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Home > Getting Started > Changes

Changes to OWNERS - 2006

There have been a number of changes to OWNERS, the One Window to National Environmental Reporting System that will be reflected both in the application and in the help file. The changes were made based on feedback that we received from reporters and associations regarding OWNERS.

Addition of the Signing Authority permission

The signing authority permission has been added to the OWNERS system. A user that has been assigned the signing authority permission for a specific facility will have the ability to create reports, enter data, submit and electronically certify the data for the identified facility.

The signing authority permission for a facility can be assigned to a user by another user that has a higher or equal permission for the same facility. OWNERS currently has three permission levels, listed in order of descending hierarchy: Signing Authority - All Permissions; Data Entry, and View only. Users can have various permission levels for different facilities within the same Company.

Electronic Certification

The use of electronic certification will replace the need to mail or fax a Statement of Certification signed by the certifying official after the electronic submission of the report via OWNERS.

The electronic certification will occur in conjunction with the electronic submission of the report. No additional actions will be required to electronically certify the report. Thus, the certifying official will log on to OWNERS and select the report(s) to submit, submit the reports and in conjunction electronically certify the report(s).

• To be able to electronically certify a report, the certifying official must have the All or the Signing Authority permission in OWNERS.
• When a reporter has completed a report and is ready to submit the following steps will be observed:
  • The certifying official must log on to OWNERS using their e-pass login and password.
  • Once the report has been identified in the report list, the signing authority must select the specified report and click on the Submit button.
  • The user must then complete the form and select the "I agree" button. The page will refresh and a space will be shown for which the user must then enter in their e-pass password.
  • The final step that the user must complete is to click on the submit button. The combination of agreeing to the disclaimer, entering in their password and clicking submit will generate the electronic certification.
  • The confirmation of report submission page will be displayed indicating the date and time the report was submitted and electronically certified. The confirmation can be printed and kept as a proof of submission and certification.

Pre-filling a report to a selected reporting year

OWNERS' offers the ability to copy your data from the previous reporting year into a blank report, thus creating a pre-populated report for the current year.

Now, OWNERS offers the ability to select the reporting year the reporter wishes to populate the selected data to. In other words, if a facility does not report for the 2005 reporting year because the NPRI reporting threshold is not meet. The facility can select the 2004 Inventory report to prefill the data into the 2006 Inventory report, thus reducing the reporting burden.

From the Reports List page, perform the following steps:

1. Select a submitted report to use for the pre-fill operation by clicking on the check box to the left of the company name.
2. Once the report has been selected, click the Pre-fill button.
3. OWNERS will prompt the selection from the drop down menu of the year that the data must be pre-filled to, see Figure 1 . The default is the current reporting year.
4. Click the Proceed button, once the pre-fill action has been completed by the system, the reports list will be displayed including the newly pre-filled reports.
5. If OWNERS encounters a problem during the pre-fill, OWNERS will display the company name, facility name and the city of the affected report in an error message and the pre-fill action will not be competed for any of the selected reports.

Figure 1: Selection of the Reporting Year

Summary of data reported

OWNERS' offers the ability to generate a summary of the data reported to a selected reporting program, NPRI, ON MOE, or NERM. In order to generate a report of the summary of data reported the selected report(s) must not contain errors.

To generate a summary of the data reported:

1. To generate a report of the summary of data reported to a program, select the report(s) of interest from the Reports List page.
2. Click the Summary Data button on the Reports List page.
3. On the Summary of Data Reports - Program Selection page, select the radio button that corresponds to the program of interest.
4. Click the Proceed button to generate the report.
5. The summary of data reported will be displayed. The summary can be printed, by clicking the Print button. To return to the Reports List page, click the Close button.

New Report Types

OWNERS offers the ability to electronically inform the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) of a facility closure, a facility ownership change and a facility not meeting the NPRI reporting criteria for the specified reporting year.

Facility Closure

OWNERS allows the reporter to electronically advise the NPRI of a facility closure. The form prompts the reporter to enter the date, month and year of the facility closure.

To create a Facility Closure report:

• From the Reports List page, click the Add button
• Then, from the Facility List, select the facility for which the closure has occurred and click the select button
• From the Reporting Status page, select the FC - Facility Closure report type and click the Proceed button
• Complete the form by specifying the date, month or year of the facility closure
• Run an error check, then submit and electronically certify the report.

Note: Submitting a Facility Closure report does not prevent the ability to submit an Inventory report for the same reporting year.

Facility Ownership Change

OWNERS allows the reporter to electronically advise the NPRI of an ownership change of the facility. The form prompts the reporter to enter the company name and address information and a contact for the purchasing company.

To create a Facility Ownership Change report:

• From the Reports List page, click the Add button
• Then, from the Facility List, select the facility for which the ownership change has occurred and click the select button
• From the Reporting Status page, select the OC - Ownership Change report type and click the Proceed button
• Complete the form by specifying the required information
• Run an error check, then submit and electronically certify the report.

Note: Submitting a Facility Ownership Change report does not prevent the ability to submit an Inventory report for the same reporting year.

Facility Not Meeting the Reporting Criteria

OWNERS allows the reporter to electronically advise the NPRI of the fact that the facility does not meet the NPRI reporting criteria for the selected reporting year. The form prompts the reporter to enter the reason the facility does not meet the NPRI reporting criteria for the selected year.

To create a Facility Does Not Meet the Reporting Criteria report:

• From the Reports List page, click the Add button
• Then, from the Facility List, select the facility for which the reporting criteria is not meet and click the select button
• From the Reporting Status page, select the DNMC - Facility Does Not meet the Reporting Criteria and click the Proceed button
• Complete the form by specifying the required information
• Run an error check, then submit and electronically certify the report.