Perfected Technology Systems (PTS) has developed software for creating Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plan for a major utility's hydroelectric plants, substations and service centers. PTS was asked to review their current software which was previously used to meet their SPCC requirements. This was a Microsoft Access database which was used in conjunction with Microsoft Word templates to merge site specific information from the database into a word document for each site. While this approach may work for smaller utilities, it was difficult to manage because the utility has over 1300 sites which translate to 1300 word documents to manage. It was decided that a new system be designed to eliminate the word document template for each site.

We decided to build a system that would be capable of handling their detail requirements and yet be flexible enough for smaller utilities with fewer requirements. The text used in the multiple word documents would be stored in a database and used in preparing each facility's SPCC Plan. This new system must meet the specifications as required by federal regulation 40 CFR 112 which is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The proposed system would need to be able to collect the data in the field and then roll up into multiple databases at several merge points until it was finalized into a single database. The final database would contain the data from each laptop used in the field. It was estimated there would be about 50 laptop and desktop computers being used to collect the data. This database merge feature satisfies the requirement of having Engineers and Managers review each plan.

An additional requirement was the system must be capable of generating a plan that was site specific for their hydroelectric plants and service centers. However, the plan for substations would be an area plan, providing multiple tables that would contain specific information for each of the substations within a particular area. This approach provides a very efficient method of creating the plan as the area information is only entered once and used for all of the substations within a specific area.

The system was developed using Visual Basic as a front-end containing all of the logic for generating plans. The back-end is an Access database which is used to store all of the site specific data including boiler plate information contained in text boxes for each facility. Access was chosen as a back-end because the system must be able to operate in a stand-alone environment where no internet connections are available due to the remoteness of many of these facilities.

Once all of the data has been entered for any one site, the plan may be generated by compiling all of the information from the database and using Crystal Reports to create the plan. The plan can be viewed on screen, printed or exported to various formats such as a PDF file or a Word document.