Tag Archive for: Data Quality
The Power of Locus Software
In today’s world, businesses across various industries face the challenge of managing and reporting environmental data efficiently.
Compliance Minute – Assuring Delivered Application Quality
Locus has recently improved our help desk support system, with improved visibility and resources for all of our customers.
How to Keep the Public Informed on Environmental Projects
It is always concerning when environmental issues are significant enough to start grabbing headlines. Typically for an environmental project to become newsworthy, there have been significant impacts to human health or the environment. It is extremely rare to see any environmental success story in the news, simply because there is no reason for the public to become alarmed about it. So unfortunately, there is usually some level of urgency involved when most companies are putting serious thought into their public communication efforts.
Two primary topics are always at the forefront of criticism when there is any sort of news on environmental projects: 1) the magnitude of the impact and 2) the public communication efforts made for the project. For almost every project, there have been significant efforts put into addressing the first topic. The responsible party has usually invested a lot of time and money into removing contaminants or finding ways to eliminate their impact on the environment. Unfortunately, despite those efforts, if an environmental project is in the news, there is still some outstanding issue (or multiple issues) to be addressed.
On the topic of public communication, however, many responsible parties are doing the minimum required by their regulator, and therefore leave themselves vulnerable to criticism for not doing enough to keep the public informed. One very common form of public communication is fact sheets: one or two-page “plain language” summaries of the environmental project that are intended to be easily understood by the general public. Fact sheets are effective in that they can be bulk mailed to an entire neighborhood and provide all the necessary information. But the downside is that fact sheets often take several months to prepare. Since they are issued by the regulator, they typically require review from multiple divisions within the regulatory body including lawyers and public coordination specialists with very little familiarity with the project. For that reason, fact sheets are usually outdated before they are even published. Most printed formats are subject to the same issue to some extent.
To avoid this scenario, some responsible parties are taking a proactive approach by creating a public-facing website that is continuously updated with the latest project data and status. Current web technologies make this relatively cost-effective to set up and maintain. Certain elements on the website can even be connected to live data so that information is available as soon as it is collected. While there may be some reluctance to this kind of ‘over-sharing,’ it is invaluable in responding to complaints about lack of public communication. Information can be made available to anyone immediately, and email lists can be established for anyone interested in getting notifications on important updates. Additionally, a data review process can be established between the data collection and the public distribution. While this does add a short time gap before making the data publicly available, it ensures the data are representative and valid so that they do not create unnecessary concerns. And the data review process is often much faster than the review of written text.
Communication efforts are becoming increasingly important for environmental projects, whether it is for remediation of legacy sites, keeping pollutants out of the air, or providing safe drinking water. Using modern communication methods can vastly improve the level of public confidence that environmental concerns are being addressed and can also mitigate the risk of negative publicity associated with lagging public communication efforts. If environmental data are continuously made available, there is less for the public to become alarmed about. Consider integration of a public communication program with the ongoing data collection and/or cleanup efforts, rather than addressing the public as an afterthought.
Want to learn more about Locus Software Solutions? Reach out to our product specialists today!
EHS Compliance Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just get compliance software with much less time and effort? That is where Locus’ pre-configured apps come in. They are market tested and fully featured yet still allow for flexibility/configurability in key areas such as: Adding new data fields to capture industry specific information. Adding or removing document […]
Tag Archive for: Data Quality
Locus Technologies Leads Industry in Safeguarding Customer Data with Renewal of SOC 1 and 2 Examinations
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Dec. 20, 2023 — Locus Technologies, (Locus), a trailblazer in cloud computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), sustainability, water, and compliance management, proudly announces the successful completion of the System and Organization Controls (SOC) 1SM and 2SM examinations. These examinations reaffirm Locus’s unwavering dedication to maintaining exceptional standards in financial reporting management and overall system integrity, setting it apart from its competitors.
Conducted by A-Lign, a respected CPA firm, the comprehensive examination has once again validated Locus Technologies’ unparalleled commitment to stringent industry standards. The resulting CPA report attests to the company’s relentless focus on robust controls and procedures, ensuring the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of its Software as a Service (SaaS) system, placing it at the forefront of data protection in the industry.
Neno Duplan, Founder and CEO at Locus Technologies, expressed pride in the company’s continued strides in data security, stating, ‘Our successful compliance renewal further solidifies our position as an industry leader, showcasing our commitment to safeguarding our clients’ invaluable data. In our 27-year history as SaaS company we had no breaches of customer data’.
Locus’ consistent possession of these certifications since 2012 signifies the company’s steadfast dedication to excellence and its role as a standard-bearer for EHS Compliance and ESG software in providing a secure, dependable, and market-tested SaaS platform.
The recent examination by A-Lign not only reaffirms Locus Technologies’ position along with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) partner as an industry leader in cloud-based enterprise software but also underscores the company’s proactive approach to ensuring the highest levels of service quality and data protection for its global clientele, positioning it far ahead of its competitors.
Customers can remain assured of Locus’ unwavering commitment to delivering superior SaaS solutions and maintaining the security and reliability of customer data. For a company to receive SOC certification, it must have sufficient policies and strategies that satisfactorily protect customer’s data. SOC 1and SOC 2 certifications all require a service organization to display controls regulating their interaction with customers and customer data.
Locus leads the industry in providing cloud computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, ESG, sustainability, water, and compliance management. The company’s dedication to technological advancement and unparalleled data security ensures it delivers cutting-edge solutions that surpass industry standards and positions it as an industry leader in setting new benchmarks for safeguarding customer data.
About Locus Technologies
Locus gives businesses the power to be green on demand and has pioneered web-based environmental software suites. Locus software enables companies to organize and validate all critical environmental information in a single system, which includes analytical data for water, air, soil, greenhouse gases, sustainability, compliance, and environmental content. Locus software is delivered through Cloud computing (SaaS), so there is no hardware to procure, no hefty up-front license fee, and no complex set-ups. Locus also offers services to help implement and maintain environmental programs using our unique technologies.
For further information regarding Locus Technologies and its commitment to excellence in SaaS solutions, please visit www.locustec.com or email info@locustec.com.
Streamlined sampling process supports N3B’s environmental cleanup at LANL
Joint Press Release with N3B Los Alamos
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and LOS ALAMOS, N.M., 21 April 2022 —
A significant software improvement is driving enhanced decision-making on N3B Los Alamos’ environmental cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
Samples collected of soil, sediment, water and other parts of the environment potentially contaminated by historical LANL operations now receive faster and more comprehensive validation due to software tool improvements made by N3B and leading environmental software provider Locus Technologies.
The improved software functionality is part of a database containing all data associated with environmental cleanup at LANL. N3B implements the legacy portion of that cleanup on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office. Legacy cleanup involves the remediation of contamination from Manhattan Project and Cold War era weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear research.
The software improvement ensures more thorough validation of results from third-party analytical laboratories that analyze collected samples for various contaminants, which may include metals, radionuclides, high explosives, and human-made chemicals used in industrial solvents, known as volatile organic compounds.
The types of contaminants potentially found in these samples, along with levels of contamination, guide N3B’s cleanup.
“Decisions on legacy environmental cleanup are based on the validity and quality of this analytical data, including the nature and extent of contamination, how much we clean up, and how well the interim remediation measure is working to mitigate migration of the hexavalent chromium groundwater plume,” said Sean Sandborgh, sample and data management director at N3B. “If you have lapses in the quality of analytical data, that could have negative effects on our program’s decision-making capacity.”
Once N3B personnel collect samples from potentially contaminated sites, they send them to a third-party laboratory for analysis. When N3B receives the results of those samples, they perform a validation process to demonstrate data is sufficient in quality and supports defensible decision-making.
“Validation consists of determining the data quality and the extent to which external analytical laboratories accurately and completely reported all sample and quality control results,” Sandborgh said.
The process can catch data quality issues that may result from incorrect calibration of equipment in a laboratory or issues inherent in the samples, such as improper preservation or temperature control, that mask detection of contaminants.
With the improved functionality, more of the validation process is automated, instead of manually conducted, which means a lower likelihood of errors.
Another crucial improvement is the ability to evaluate sample results containing radioactive material at lower activity concentrations, which provides quick information on the potential for low levels of radionuclide activity.
The improved functionality is also being used by LANL’s management and operating contractor, Triad, and will soon be used by the New Mexico Environment Department Oversight Bureau.
The software improvement saved N3B 265 hours of labor and more than $25,000 in taxpayer dollars since its launch nearly one year ago.
“As we’ve done for the past 25 years, Locus is committed to continually improving our solutions for the often costly and complex data review process,” said Locus Technologies President Wes Hawthorne. “We are proud to enable a data-forward approach with a focus on accuracy that results in confident and correct decisions.”
“The quality and defensibility of environmental data generated from sampling activities is a key component of an effective remediation process,” said Sandborgh. “When the automated data review is used in conjunction with manual examination of sample data packages, we meet and exceed our data quality requirements.”
ABOUT N3B Los Alamos
N3B manages the 10-year, $1.4 billion Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract for the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management’s Los Alamos Field Office. N3B is responsible for cleaning up contamination that resulted from LANL operations before 1999. N3B personnel also package and ship radioactive and hazardous waste off-site for permanent disposal.
HydroGeoLogic, Inc. Selects Locus Technologies for Their Environmental Software
Locus will provide environmental field and analytical data management software for HydroGeoLogic, Inc.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, 29 October, 2020 — Locus Technologies (Locus), pioneers in environmental software, today announced that HydroGeoLogic, Inc. (HGL), industry leading environmental engineering service provider headquartered in Reston, VA, has chosen Locus’ environmental information management software, Locus EIM, for their field data collection, monitoring, and reporting.
HGL has selected Locus’ cloud-based software after extensive proof of concept and usability testing. They will seek to utilize Locus EIM for environmental monitoring, while also taking advantage of Locus Mobile for field data collection and LocusDocs for document management.
“Our aim has always been to use cutting-edge technology to provide comprehensive environmental engineering services. With Locus, we have just that. Locus provides a secure and innovative solution that allows us to meet our environmental goals.” said Peter Huyakorn, Ph.D, Founder of HGL.
“We are elated that HGL has chosen Locus for their environmental needs. HGL has an amazing track record as one of the premier environmental firms worldwide, and we will work our hardest to provide them with the tools to maintain their superb reputation,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus.