What’s Up with SDWIS Prime?

It may seem pretty quiet on the Prime front lately, but there is work going on.  There have been some fairly recent personnel changes in the management of the project.  Michael Plastino the former Associate Branch Chief of the Infrastructure Branch has moved into another position at EPA and Greg Fabian is filling in for now, so there will be good continuity with Prime management.  Jessica Thomas, the Project Manager from the Office of Water, has left EPA and is being replaced by Kristen Gastner.  Also, the contract for Prime development has changed and the previous contractor (Indus) has been replaced by a new company (Attain).  Most of the business analysts and developers will remain the same, as folks have either moved over to Attain or remain on the project through a subcontract with Indus.  So, in spite of many major transitions, most of the experience and knowledge is still there.

On the project itself, the focus is now on development of the Compliance Monitoring Data Portal (CMDP).  This part of the Prime package will allow water systems and labs to share data electronically with states and EPA.  Sprints are underway and state Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are providing the state perspective to assure that the final product meets state needs.  The SMEs also test each phase of the system to be sure everything works as designed.  The current sprint is addressing data entry screens and web forms for most of the rules and contaminants.  In the next month or so, a preproduction version of those modules of the CMDP will be shared with the SDWIS community through a webinar.  The full production version of the CMDP is expected early in 2016 for piloting by states, water systems, and labs.

The core Prime is not being forgotten during this focus on CMDP.  As there is a lull in development, it’s a good time to review what has already been developed and the business requirements for the segments yet to be built.  States will be working with EPA and contractor staff over the next few months to accomplish this review so everything is ready for Prime development to pick up again in the new year.

Information on SDWIS Prime is shared through the SDWIS Prime Update blog.  Please visit the blog for the latest news and sign up to receive automatic notifications.