The Abrams Clean Tech Report

 

Profiling Enverity: Web-Enabled Applications for Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance Management

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

I recently profiled a company called Enverity (http://www.enverity.com), but I think I forgot to post it. You might have heard of Enverity – maybe so, maybe not — in any case, very interesting company.

THIS MONTH: PROFILING ENVERITY

Last year, the largest independent publisher of specialized news and information for professionals in business and government, the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), announced a new software product that helps clients with ISO 14001 certification and the development and support of their own Environmental Management System (EMS). The vendor behind this software application was Enverity Corporation.

Background
Enverity already had a reputation for building web-enabled software applications for environmental, health and safety compliance management that get the job done before this win, but this particular deal points to a significant shift in the world of environmental compliance: environmental compliance management isn’t just one aspect of sustainability performance measurement: it is THE driving force behind sustainability performance measurement.

Corporations and municipalities spend thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars annually to organize and manage environmental, health and safety data associated with day-to-day operations. In many instances, regular and periodic reports and permit applications must be prepared and submitted to the environmental regulatory authorities. Lack of documentation, delays, inaccuracies and emission/effluent exceedences may result in significant fines (sometimes in excess of $27,500/day). This is why compliance management is so critical to companies today. Data must be reviewed and compared against a myriad of complicated regulations at the federal, state and local levels. Compliance reports must be accurate and in line with any new regulations or permitting requirements. In today’s web-based business world, this requires a software application that is capable of processing and managing significant amounts of data, automatically populating recurring reports, permits and environmental management documentation with client-prescribed information. It requires a collaborative web-based solution that also addresses a client’s need to avoid hours of redundant manual transcription that typically result in costly errors anyway.

Heard From Clients
One of Enverity’s clients, Sanjay Patel, Environmental Manager for the Melrose Park facility of International Truck and Engine Corporation, is clearly pleased with how much easier his life has become with Enverity’s EIMS software in place. “I’m tickled to death,” he said in a recent interview. “This is a web-based system – the biggest advantage is it’s very easy to use. It makes life a lot easier for us. We used to have Microsoft Access database, but Access doesn’t proactively alert you when you have due dates, nor does it have some of the other feature functionality that EIMS has. We first started with Enverity’s Air Compliance solution — that was the pilot for the application. And since then, we have put in place a full blown EMS system to support EMS ISO 14001. We’ve recently started tracking energy under the same program. Our objective is to reduce green house gases — which gets down to cost, management review, training – our professional training – and being able to measure performance. With Enverity, we can do that.”

In 2005, Enverity became the enterprise application behind GreenCompass, Johnson Controls’ web-based software application intended to simplify building certification and expedite environmental green building certification. “This software program takes our best practices and helps facility owners assess multiple buildings, evaluate return on investment, manage green building projects and prepare and submit the LEED certification application,” said Paul von Paumgartten, director of energy and environmental affairs for Building Efficiency of Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls has used the system for the past three years in hundreds of buildings and continues to offer the service to its own customers. The win marked a major milestone for Enverity, and was proof that the company’s proprietary software development platform included a robust enough central data management engine to be able to scale to meet the industry’s needs. As a point of interest: GreenCompass is also endorsed by the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments, a group of leading global corporations that embrace sustainability as the right approach to business. Member organizations of the Alliance (including Johnson Controls) use GreenCompass to help benchmark their own buildings as well as develop their clients’ building projects.

The Technology
Enverity’s platform allows for customizable data management, providing permit/report document creation, automatic data transcription and population, data-point capacity, uniform, easy-to-use data-entry screens, collaborative workflow and information sharing, secure authorization/access control, calculation and analysis of numerous variables (e.g., refrigerant leak rates, etc.).

Companies can deploy Enverity’s solutions to monitor, manage, and optimize environmental, health and safety compliance vis-a-vis current government and/or industry regulations. For example, with Enverity’s Assessment/ROI Planner and Project Management/Certification modules, a company can automatically score a project against the most current LEED-NC (new construction) or LEED-EB (existing building) standards. It then ranks potential LEED credits so building owners can determine the best green features to help them maintain budgets and gain environmental and social returns. The software calculates potential saving streams based on an existing building’s size and illustrates every credit’s financial impact on both first costs and ongoing operations and maintenance. The tool also creates an extensive scope of work report, embedded with the LEED Reference Guide information for each credit. These guides provide an overview and points per credit, documentation requirements, summary of reference standard (where applicable), environmental importance, recommended design strategies and technologies, potential design synergies and trade-offs, economics (where available), calculation methods and formulas, resources and definitions, and case studies (where available). The application also provides comprehensive project development and management functions by organizing tasks and responsibilities to properly manage workflow, maintains electronic work schedules for subcontractors, and archives building data. In addition, it serves as an electronic repository of all the documentation needed to submit a LEED certification application using the required USGBC letter templates that can be loaded onto the tool.

More About Enverity
Enverity provides web-based business software that automates and improves environmental compliance business processes to save organizations time and money. Enverity’s products leverage both a proprietary data-driven software-development platform and domain expertise that allows its clients to effectively store, process, and share data through structured collaborative, workflow processes. Enverity’s unique, hosted platform facilitates quick and easy enhancements and customizations, leading to low upfront investment, minimal technical requirements, and little to no maintenance.
Leveraging its software platform, Enverity has developed an Environmental Information Management System (EIMS). The EIMS, launched in early 2003, aims to centralize, automate, and facilitate corporate environmental, health and safety compliance and management. Enverity Corporation’s EIMS can easily support a whole host of mediums (e.g., water compliance, hazardous waste, solid waste and recycling, refrigerant management, auditing, OSHA, Industrial Hygiene, etc.). Enverity also builds customized business solutions for corporate environmental management. Enverity’s proprietary software is flexible enough to serve the varied environmental needs of companies in many different industries, and is customizable to ensure that system functionality meets the requirements of all users. Enverity Corporation was incorporated in Delaware in April 2000, and is based in San Mateo County, California.

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