Sustainability & Risk / Waste / Track
How the Waste Application Tracks Waste
Using the Waste application, you track waste from its generation, to its storage in either a temporary accumulation area or a centralized storage area, to its disposal either as a shipment or as discharge. When you generate waste records using the Track Waste Generation task, you can enter the waste's Status to indicate where the waste is in this process. Working from other Track Waste views, the application adds these statuses for you behind the scenes. These statuses include Accumulated, Stored, or Disposed. They enable you to track and report on the waste according to where it is in your waste management system.
However, at times you might want to know the amount of waste that has been generated regardless of the current status of the waste. For example, you might need to evaluate how much waste a particular site generated over a certain period of time. To enable this type of reporting, whenever you save a new waste instance, the application saves a matching record with the Status of Generated. In this way, the generated waste records serve as an archive of waste regardless of the waste's current status. The amount of Generated waste reflects the waste that exists in all Statuses. Because these Generated waste records function as an archive, they are never modified neither by the user or by the application.
Adding new instances of waste
When recording information for a new instance of waste, such as when you have added more waste to a storage container, it is important to do so by using the Add New action, not by editing an existing record. When you add the waste as a new instance, the application handles this situation by finding the matching record, adding the amount for the new instance to this record, and storing the summed amounts in a record using the same Waste Code. This enables you to track the amount of waste you are storing in that storage container. However, because it is a new instance of waste, the application also creates a new record with the Status of Generated. This method simplifies your data entry as you do not need to locate the existing record. It also enables the application to track all generated waste for archiving and reporting, as a record with the Status of Generated is always created when you add a new instance of waste.
If you add information for a new instance of waste and no matching record is found, the application creates a new record using the information you enter. See How the system determines of there is a matching record.
Moving waste
When you add and save a new instance of waste, the system creates a new record with the Status of Generated, and creates or modifies a second record. The status for this second record indicates where the waste is in the waste management process. The status is determined in the following ways:
- Track Waste Generation: If you are working in the Track Waste Generation view, you select the status for the waste from the Status list. This task enables you to flexibly assign waste to any point in your waste management system. See Track Waste Generation.
- All other Track Waste views: From all other Track Waste views, you do not select the Status, rather the system assigns it for you when you add a new instance of waste. Use these views to record the movement of your waste through your waste management system. The following describes the status assigned to new instances of waste from each of the other Track Waste views:
- Track Waste Storage task always creates new instances of Stored waste, or updates an existing matching record. You can work with Accumulated waste from this view, but doing so always moves the accumulated waste to a storage area. See Track Waste Storage.
- Track Waste Shipment always creates new instances of Disposed waste, or updates an existing matching record with a Disposition Type of Shipment. You can work with Stored waste from this view, but doing so always creates a new instance of Disposed waste. See Track Waste Shipments.
- Track Waste Discharges always creates new instances of Disposed waste, or updates an existing matching record with a Disposition Type of Discharge. You can work with Stored waste from this view, but doing so always creates a new instance of Disposed waste. See Track Waste Discharges.
Note: The Track Waste Accumulation view is used to add new instances of accumulated waste, or to modify information other than quantity for the accumulated waste. You do not move waste to a new status from this view. To move accumulated waste to a storage area, you use the Track Waste Storage task. See Track Waste Accumulation.
Moving partial or full amounts
When recording the movement of waste, you can move all the waste, or only part of the waste. For example, you can move some of the accumulated waste in a temporary storage cabinet to a storage drum, or all of it. To accomplish this, you edit the record for the waste you are moving, leaving the quantity as is if you are moving all the waste, or changing the quantity in the form to the amount you have moved if you are moving only part of the waste.
To record the movement of waste, the application:
- Deducts the quantity you enter in the form from the existing record, and adds it to the record with the new Status. This will either be a new record or an existing record if a matching record is found.
- If the existing record (the record you are editing) would then have zero quantity, (as it would if you move all the waste), then the application deletes that record, as the record with the new Status accounts for all the waste.
- If the amount you enter in the form is less than the quantity in the original record (as it would be if you are moving only part of the waste), then the application keeps the record with the current Status for the remaining amount.
For example, if you are moving only part of the waste in an accumulation area to a storage area, then a new record is created or an existing record is updated with the amount you are moving, and the current record (with Status Accumulated) is kept for the remaining amount, leaving all other fields besides the quantity unaltered. No new Generated records are created as no new waste has been produced.
How the application determines if there is a matching record
When you add a new instance of waste, the application determines whether there is a matching record or whether it should create a new record. Updating existing records when they exist is important as it enables you to track the total quantity of waste in a particular status, such as a storage area or a shipment. A match is determined by looking at specific key fields and seeing if they have the same values. These key fields vary depending on the waste's status, that is whether the waste is accumulated, stored, or disposed.
To determine if there is a matching record, the application uses the following fields:
| If the Waste Status is | Looks for an existing record with matching values for these fields |
|---|---|
| Accumulated or Stored |
Status Generator Code Accumulation / Storage / Tank Area Units Types Waste Profile Container Code (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) Waste Disposition (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) |
| Disposed, and Disposition Type is Shipment |
Status Waste Disposition Shipment Code Unit Type Container Code (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) Waste Profile Date Shipped Manifest Number (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) Site Code |
| Disposed, and Disposition Type is Discharge |
Status Waste Disposition Units Type Waste Profile Date Start Date End Time Start (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) Time End (This field must either match or not have a value entered.) Site Code. |
If no matching record is found, the application creates a new record using the information you entered in the form.
If a match is found, the application updates the existing record using the information you entered in the form and the following rules:
- The Date Start is changed only if the waste being added has an earlier date than the existing record. The Date End is updated only of the waste has a Date End that is later than the existing record.
- The application updates the matching record by adding the quantity of waste you entered in the form to the quantity in the matching record (converting units if necessary).
- If the records have differing values for non-required fields, these fields are changed to have no value.
- If you enter values for fields that currently have no value entered, then the record is updated using the values you entered.
- If you are moving waste, no new records with the Status of Generated are created. If you are adding a new instance of waste, a new Generated record is added to reflect the new amount.
Editing Records
If you are editing a waste record, and there is not a status or quantity change, then the record you are editing is updated with the values you enter in the form. For example, from the Track Waste Accumulation view, if you select an existing record and enter a Waste Disposition, then the application updates this record with the disposition you enter. The Generated record for this waste remains unchanged.
If you change the quantity for an existing waste record by editing the record, the application warns you that the difference in quantity will not be accounted for in the system. This means that there will not be a record with the Status of Generated to capture this amount. To ensure that Generated waste matches waste in all other Statuses, if you get this message, you should cancel the operation, and add the quantity as a new instance of waste, using the Add New action. See Adding new instances of waste.
Deleting Records
From the Track Waste views, you can delete waste records, but be aware that when you delete a record its corresponding Generated waste record is not deleted. This will create a discrepancy, as there will be no corresponding record (with the status of Accumulated, Stored, or Disposed) to match the Generated record.
Note: If you make a data entry error using the Web form and want to correct this error, Archibus administrators may edit data directly via the Smart Client grid or through an edit form they can create using the View Definition Wizard. However, this should be done only when you are sure that data has not been edited for this waste instance using another view, as direct edit of records bypasses any constraints or validation that is built into the application logic.