, the need to monitor and record thousands of periodic (daily/per shift/weekly, etc.) routine readings/recordings at a prescribed frequency often recorded on pen to paper field forms. The same processes sometimes use “template” spreadsheets for data collection that are then emailed/placed on shared file servers or otherwise sent to some central location for review and post-processing. These processes are antiquated and subject to data quality and record-keeping challenges.  

    It’s time for an upgrade! 

    Electronic forms are great for collecting data and almost every business entity has built such forms in spreadsheets, word processing, or simple databases to collect the information. In addition, there is a software category of form builders, and they can certainly build forms. The question becomes is it a good fit to solve your business process issues?

    Most customers have more sophisticated needs than simply collecting information on one or more custom forms – they want to do something with all the information collected far beyond what simple form builder tools can provide. Even customers with sophisticated spreadsheet forms, can’t manage them as they multiply exponentially or their Excel gurus retire. 

    Here are some examples of where you may require software tools beyond a simple form builder: 

    • Collecting equipment readings on each shift at multiple locations and reporting the data to centralized management, who review the data, and look for trends/issues. 
    • Verifying and validating data at the point of data entry to eliminate data entry errors. 
    • Automatically visualizing (charts or tables) information in near real-time to make operations decisions. 
    • Sharing the information with others. 
    • Scheduling activities related to periodic or infrequent data collection events. 
    • Receiving notifications when actions are due. 
    • Automatically creating regulatory reports in prescribed formats. 
    • Creating complex workflows and audited approval processes. 
    • Creating intelligent forms with calculations based on past data or other criteria.

    Locus Platform is a configurable platform with standard applications that are easy to configure to customers’ unique requirements. One of its many strengths is its powerful form builder capable of creating simple or complex forms with simple or sophisticated logic. So, for customers looking to move from paper and spreadsheet templates, it’s an excellent option to consider, especially if you require more than a simple “fill in the blank” form for transmittal using mobile devices. Best of all, the data are securely stored in a database structure for reporting and alternative business uses and analyses, compared to the almost impossible management of hundreds of spreadsheets or paper forms. 

    Here are some examples where sophisticated forms are integrated with a flexible database: 

    • Water Utilities – Tracking chlorination and aerobic digestion processes with daily inputs/outputs with a monthly summary and chart and tracking well production across well fields. 
    • Water Utilities – Tracking periodic sewer discharges and water samples for permit compliance. 
    • Agriculture – Monitoring food processing equipment for compliance with optimum equipment opeating parameters for air permits. 
    • Pharmaceutical/Chemical Manufacturing Facilities – Tracking EHS daily, weekly, monthly, etc. investigations and in-house audits. 
    • Universities – tracking chemical inventories. 
    • Facility Engineering – Documenting O&M activities for groundwater treatment systems.
    • Electric Utilities – Monitoring water/energy/gas usage from old-style meters for sustainability reporting with data entry validation. 
    • Refineries and Terminals – Collecting O&M, usage, and wastewater data.

    If you still rely on paper forms and template spreadsheets and are ready to streamline your process and enhance the value of your data, give us a call and we can show you a range of options that will retire the paper forms for good!  

    Want to learn more about Locus Software Solutions? Reach out to our product specialists today!

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      When looking for a GHG reporting program, there is one element that is typically overlooked. This short video gives us more insight.

      5-red-flags-outdated-software-laptop

      For 26 years, Locus Technologies has been helping organizations that serve millions of people a day. Throughout that time, our team of experts have noticed some common red flag with the alternative solutions that are available on the market. The alternatives can be more problematic that helpful, creating data congestion and slowing down your workflow. Your organization deserves a solution that alleviates the burdens of data entry, regulatory compliance, voluntary reporting, and more. Here are the top five signs that your organization is using outdated water software:

      1. Using paper form and/or transcribing data more than once

      To ensure the highest level of data quality, you should not be risking human error at multiple levels. Enter your data once, and have it audit-ready, set to go on regulatory and voluntary reports, which are created directly from Locus Software.

      2. Software support is not led by the specialist.

      Support doesn’t end after implementation. What we often hear from our customers when they switch from other providers is that they are delighted with the level of support that Locus brings with our software. Locus is proud to have the expertise and experience to back our software, and if there is anything you need, you can be sure that Locus support can get it done smoothly.

      3. The software has regular or unexpected downtimes.

      You need reliability. Your software should be available to you on-demand. Locus is proud to be the only environmental software developer to publicly share our uptime, which is over 99.9%. If you are experiencing downtimes at inconvenient times or for long periods, you should switch.

      4. It’s not mobile-enabled.

      Field collection is key for most organizations managing water quality data. You should be able to enter that data into your system once, and from anywhere, reducing errors and extra time doing the same work twice (or more!). Also, being able to access historical data at your fingertips can help you solve problems on the fly.

      5. It doesn’t provide actionable insights.

      Sure, you may have all your data collected, but what are you doing with it? If your software is not giving you meaningful findings from analyzing your data, then you are always going to be playing catch-up. Having the tools to help your organization look forward is essential in selecting water data management software.

      Want to learn more about our Water Data Management Solution? Reach out to our product specialists today!

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        Locus EHS/ESG Cloud will streamline Foster Farms EHS Compliance, ESG Reporting, and Water Quality Management.

        MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 2, 2023Locus Technologies, the leading EHS Compliance and ESG software provider, today announced that Foster Farms, a top US provider of fresh, frozen, and prepared poultry products and the leading brand of fresh chicken in the Western U.S., selected Locus’s award-winning enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) to organize and manage their EHS compliance and ESG reporting.

        Foster Farm subscribed to an integrated set of apps offered in the Locus Cloud Platform. Some apps include EHS Compliance Management, ESG and Sustainability, GHG Emission Factor and Calculation Management, Inspections, Configuration Workbench, Air Emissions Management, Storm Water, Wastewater, and well data management and reporting.

        Locus Cloud is the first fully integrated multitenant platform created from the ground up to allow organizations to manage their environmental, energy, water, waste, carbon, air, health and safety, remediation, water quality, and compliance information in one place. The Locus Platform allows companies to configure their own management, tracking, visualization, and reporting through a graphically driven user interface. This feature enables organizations to configure the software to their needs without worrying about the expensive programming outlays usually associated with customization and single-tenant deployments.

        When designing integrated EHS/ESG SaaS, Locus sought to make the complicated workflow and management of environmental data as simple as possible and to make it manageable from a single platform with shared components. The resulting platform offers immense flexibility and endless capabilities with minimal training thanks to the new, intuitive, user-friendly interface design.

        “The accurate tracking and reporting of critical environmental resource usage is a necessary part of our compliance responsibilities, and a major component of our efforts to ensure that we are a sustainable producer. The Locus application software will make a significant contribution to our resource management capabilities,” said Don Hill, Foster Farms Director of Environmental Affairs.

        “We are delighted that Foster Farms recognized the power of the Locus Cloud platform. Businesses do not want to shop for point solutions from different vendors only to be left with the nightmare of integration, security, synchronization, and vendor management. They want one-stop shops and to avoid having to deal with vendors that don’t integrate well with one another or have spotty service and limited support. Locus will provide Foster Farms single platform through which they can accomplish all their environmental and compliance management needs on a single, fully customer-configurable platform,” said Neno Duplan, President, and CEO of Locus. “Keeping the end user’s perspective in mind, we’ve packed the same 26-plus years of domain expertise that Locus has been offering all along into a highly configurable and scalable software platform built from the ground up on the latest web technologies,” remarked Duplan.

        ABOUT FOSTER FARMS

        Foster Farms is dedicated to providing families across America with great food. From ready to cook chicken and turkey, to chicken nuggets and corndogs, Foster Farms portfolio of fresh, frozen, and prepared foods, are always welcome whether it’s dinner time or snack time. Since its founding in 1939 Foster Farms has gone on to become one of the largest quality poultry producers in the United States. Headquartered in Livingston, Ca with facilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana, the company has nearly 12,000 Team Members, and is committed to building a “culture that nobody wants to walk aways from.”