Systems integration and data management

CETREL has been providing environmental solutions for the industrial sector for over 30 years. Its portfolio includes projects focused on innovation and sustainability, solid waste management, wastewater treatment and water quality monitoring.

CETREL is in charge of operating the environmental protection systems of the largest integrated industrial complex in Latin America and of all of its area of influence. This site is located in Camaçari, in the state of Bahia, and CETREL has been managing it for more than 20 years. Organizing the operation of this complex site requires the integration of environmental assessment and remediation actions to a series of strategies for the sustainable management of water resources.

This consolidated proactive posture enables the continuous improvement of CETREL’s operational and business performance, and includes the investment in technological solutions. The possibility to integrate the environmental solutions with internal systems and to customize efficient, widely used environmental software programs, are decisive technological factors when looking for innovative solutions to manage environmental data.

Challenges

• Integrating new tools into internal systems (ArcView™  ESRI™, LIMS Laboratorial and financial systems), so as to create a planned workflow that minimizes problematic issues in all sectors involved;
• Storing and managing large amounts of environmental data (over two thousand monitoring wells and approximately two million analytical results) in a secure, reliable environment that allows quick processing, so as to improve data quality control;
• Ensuring conditions for efficient data collection by ten field technicians, with the simultaneous generation of GIS data;
• Increasing productivity when completing daily activities (e.g.: reducing the time for data collection and analysis);
• Improving exchanges with the client, which streamlines data analysis;
• Establishing quality guidelines and creating straight workflows that enable more reliable decision-making.

Solutions

• CETREL worked with GEOKLOCK to integrate their systems with EQuIS™. This created a complete workflow, with the planning of sampling events, field efforts, correlation with analytical results and financial balance.
• CETREL implemented the SPM planning tool to develop a Water Resources Management Plan. This plan primarily addresses the demands of the Camaçari Industrial Complex.
• CETREL implemented the use of software EDGE in handheld electronic devices. This replaces the use of paper field logs [boletins de campo em papel] during field services. In the first week, this change brought 30% time savings for data collection and database inputting.
• CETREL standardized chain-of-custody processes for different data, increasing the level of internal organization.
• CETREL improved employee motivation and client satisfaction with the streamlined delivery of consistent and reliable reports.