The U.S. Army's Environmental Compliance program is a major component of the Army's overall efforts to steward the environment. One mission of environmental compliance is to assist Army personnel with the very important responsibility of following our nation's environmental laws and regulations, which are vast and often complex, and when coupled with the breadth and depth of Army operations, it is easy to imagine the enormous level of effort that compliance requires.
To help with this effort, the Army's Environmental Performance Assessment System (EPAS) program deployed a secure, Web-based software application. Developed by the U.S. Army and released in January 2003, this software makes the process of collecting, tracking, and analyzing environmental compliance data easier and more useful for all involved with the Army's Environmental Compliance Program—from the Installation Management Command headquarters, regions and installations, Medical Command (MEDCOM), Army Materiel Command (AMC), the U.S. Army Environmental Command (USAEC), and to Army headquarters itself.
The EPAS software is grounded in the EPAS Business Process Guide. The Business Process Guide details all aspects of the EPAS program, including the history of the program, responsibilities of the members of the EPAS community, and software description and usage. Throughout the software's development, the EPAS team involved many end-users from the field as was possible. This facilitated the continuous flow of valuable feedback that guided the software's development. The USAEC released EPAS Version 3.0 in December 2005. This version enables users to perform data analysis, combine findings data, and enhance user functionality. Since December 2005, the USAEC has released v3.0.1 to improve the application.
Online Tutorials and Assistance: The Installation Corrective Action Plan (ICAP) Manager tutorial was made available through the Army Environmental Reporting Online (AERO) EPAS web page in August 2005. In 2006 the Internal Assessor refresher tutorial and Analyst Tool were developed. In addition, assistance is available through the Help sections of the EPAS software, as well as a help section within the EPAS Analyst Tool. This option provides a wide variety of materials, including software overviews and step-by-step instructions, to guide the users through the EPAS software. Any questions or requests for further assistance can be e-mailed to the ....
USAEC is expanding the Analyst tool to query historic Environmental Compliance Assessment System (ECAS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) data sets. Until released, requests for historical EPAS data can be directed to ....