| Financial analysis: |  |
| Environmental impact analysis: | --- |
| Waste management/P2: | |
| Environmental cost listing/database: | --- |
| Cost estimation: | --- |
| Alternative product/process comparison: | --- |
| Financial analysis: | |
| Environmental impact analysis: | --- |
| Waste management/P2: | |
| Environmental cost listing/database: | --- |
| Cost estimation: | --- |
| Alternative product/process comparison: | --- |
| Cost control | --- |
| Resource control | --- |
| Estimating control | --- |
| Schedule control | --- |
| Scope control | --- |
| Risk control | --- |
DataPipe has been designed to collect, integrate, recall, report, and analyze information on health, safety, and environmental issues that face a company. It has environmental, safety and industrial health, and medical modules. The areas covered by all the modules include the following:
The environmental modules include those for chemical inventory and agent mass balance, MSDS, training, spill calculator, NPDES and emissions, waste manifests and PCBs, and waste treatment and minimization. The safety and industrial hygiene modules include those for agent mass balance, agent use, cause codes, incidents, MSDS ingredients, occupational injury and illness, radiation sources, work history, and training. The medical modules include(among others) the injury and illness module, worker's compensation module, blood and urinalysis module, audiometrics module, and physical exam and physical history modules.
The software includes forms where information can be entered, edited, or displayed. The specific fields and the type of information that users can enter(e.g., text, numeric, dates) will vary according to the form. DataPipe can store and search free-form text and can store images. Thus items such as photographs, facility maps, copies of permits, and MSDS sheets can be stored as images along with text and numeric data.
DataPipe has three report writers, two of which are included in the standard system. The first allows users to quickly design reports by selecting fields to print their order, selection criteria, etc. The second system is optional and allows users to draw report layouts on a form, pasting database fields as they want them to appear. The third and most sophisticated report writer allows any combination of any portion of data from DataPipe. Users have access to the database programming language, which allows them to prepare custom reports. The system includes common reports associated with each type of information.
| Raw material acquisition | --- |
| Manufacturing stage | --- |
| Use/reuse/maintenance | |
| Recycle/waste management | |
Life-cycle stages covered may vary by module. All the modules would not cover these life-cycle stages, nor would they do so for all materials and products. The life-cycle stages are not kept distinct within the system. The use/reuse stage would be considered only within the confines of a facility. Materials and wastes may be tracked; however, all costs associated with this may not be recorded (or estimated). The chemical inventory module, for instance, tracks where (facility, department, area of building), and in what quantities, an agent is used. The waste TSD module can identify the sources of waste production within a facility. The container mass balance module tracks the movement of containers to and from spaces and the addition and removal of agents between containers. However, these life-cycle stages are not necessarily covered in the case of each individual chemical, material, or product. For example, if a chemical is not manufactured in the facility, only use and waste disposal stages (for that chemical) would be considered. It may not be possible to link the different life-cycle stages. That is, a no quantitative relationship can be made between the quantities and types of material used or type of production process and wastes generated. Thus, users cannot simulate changes in waste quantities and costs as a result of process changes or source reduction.
| Conventional | |
| Potentially hidden | |
| Contingent | --- |
| External | --- |
All costs are not covered. For instance conventional costs will include items such as worker's compensation and costs of clinic visits. Hidden costs will include items such as costs of waste treatment, storage, and disposal(TSD). All operating and labor costs associated with environmental and health and safety management are not recorded. Users cannot themselves add additional fields to include costs that are not covered in the modules. External or contingent costs that may be involved in the various life-cycle stages cannot be estimated or entered.
Thus, the full costs of using a material or product in a facility, including all these cost categories, cannot be estimated. Also, all conventional and hidden costs are not tracked and entered into the system. The costs that are entered cannot be collated to form a historical cost library. This feature could encourage companies to take some hidden costs into account in capital budgeting or project management. For example, the chemical inventory module could have an additional feature to record costs associated with using an agent in different areas (facility, department, area of building), quantities, and costs incurred as a result of safety management, storage, etc. This could be useful in a project that proposes to use that agent for estimating the actual costs involved.
The system is not designed for cost estimation.
| Net present value (NPV) | --- |
| Payback period | --- |
| Internal rate of return (IRR) | --- |
| Benefits cost ratio | --- |
| Other | --- |
There are no financial functions within DataPipe. However, users can set up a Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) within Windows, to send data to other applications that perform these financial functions.
DataPipe has a graphical user interface, and most operations for performing particular tasks have been standardized to be identical in all modules. The system has import and export capabilities that make it possible to connect it with other computers (e.g., a corporate mainframe or an analytical lab) for exchanging information. DataPipe supports about a dozen different common formats, including delimited ASCII spreadsheet and dBase. Data can also be imported from instruments that either have an RS-232 interface, or can write to a PC-compatible floppy disk. The system has record locking and other features for multi-user security. The security tables can limit the menus and menu items, including forms, that users can select.
Each DataPipe database has preset indexes for speed and cross-referencing. All DataPipe fields (except images) can be searched, whether or not they are indexed. This can be done by setting low and high limits on numeric, date and time fields, text fields for using words or parts of words, or words that sound like the one being searched.
Although this system is not designed for project management, it does help companies maintain better information and control over environmental management. Companies may avert some contingent costs and less-tangible costs by using software systems such as these, but the costs and benefits cannot be quantified.
The basic single-user system includes personnel, security, two report writers, menu management, and other common parts. It includes one year of free support, including technical assistance, maintenance, and upgrades. The network system has an additional per-user license fee (cost depends on type of network-e.g., LAN/WAN). Annual support costs 12% of the current system cost per year. Services for custom development and modification of modules and training are provided at different negotiated rates. DataPipe supplies demonstration disks that explain the capabilities of the system and allow users to look at sample screens and displays. On-site demonstrations of the system can also be arranged.
The fields in the various DataPipe forms are pre-defined and cannot be changed by users, and no additional fields may be added (unless users specifically request the manufacturer to modify the forms). DataPipe does not have features or existing fields for estimating, or including detailed information on all cost categories. External or social impacts are not quantified or considered.
Modules in DataPipe will consider a variety of different costs. However, users cannot detail these costs. The system has no feature for maintaining historical cost records, as related to quantities and types of materials managed or operations related to environmental management. The system cannot integrate with company accounting systems, which can result in managing these environmental costs separately, rather than integrating them with other company costs. The system is not designed for, and has no modules for, project management. Like most other environmental management software tools, the primary objective is to facilitate compliance, not to manage and minimize costs. However, if this area were developed, pollution prevention and other environmental initiatives and projects would be encouraged as a result of better cost information.
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