Happy New Year 2011

Dear Friends,

Wishing you Happy and Prosperous (Health, Wealth and Safe) New Year 2011.

Thanks

Some Break Now !!!

Dear All,

I am in Shanghai, China, and surprisingly I am not able to access the blog. It seems its not allowed. Sorry I may not contribute my thoughts as frequently as I used to / wish to !!!

Thanks

Draft Changes to SDS based on PEG Recommendations is now available @ REACh EU

Dear All,

Based on the initial feedback received from PEG, ECHA made some changes in the text of Safety Data Sheet released during Feb 2010. The major changes are basically relates to initial feedback on the structure and content of the document. Some Corrections to the legal text is also made to reduce the length of the text and to need for translations text. What it means to the business‘s is that they need to consider three different versions of the Annex II during different time periods. Up to 1st December 2010, Between December 2010 and June 2015 and from June 2015 and there could also be some changes needed for the safety data going forward like incorporation of Evaporation rate, Auto Ignition Temperature, Decomposition Temperature

ANNEX II - GUIDE TO THE COMPILATION OF SAFETY DATA SHEETS is valid through 1st June 2007 to 19th June 2010, (present Annex II published with REACH)

ANNEX II - REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COMPILATION OF SAFETY DATA SHEETS PART A, will be in force from 1st December 2010 to 1st June 2015. (Annex I of commission for substances until the end of 1st June 2015 and for mixtures labeled DPD.

L133/24 “ANNEX II 4 REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COMPILATION OF SAFETY DATA SHEETS PART A”, will come into force from June 2015 onwards. Annex II of 2010 for substances after 1st June 2015 and for Mixtures Labeled CLP

Full Text of legal Document and associated Excel Sheet showing, which are the recommendations which are implemented in this draft version are available @ ECHA website

SAP EH&S Data Model - Use of Compositions

Dear Friends,

One of the significant aspects to the success of Safety Datasheet Generation / distribution projects is to use and adopt the eixsting data structures. Even for meeting regulatory requirements like to manage REACh Compliance, Volume Tracking or notification management it is necessary to use of right data model. Even, if EHS Data is needed for uploading to ECHA - CLP Notification Tool or REACh - IT, then information from Pure Substances is needed. For meeting these varied requirements there are a number of types of compositions which are available in SAP EHS. So if you are into a client project / needed to manage their data structure for meeting varied requirements, the first thing to notice is to study their existing data model and judiciously use them for meeting the to legislative needs. Remember the point that the priority would be not to disrupt existing business process and achieve the project objective.


The different types of compositions encountered in EHS include, Standard Composition, Exact Composition Based on Products (ECbP), Exact Components based on Components / Starting Material, Hazardous Composition, Legal Composition, REACH Use and Exposure Composition (U&E Comp), Impurities, Hazardous Ingredients (EU), DPDPlus and Pure Composition. Besides above standard types, based on client requirement there might be other flavours too. Here's the short overview of each of the component type.

1) Exact Components based on Products – Substances that are actually contained in the product after the production process has been completed and that can be detected by analysis. Can also consist of products which in turn consists of other components. This component type is generally used by different Expert Rules to calculated secondary data.

2) Standard Composition – Ingredients are substances, that are actually contained in the product after the production proces has been completed and that can be detected by analysis. These are generally taken from ECbP composition type and added together. Thes are calculated by Expert Rules – EHS Standard Comp Rule set.

3) Hazardous Ingredients - On the Composition tab page, specify the contents of the corresponding ingredients with lower limit, upper limit, and average value. In addition, specify the unit for the selected reference value.

4) Components with Occupational Exposure Limits - List of ingredients or ingredient groups (and their quantities) that are subject to an atmospheric limit value and must be specified with this limit value in the EU Safety Data Sheet in the current version), or in accordance with the Technical Regulations for Hazardous Substances.

5) Legal Composition – It’s an optional composition type excluding all impurities from Standard Composition for meeting legal requirements lik REACh. This together with recent release of Impurties –ideally should equal to Standard Composition.

6) REACH Use and Exposure Composition – Contains all substance, which are relevant for supply chain communication. Substances which are used in Compliance Workbench for triggering Supply chain communication.


Thanks

Practical Examples of Exposure Scenarios

Dear Friends,

ECHA has long released the Exposure Scenario Format and also a modified version to incorporate Contributing scenarios based on revised understanding. Exposure Scenarios are the set of information on operational conditions and risk management measures to be communicated to the users. Generally exposure scenario consists of description of conditions suitable to ensure control of risk related to the uses of a substance during the entire life-cycle. Environment, Workers and consumers are included covering one or more exposure uses. Data required for Exposure Scenario include Substance Properties, amounts, emission factors, onsite measures, personal respiration protection, frequency and duration of exposure, frequency and duration of use etc, depending whether it is Environmental Exposure, Workers or Consumer Exposure Scenario.

However one of the challenges in using exposure format is the availability some practical examples of exposure scenarios. Last week ECHA released sample exposure scenarios constituting three substances. These scenarios are specific to Semi Conductor Industry. The lesson's learned therein like how to manage site specific conditions versus Site independent data and how air emission management could generate risk to water compartment are very much helpful to understanding the complexity of the process.The data available therein is very good source to validate SAP EH&S Data models for Exposure Scenarios and also checking suitability of WWI Templates.

Note: Practical Examples of exposure Scenarios can be downloaded from ECHA Site http://echa.europa.eu/news/press_en.asp#press20100906

Thanks

WWI Template - Some Tips

Dear Friends,

Recently I happened to work with WWI tool for eSDS template. I have quite a number of learning’s from this activity, some of them are

- Before working with WWI template ensure you know Microsoft Word 2007.

- Learning all the functionalities of how to align the page breaks, how to maintain page layout, provide indent, margins, spacing etc. This segment is more time consuming than any other exercise. So its always good to begin with good layout and use WWI layout settings with different color schema.

- Always create symbols yourself and don’t use previously created segments if they are spanning multiple paragraphs, at times repeating groups are given for the entire section and if they are not properly taken it creates problems.

- If its data from a single sub node of property tree, better to use SAP WWI Wizard functionality, instead of you creating each of them manually, it gives lot of flexibility interms of how to print etc., make use of this functionality.

- If you are creating tables with multiple components, again print them using Wizard functionality and then use the slave group and master group declarations.

- Advanced functionalities like blank compression / conditional output are very good features so ensuring when to use which functionality is a critical to template creation. Blank compression with alternative, or conditional output with alternative are very good features for printing the symbols in controlled conditions.

- Whenever you come across any template just examine a bit more – you might know more functionality like – how to print Risk Phrases collectively in another section, How to print DG information, how to insert templates based on conditional statements, inserting multiple templates in to a master template, how to print methods, how to use environmental parameters and ID listing data and how to create methods for suiting to your project requirements.

Thanks

Business Process Management - SAP EH&S

Dear Friends,

For a client project at times you need to get involved in identification of as is process or identification of the current management practices of diverse business processes. The intent of such process is either to implenent the process / optimize it or stremline or to merge different systems into a common process. These models / process show a representation of the real world process model built to a certain scale and level of details for a specific purpose. Built to show viewpoint.

Examples of predominant business processes in EH&S include i) Substance and Component management ii) Supply Chain Communication for REACH iii) Generation of MSDS iv) Permit Management v) Incident Accident Management vi) SOP Management etc vii) Dangerous goods and Tremcard processing viii) Label Generation etc.

At times its tempting to use some predeveloped business maps for a new project, however be wise in choosing such material as some scenarios are developed keeping some assumption in mind, which may not hold true for other cases. The objectives of the such model may change during the life of the project, like sometimes a model developed for one purpose might not fit for a broader requirement. There are couple things which one should remember while working on such assignments – i) Why is the process performed ii) Which objects are used/modified iii) Which technology is used iv) Which processes preceed and follow v) Which rules govern the process and which organization unit performs it.

The best approach is to select a key business item (like MSDS generation) and follow it through the process, seeing for which actions are performed and who handles and where it ends up. At time client might be having a business model but following some workaround to achive the current requirement, you need to be careful in mapping such process. Always concentrate on value of each task and check and identify the flow of process correct and check for failure paths if any and see what actions are performed, who handles it and where it ends up. This is provide you a good scenario to actually develop customer scenario. There are many softwares which support this processes like ARIS, Solution Composer, Galaxy, ARIS and other graphical tools like iGrafx.

Thanks

eSDS / MSDS management for meeting Legislative requirements

Dear Friends,

As you might know a safety data is needed for chemical products considered as dangerous to health or environment. According to REACh Article 59, the threshold of concern is typically 1% w/w (solids or liquds) or 02% v/v (gas) or 0.1% of highter for CMR, vPvP, PBT or Cat 1 sensitizers. One of the major changes in the MSDS as extended Safety Data Sheet includes envisaged exposure routes and real use patterns – coversing Exposure Scenarios. One of the obligation also is keeping records of supply of the latest SDS.
So for meeting the Compliance for REACh, Vendor MSDS needed to be managed optimally. Ensuring that new eSDS should be properly analyzed and made accessible to employees inside the organization. Whenever a new chemical is introduced its related MSDS should be properly assessed and informed to all the responsible people. I) MSDS Distribution and II) Processing of external MSDS / eSDS into EH&S are the two requirements for meeting the legislative requirements. So how to achieve these two requirements using existing SAP system ?

The first requirement – making the MSDS accessible to stakeholders – might already be in place for major companies. Like deploying into their internal websites, providing downloadable MSDS into their websites outside SAP or even providing some Document management software to access such information. In this aspect - TechniData’s EHS – WWW tool is a very useful component in meeting MSDS disribution via internet. It automatically converts the RTF documents into PDF and posts them into website, which can be accessed based on different search cabilities – simulating SAP EH&S Report Information System – though not much literature is available in public domain.

The Second Requirement - Making the assessment of the revised MSDS / eSDS requires manual process of actually going through each MSDS identifying the changes (majority it would be Uses, Exposure Scenarios and restrictions) it contains and creating required book marks and releasing it to the internal distribution group. However, the limitation would be it’s a manual process and companies desire some automation here. There are couple of options are there which are still in development stage which will take some more time to realise – like use of “mapping” databases from the local systems and use of some connectors / RFC to actually transfer the contents into SAP system, or using of technology similar to IMDS for processing the worklists to change the content. The other possibility would convert Vendor MSDS to XML files and load them directly into SAP to reflect the changes like some 3rd party data loading tools. SAP software has a in built supply chain communication to derive such information using Emails, Self Service Portals, XML plugins which ensure such processes as part of SAP REACh and Product Compliance 2.0.

Thanks

SAPinsider - Go Beyond Compliance with SAP EHS Management: 1 Best Practice, 2 Challenges, and 4 Opportunities to Reduce Operational Risk

SAPinsider - Go Beyond Compliance with SAP EHS Management: 1 Best Practice, 2 Challenges, and 4 Opportunities to Reduce Operational Risk

Converting client specific requirements into a useful tool

Dear Friends,

I am sure, many of you would have worked on the development for meeting client specific needs. At times it is very easy to hard code everything for client requirements. However, there is a wonderful furctionality called Variants – which can transform a client specific requirement into a tool for meeting broader requirements. Variants allow you to save sets of input values for programs that you often start with the same selections. Variant is like a variable inputs which can trigger varied search / program options for meeting different requirements. It is possible to store different variants for different purposes and even schedule them as required. Variants can be used either in background or via user intervention.

In EH&S such variant options are available in a sub functionality called Specification Informaiton Systems, which can provide you with different search output based on different selction requirements. Name it Set of Hits or drill down reporting or even Sepcficiation report functionality. It would be useful to explore such functionality navigating into Compliance workbench, generating different search options and save those search outputs, save the search criteria as variants and use them for drill down reporting for generating output. Create report outputs using those search outputs like Excel Output, Substance listing etc.

In future if you are into a client business blueprint or technical development sessions, look into the options of proposing the concept of variants for meeting clients current as well as future likely requirements. giving them handy tools to avoid repetitive developments again in future !.

Thanks

Carbon Sequestration mapping in SAP Carbon Impact !!!!

Dear Friends,

Fews days back I got a mail from a Research Scientist who is working on Micronutrient management in Lakes and Estunaries in Washington University, who is seeing for information on how to capture forest sequestration related calculations into SAP Carbon Impact - This is where the true difference between a Enterprise Software and a Academic Interest appears. At the onset it may seem very easy to map using some custom activity type and provide calculation to accomdate that request. Is it really required for enterprises to work? Enterprise carbon management mainly comprise of Carbon Accounting, Carbon Reporting and Carbon Management - It might easily fall under the scope of Carbon Accounting, however from a enterprise point of view it may not be relevant. This is where it needs to be seen - unlike other SAP modules - which are Industry specific or cross functional, Green House Gas Management is above Enterprise level, it is of Global in nature - how best it is managed depends on the level of details the information is captured - may be it needs to be seen how SAP reacts to such requirements.

SAP Carbon Impact is a On-Demand module from SAP, used for mapping Company Carbon foot print, identify reduction measures, carry out surveys, check for product carbon, validate highlevel company KPIs. It has three types of functionalities built around - Analyze, Assess and Act. You can Assess inventories, Products, use the Analyze to view the Dashboards and reduction projects and Act - for creation of reports, goal settings and offset inventory management. Tools to create master data like Facilities, equations, input and output and templates for reports. You can export SAP Carbon Impact data into SAP Business Objects Business Explorer - to view multidimentional analysis of the data.

Thanks

EH&S Workflows and Reporting

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, the easiest thing in filling the customer workflow and data management requirements – is creating a new development. it is will be very useful if they can be looked from realigning the standard functionality offered by the EH&S. For Example, one of the business requirements is triggering of emails whenever some important information is changed in a specification database or whenever new injury / illness is entered or even creation of customer specific reports for their validations. Instead of investing on the development, existing functionalities might be used.

SAP EHS already have a good functionality which can meet such requirements like EH&S Workflow and Specification Information Systems. . For EHS workflow – a demo definition is provided EHS_DEMO, with a task EHS_DEMO_TSK. This task actually carries out task of processing value assignment types. This task can be copied and adopted to client requirements. The customization settings for the workflow Specify start conditions and Specify task profile can be used to enter the required information. Once Workflow scheduler runs in the background (RC1WFSUB) – they automatically appear in the assigned agent’s inbox.

Similarly, the functionality specification information system provides a inbuilt search options and creation of reports for user analysis. There are different options available like list report, excel output, compositions etc, which can be used for client requirement. To create a report, required number of specifications can be searched using search criteria (this can be scheduled in the background) and once the hit-list is generated a required output variant can be selected to create report.

These two are very versatile functionalities to meet the customer reporting and data management requirements and I feel are very helpful though it’s always tempting to ask for development work.

Thanks

SAP Environmental Compliance for meeting EPA’s new regulation on GHG

Dear Friends,

On May 13th EPA issued final rule on GHG Emissions, which states that when an Industry (high emitters) wants expand its operations it needs to demonstrate that it will be using the Best Available Control Technology (BACT). At first glance it may look that it majorly impacts the financial terms of the Industry in acquiring control equipment and less to do with the Compliance and Regulatory needs.

For meeting these requirements, companies needs to use permit management, task management, document management, advanced Reporting and at the same time use sophisticated GHG Calculations and based on their GHG Calculations would like to report key environmental KPIs– SAP Modules like SAP Environmental Compliance and SAP Carbon Impact will be huge help for companies meeting this requirement.

Some of the features of SAP EHS Environmental Compliance – Emission Management / Environmental Compliance / GHG Management will be of huge benefit, like Calculation of GHG emissions, Permit Management, Modeling for engineering changes, Reporting component and finally its ability to integrate with SAP R/3 components. Significant among these are ability of SAP Environmental Compliance to communicate with web services for emission data – especially from Continuous Monitoring Systems (CEMS), ability to store documentation and advanced reporting capabilities like BI/ BO.
You can access the final legislative document from http://www.epa.gov/nsr/documents/20100413final.pdf.

Thanks

SAP EH&S 3rd Party Data content and its usage

Dear Friends,

We hear a lot about EH&S 3rd party content like Phrases or regulatory content and their significance for driving cost effective regulatory compliance and also to drive MSDS Authoring serives. These 3rd party regulatory data consists of Phrases (majority of those are from CED), Regulatory Data, Expert Rules, Standard EHS Properties (it actually updates the standard property tree) and Report Layouts, which will be a significant help given the huge time and money is required for complying regulatory needs. and legal requirements. This data is used for regulatory classification of substances as well as authoring of material safety datasheets.

Using these SAP EH&S Automated datasets with EH&S Expert Rules, Open Content Connector for DG and PS Regulatory Data it is possible tocreate legal documents in a quick, cost effective and reliable manner. The use of these automated tools reduces the implementation time, eliminates point solutions and multiple interface development requirements and also ensures on going adaptation and enhancements according to changes in legislations.

The best practice involving 3rd party tools involve the following steps like i) Create or change a substance ii) Call EH&S Open Content Connector iii) Load and evaluate the header XML iv) Select what data shall be downloaded, v) Load substance data from the corresponding XML file vi) Show the data to user to set flags, vii) Save data and viii) Save data into EH&S Database ix) Use the updated information for triggering secondary data determination using EH&S Expert Rules like driving automated MSDS making and x) Use of Standardizied templates to generate reports.

Thanks

SAP to Acquire TechniData, how this impacts EH&S consultants

Dear friends,

Today I read news that SAP to acquire TechniData. Along with last year's transfer of EH&S IP products rights to SAP, this move will induct experienced EH&S workforce into SAP. It is definitely one of the exciting things for SAP on Sustainability Front, next to acquiring Clear Standards acquired almost one year ago. I would rate the current acquisition much ahead than the previous one - though TechniData and SAP are already interconnected for so long. There are many who are interested to see how this will impact EH&S delivery and whether it’s a positive for them or not, so on.

Definitely it’s a positive move for the SAP's EH&S and sustainability market as a whole . With SAP expertise and TechniData EH&S background, you will see much more innovation on SAP EH&S and Sustainability front, a definite next generation products from SAP including realization of EH&S as a SaaS product. There is also possibility that SAP would like to do customer on-boarding themselves for this specialized field, so it could impact EH&S consultants for where customer would go for this new opportunity, but at the same time opens up new EH&S consultants opportunity due to wider SAP presence and customer confidence. Finally SAP is proposed to expand its SAP EHSM and Sustainability portfolio, so it would be imperative to increase their EHS Staff. As on today it is reported that TechniData has 500 employees and 1,600 customers.

Overall I find this move, interesting, challenging and exciting for EHSM consultants.

Check this link for some FAQ about the acquisition

http://www.sap.com/about/investor/pdf/TechniData_FAQ.pdf

Thanks

Chemical Safety Assessment and Exposure Scenarios using Chesar

Dear Friends,

Few days back I happened to work with Beta version of ECHA new tool called Chesar (CHemical Safety and Assessment tool). This is a tool developed to support in preparing Chemical Safety Assessment and Chemical Safety Report. It has features like getting the data fro IUCLID, Assessment and Exposure Scenario building and generation of Chemical safety report. The exposure estimatio in Chesar is based ECETOC and ERC / EUSES and it can even use external exposure estimation tools. When I created a CSR, it automatically created 45 pages dossier as per the CSR format.

After working with SAP REACh Compliance for so many months, this tool has given me very good insight into a functionality which, I was assuming for past 2 years and also a probable direction on Best Practice Scenario for achieving REACh Compliance cosisting of SAP REACh Compliance and 3rd party tools!

When I see this tool with an overall SAP REACh Compliance business process, it fits into the overall framework either during initial transfer of all uses and substance information directly into IUCLID (which is carried out using IUCLID - EH&S interface) and using the information for actually carrying out exposure estimation, or even after final legal process check and end point gap analysis and transfer the data into IUCLID5 (as per original SAP REACh Compliance 1.1. business logic).

So from SAP EH&S, it would be useful to create a Chesar Property tree consisting of administrative data, Physicochemical data, Environmetnal hazard information and trafer that information for Exposure estimation - since these are the data which system needs. I understad, with the existing REACh property trees (classes/characterisitcs) within SAP REACh, it should be possible to create a flexible property for ease of use for Chesar, it would not only reduce the burden of maintaining additional endpoing documents which are not required for Exposure assessment, but also ease of use. Once exposure estimation is carried out in IUCLID 5.2 it is good idea to take the data back into SAP EH&S eSDS property tree and use that for creation of eSDS or even create eSDS in Chesar (need to wait till June 2010).

Thanks

Meeting Regulatory challenges - In testing times

Dear Friends,

A recent market report suggested that nearly sixty percent of the companies they surveyed are not satisfied with their current IT systems. In another report it also highlighted that nearly half of user community will be dissatisfied with the slow rate of IT change in their enterprises. There is likelihood of this dissatisfaction to increase as companies may not invest hugely to change their current IT landscape. On the other side of the coin, organizations are reminded to fulfill or to meet the business requirements, regulatory requirements, and stakeholders’ expectations. Under these testing times, Business process management / Reengineering provide a framework, where organizations can improve the agility and regulatory and sustainable performance.

The typical challenges, an organization a face when it comes to this sphere of business is, more often EH&S / Sustainability need localized execution to meet the regional requirements. The principle steps to reach out to there is i) Assess the company footprint in the world of regulatory compliance / Sustainability, ii) Establish end – end business processes for meeting regulatory / compliance requirements, iii) Standardize the core processes that are stable, like 3rd party data services to manage and automatic processing of information, iv) Look for business process changes and identify localized business processes and adapt global solution and finally v) Migrate to new process, in a planned and systematic way involving key business users.

Thanks

SAP EH&S Learning Thread

Dear Friends,

Few days back I got a mail asking if I take a step by step sessions on how to get into SAP EHS coverinpg important concepts and information. This thread is for that purpose. I will be periodically updating this thread with new information.

Thanks
jak

Learning EH&S – Session 1: What is Specification Database ?

Specification is the central database for EH&S. These data often referred to as Product data. This data includes regulations and laws concerning the products and ingredients. Example of specificaiton data include handling requirements, storage requirements and transport requirements, physical chemical characteristics, safety information and hazardous information. These specifications data are of different types based on the nature of the data they handle and also based on their close association with sub modules of EH&S like Hazard – related to Industrial Hygiene and safety, Waste Code – Related to Waste Management, Dangerous Goods Classification – Related to Dangeorous Goods Management and Substance – for Product Safety. So we can use the same concept to separate the specification database into Different specification Categories based on the broad category of data they contain or in EHS Sub module where they are used like i) Substances ii) Agent (Hazard) iii) Dangerous Goods Data iv) Waste Code.

Substance database contains header information and position data – often called value assignment information containing actual property information. For EH&S to work and function, these data needs to be created, used and updated at a regular intervels of time. It is possible to crate and update specificaiton information in SAP EHS, while for automated updating of the Specification database, 3rd party sources are used. The tools for updating the specification can be EH&S Expert - Open Content Connector – which uses xml format for updating the specification database – which will be covered separately in other session.

Specficiation database is closely linked as a specification model – which is related to Product Structure which we want to map into SAP EHS and at times its useful to sub – divide the broad specification category into small components to handle the data appropriately. For example It makes sense to separate Substance Specification into different Types based on exact piece of information they contain like Real Substances, Listed Substances, Un Listed Substances etc.

To create a specification in SAP EH&S access the T – Code, CG02BD, if you want to specifically create a specification database then CG02 (product Safety), CBIH92 (Industrial Hygiene and Safety), WAO02 (Waste Management).


Thanks

REACh Use and Exposure mapping using SAP EH&S– Industrial Hygiene and Safety

Dear Friends,

Few days back I got a request asking if I write something on Use and Exposure in REACh and How SAP EHS is supported and also about eSDS and GHS. I try to write some high level information. This goes like this –

REACH legislation requires an understanding of how chemical substances are used, specifically, how they are handled throughout their life cycle from manufacture to disposal. For those substances that are hazardous, a risk assessment is required to be performed for each use to demonstrate that it is safe Expsoure scenarios needs to be preparated for hazardous substances tha are produced or imported > 10 t/a. Use and Exposure categories provide specific information tailored to the various user groups about what has to be borne in mind when the substances are used. For REACh Use & Exposure Scenario – Exposure assessment and Risk rating are carried out with Sophisticated 3rd party tools like ECETOC or yet to released CHESAR, for which the current system only the output is stored for reference.

Access the following url to see the Google Presentation on mapping of Use and Exposure in SAP EHS - IH&S Componenet.

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B37ZjPJIaBcONTNiYWVjZDUtZmFiNy00MGNiLTk4ZjUtYWUwMTJhYjBjNWU5&hl=en

Advantages of the model is i) Simplified model taking data from existing systems and proposed REACh – which reduces work effort ii) Mapping multiple substances to one work area – for maintaining Use & Exposure Information further reduces the implementation and reporting effort which can make the system available in shortest possible time period . iii) Existing properties and data is used, as much as possible, such as the existing Use properties from REACh and EH&S.

Some of the classes that can be used without any problem for preparation of eSDS and GHS include– Data maintenance in Exposure Scenario, customer exposure and GHS LABELING. The GHS classification data almost all the data is existing except for some supplementary hazard statement and M-Factors information.

Thanks

Enterprise Carbon Management using SAP Product & REACh Compliance 2.0

Dear Friends,

Enterprise Carbon Management and Product Carbon Management is one of the Principle operational risks companies facing today. Comprehensive solutions should consist of green house gas monitoring, management and reporting capability. Last year SAP acquired CS and re-branded it as SAP Carbon Impact for specifically supporting the carbon calculation and Product Carbon calculation – which is a very good tool to capture GHG inventory, Offset project management, reduction targets etc. However integrating such reduction targets in the main Logistics system is a challenging requirement, the recent release of SAP Product & REACh Compliance 2.0 – would be a useful means to close this gaps.

Organizations can leverage the capabilities of SAP CI, SPRC 2.0 together with SAP BusinessObjects to ensure streamlined process for enterprise wide carbon management. SPRC 2.0 can be used to actually set requirements, check for carbon volumes from different suppliers and use SAP BusinessObjects for optimal decision supporting – using what if analysis.

In SAP EH&S – Carbon related property tree is created to accommodate the capture of key information related to Carbon Management, if required set its volumes in logistics checks and use the SPRC supply chain communication process to capture carbon volumes and also use the supplier self service to enter the details of carbon from shipping documents. For each product, the Bill of Materials, the shipping information utilized. Using the SAP Carbon Impact the total quantity of carbon can be calculated using built in equations.

These are some of the functionalities built into SAP Product and REACh Compliance 2.0 – which can be utilized for Enterprise Carbon management

•Organizational master data from the existing systems - default integration in to logistics and financial data
•The advantage of separating the carbon attributes as environmental characteristics easy handling of information and maintaining the data in the existing data structures.
•Characteristics to attribute carbon relevant - phrases and characteristics value assignment can be used for maintaining carbon relevant information
•Task management and workflows can be configured for supply chain communication and internal data management
•Partner and contact information to find customers for the supply chain collaboration – built in supplier self service for managing and accessing carbon relevant information and using SAP CI for carbon computation.
•Automatic xml or email processing data for importing carbon relevant attributes from supply chain communication
•Built in Report creation and report management and portfolio analysis
•Web services for posting carbon information to Climate registries for probable cap and trade management.
•Possible extension of making use of SAP BusinessObjects – Dashboards for sophisticated what if analysis
•Using SAP CI and SuPM integration for strategy management

Thanks

REACh Compliance 1.0 to SAP Product and REACh Compliance 2.0 – My journey along

Dear Friends,

It’s almost two years back when I first started working on SAP REACh Compliance. My first exercise understood the development of eSDS based on existing SAP EH&S Classes and characteristics and creation of Extended SDS Template using WWI report tool. By the time it completed we ventured into mapping and interfacing with IUCLID – after a thoughtful discussions we finally concluded it should be based on XI technology with the support of MDM.

At that time the company where I was working (Satyam) participated in SAP REACh Compliance Ramp Up initiative. After a brief stint of one to two days- it becomes SAP REACh Compliance 1.1. When SRC 1.1 is released it has basic functionalities like i) Organizational Data management ii) Material Management iii) Substance Management iv) Legal Process Management v) Supply Chain Communication and vi) Document Management Integration. With the release came two very exciting WebEx presentations on SRC 1.1 with accessibility to wonderful configuration documents. I believe it’s the first time in the history of SAP EH&S product landscape that – literature of that sort was made available publicly. I believe Dr. Marko together Kieran are trendsetters for the availability of literature, which is now carried to almost all new releases of SAP EH&S and Sustainability products.

When SAP REACh Compliance 1.1 is released there were definite missing segments like missing bulk material assessment functionality, SIEF integration segments and IUCLID5 interface. Even at that time was not clear how SAP intended to support Use and Exposure Assessment – as SRC released only Use Descriptors for carrying out Risk Assessment. Even by that time REACh Pre-Registration activity was completed, then it is also realized that there is a missing a Registration Projects integration– Pre-Registration activity – by which all the non available legal entities to be created automatically with a indication about nature of data that should be shared with them.

Then after a span of about 4 months – SAP released SP02 with a useful set of functionalities like integration of Phrases into Material Master and Bulk Material Assessment functionality, Campaign management functionality and Portfolio Reporting capability.

After a span of almost 1 year SAP released major extension of SAP REACh Compliance 1.1 –called SAP Product & REACh Compliance 2.0. This new product encompasses almost all the functionalities of legacy Compliance for Product software. The major features like supporting IMDS, AIAG/IEEE, RoHS, China RoHS and IPCPDMC Conversion Services. Registration Project Management and IUCLID5 Integration for meeting the Product Compliance Management, Component Management, Supply Chain Collaboration Management including Supplier Self Service and Reporting.

The release of SAP PRC supports and matures the REACh Compliance 1.0 to a full fledged module supporting– Cost Monitoring, Volume Monitoring, Endpoint Management, Registration Project Management, SIEF project and Data Export and Reporting as per the original SAP REACh Sales Presentation. One thing which I noticed is this product evolved almost in parallel to REACh Regulation and it has also given me an insight into Product Maturation cycle and how a product evolves into complete offering based on regulatory requirements. Though I have seen the functionality of CfP very closely, would like to work on SPRC sooner or later.

Now what I look forward to is a definite "Best Practices scenario demonstrating the requirements of REACH using SAP EH&S, SAP Product and REACh Compliance and 3rd Party Tools" - which reminds me of very beautiful quote “ Miles to Go before I sleep” in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – there is so much to learn and accomplish in one's life !

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Lessons from Toyota - Extending to REACh !!!!

Dear Friends,

Recently Toyota recalled some 2.3 million vehicles to correct an unintended acceleration caused by a software failure while switching between different means of break mechanism. To those who are not aware of it – In electric brand Toyota applies two types of breaks – while switching from mode of break mechanism to another system breaks hold for less than second, making the passenger feel momentarily that his engine breaks are failed.

Assume the similar challenge for REACh Compliance, when a SuperPaint manufacturer produces products, using substances which are not registered or for those there is not Use and Exposure is recorded? The historic recall of toys or recall of cell phones few years back is just a tip of the iceberg, as far as exceeding levels of restricted substances can do damage to the business. The recent extension of SAP REACh Compliance 1.1 to SAP Product and REACh Compliance 2.0 (called SPRC 2.0) will be of immense use for regulatory requirements like RoHS, China RoHA, AIAG, IMDS and REACh.

SPRC helps in automatically identify all substances that fall under the regulations using logistical, production and purchasing processes and continuous tracking for substance complianceOverview of Capabilities of SAP Product and REACh Compliance 2:

- Managing the specification Data
- Worklist based management of specification data
- Automatic / Manual Compliance checks against varous check processes
- Supply Chain communication for additional data - using Supplier portal and Campaigan management
- Compliance analysis and compliance reporting including electronic data exchange by means of various exchange formats, for example AIAG and IMDG.


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GRI software certification program what it is?

Hello Friends,

Recently we hear a lot on GRI - Software and Tools program and SAP SuPM is the first software to be certified for it. What is this certifiation all about? What is the advantage in getting certified for Software and Tools program ? Here it goes.

The GRI software and Tools program is certifying “tools and softwares” that contain GRI copyrighted content like - GRI Reporting Framework, GRI Learning Publications, Sector Supplements or any other publication data protected by GRI copyright law. GRI certifications does not endorse or recommend software, it only certifies the GRI content is correctly used and further, does not carry any responsibility for the quality or use of the overall tool or software that contains GRI Content
Since SAP BO Sustainability Performance Management provides a predefined core and additional KPIs content and associated protocols based on Global Reporting Initiative G3 Framework, this certification provides a level of assurance that the software contains correct usage of GRI content and reference to GRI, completeness of content, appropriate division of elements, clear demarcation between GRI and other reporting frameworks.

The major elements for which GRI checks the software include i) Complete GRI Guidelines ii) Defining Report content, quality and boundary, iii) Complete standard disclosures iv) Sector supplements v) Learning publications or vi) Other GRI copy righted content. GRI holds right to certify parts of elements instead of complete GRI elements; the applying authority needs to inform GRI prior to entering into MoU, what GRI elements they want to be certified for.

GRI software certification process involves i) processing of application form ii) signing of MoU iii) agreement of non disclosure iv) content check v) issuing certificate vi) Announcement in GRI Website and vii) Finally annual update.

This level of assurance will be a major welcome in the Industry, as the recent one paragraph of wrong information in 900+ pages of report put IPCC their reputation in stake.

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Regulatory Compliance - the SaaS way !

Hello Friends,

Today morning when I woke up to the music of my 2 year old daugther - Lasya, and checked my email – I saw a mail from SAP Flash on “SAP Solution Stragey for Year 2010” – It immediately made me recollect all the thoughts which were running in my mind for past few months on “Managing Regulatory Compliance in a SaaS way”. Even in my earlier post – I wrote SAP might start supporting the EH&S / Sustainability in a SaaS way”. I think it would be interesting to post my views (literally my own views – Disclaimer here !) on Regulatory Compliance using SaaS. Here it goes ….

Regulatory Compliance is slowly moving towards the SaaS mode of delivery Model, slowly but surely towards SaaS base !. SaaS has the potential to shape a new era in the life of Regulatory Compliance and Sustainabiity Management and serve as a core structure – and style – that defines corporate sustainability in the long run. Key point would be the the ability to support many variations in regulatory requirements, processes, rules and data without custom code. Definitely there are not many customers in world – who are buidling their own codes to manage their business processes, however this happening in some major players and in some functional areas of new regulatory spaces like REACh. Throughout the world – regulations are evolving rapidly and it takes some more time for these to settle down – name it REACh, GHG Management, Cap & Trade. It takes more for developing world to do business in a SaaS way, again it’s a business opportunity and a threat !. I anticiapte it will take couple of years if not decades to fully realize the benefit of SaaS offering for Regulatory compliance.

But company’s can start investing in this sphere to assess the initial data security. For example, investigating in the deployment of use non-sensitive data, such as MSDS, TremCards and DG Documents, Over time, as familiarity and security in the SaaS grow, complete regulatory compliance including disaster recovery can move to the SaaS. Ultimately the SaaS and the data center will switch roles, with the local data center being the disaster recovery site and the SaaS becoming the production site. The major benefits include massive cost shifts, on demand access, disposal infrastructure and new levels of collaboration - support of the regulatory experts to tackle regulatory requirements right the word go, and opportunity to concentrate on core business needs !.

The major benefit and constraints however is the threat of vanishing Base of Pyramid – Customers– who might vanish in short period of time. Another constraint is data migration in SaaS for geographical roll outs for geographically separate data centers (Need to completely understand the Reservoir Project - Intercloud worlload mobility)! And many companies still need legacy Systems to feed their day to day ERP components – making access to these systems in the SaaS is a necessacity. As it should not be a problem as all major databases still focus on relational data storage, all major relational database products now provide native support for storing, accessing and even querying data in XML format.

Finally, there are already quite a number of EH&S Vendors supporting SaaS model, however the major benefit SAP provides is "Access to an emerging generation of software applications that simply never could have been implemented in the traditional, internally managed model"

I would like to study a bit more on this and share my detailed views from multiple data sharinng, security, and other deployment issues in future post.But it will be an exciting journey ahead for industries to go for a SaaS way

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Reflections in Mirror - Whats in store for SAP EHS Consultants in year 2010

Hello Friends,

Its almost exciting begining for EH&S Consultants, when world leaders meet at Coperhangen, all the consultants crossed their fingers hoping some accord would be reached. There was so much dicussions on "BASIC" countries, finally it was just a handful countries, which stalled the historic meet into a non-binding accord similiar to a bus ticket,as mentioned by a Green peace activist.

Well this very outcome should not stop EHS consultants from feeling excited for year 2010. There are so many doors which were open in the year 2009, hoping for Coperhangen success, are now at the door step of opening major market. Whether they are in GHG management, Sustainabilty Reporting or even REACh COmpliance. Market is now in perfect stage for these projects to roll out. SAP also released couple of exciting products during late December like - Sustainability Performance Management, Best Practices for Analytical Reporting Dashboards usign BusinessObjects and SAP Carbon Impact with enhanced features like Facility Dahsboard, XML flashcards. SAP EHS Management with Specialized Incident handling usign Adobe Smart forms. Even Product Compliance - REACH COmpliance 2.0 is on Ramp Up stage. Overall its a exciting stage for EHS consultants to begin the year 2010 - aiming high.

We could also see couple of initiatives later part of 2010, from SAP to enhance the existing SAP EH&S & Sustainability protfolio to cover " Operational and Decision Supporting" - with lot of Analytics now in place with SAP SPM and SAP BP for Analytics Reporting - how best to adapt to requirements to comply with sustainability requirements. The support / extending, SAP Carbon Impact with ECOInvent Database for Lifecycle Assessment for detailed Product Carbon Accounting or SAP Supporting the EH&S / Sustainability in SaaS way !.

Again wishing you all Happy journey in this exciting phase and those who wish to be in EHS field, definately good time to get into SAP, make yourself ready by learning GHG Lead Auditors course or Certificate on Sustainability Assurance Practioners or BusinessObjects with EHS knowledge.

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