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The Bureau of
Laboratories has established an initiative to develop a minimum set of
data elements needed to fully describe environmental measurements.
Because it is customary for Department programs to store only those
measured or calculated values directly related to the specific
transactional purpose for which they were collected, many data elements
that would make these measurements useful for other DEP programs or that
are required for rigorous data quality assessment are not stored in DEP
databases. Adoption of a policy of collecting and
consistently storing a core set of measurement attributes would enable
us to get the most out of the environmental data we rely on to carry out
the Department’s mission.
A common strategy for data
management would allow Department staff to:
- Perform cross program
assessment by integrating similar data from individual DEP databases
- Efficiently perform data
quality assessment using electronic tools
- Calculate agency level
performance measures across DEP programs
Automated Data Processing Tool (ADaPT)
DEP's Electronic Data Validation Program
One of the challenges facing
professionals in the environmental arena today is the collection and assessment
of large amounts of environmental analytical data. Assessment of the
quality of those data is essential because multi-million dollar decisions are
made based on the analytical results. Furthermore, it is critical
environmental programs have the ability to share data across multiple data
users. Standardization of an electronic deliverable allows for data from
multiple data collectors to be available to numerous data users or stakeholders
on a project.
The Bureau of Laboratories developed the Automated Data Processing Tool (ADaPT)
and Environmental Database Management System (EDMS) software programs that aids
data users in an accelerated review and assessment of analytical data. The
expedited review allows users to make earlier decisions for corrective action
with laboratories, assess trends in data quality outliers, shorten turnaround
time for data availability, and save labor costs.
Discussion of
the Data Management Strategies:
ADaPT for
the Division of Waste Management:
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ADaPT
- for more information
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Bureau
of Laboratories Data Quality Assessment Initiative
2012 State of Florida