EQuIS Environmental Data Management Training Course

Course overview

Environmental teams often receive laboratory analytical results, field observations, groundwater measurements and compliance records in different formats, with inconsistent location names, units and detection-limit conventions. When these data are loaded poorly, the consequences include rejected electronic data deliverables, unreliable trend charts, slow report preparation and difficulty defending environmental decisions to regulators, clients or project stakeholders. This course addresses the operational work of turning incoming environmental data into controlled, traceable and usable information in EarthSoft EQuIS.

Participants learn the EQuIS data lifecycle from project setup and data structures through Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) preparation, validation, loading, review, querying and reporting. They work with EQuIS Professional, EQuIS Enterprise, EQuIS Data Processor (EDP) and EQuIS Collect concepts to manage locations, samples, analytical results, groundwater levels and field data. The course develops practical skills in mapping source data to EQuIS formats, resolving EDP errors, applying QA/QC checks, creating saved queries, reviewing exceptions and producing regulator-ready tables, charts and data extracts.

Delivery combines instructor-led demonstrations with guided work in an EQuIS training environment and realistic contaminated-site and compliance-monitoring scenarios. Each participant completes a five-day case file, including a mapped EDD, validation log, loaded dataset, documented data-review decisions, saved query set and reporting pack. They leave with an EQuIS workflow template and an application plan for improving data intake, review and reporting in their own project or environmental management system.

The course is suited to environmental professionals who need to operate, administer or rely on EQuIS data rather than simply view reports. It is particularly valuable where organisations manage recurring monitoring programmes, laboratory data, remediation sites, industrial compliance records or multi-site environmental portfolios.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure an EQuIS project structure using locations, sample types, analytical test definitions and controlled reference values
• Map laboratory and field source files to an EQuIS Electronic Data Deliverable using EDP formats and format definitions
• Validate EDDs in EQuIS Data Processor and resolve common errors involving keys, units, dates, detection limits and reference values
• Load environmental monitoring data into EQuIS Professional while preserving source-file traceability and load documentation
• Apply data-quality review methods to identify duplicates, missing coordinates, invalid qualifiers, unit inconsistencies and suspect results
• Build saved EQuIS queries to retrieve analytical results, groundwater levels, field measurements and compliance exceptions
• Produce decision-ready data extracts, tabular reports and trend-review outputs from EQuIS Enterprise and EQuIS Professional
• Create a documented EQuIS data-management workflow covering intake, validation, approval, correction and report release

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Environmental Data Managers — who need to establish reliable EQuIS workflows across monitoring programmes and project teams
• Environmental Scientists — who review sampling and laboratory results before using them in assessments, reports and decisions
• HSE Environmental Advisors — who must evidence permit compliance and track environmental monitoring obligations
• Site Remediation Managers — who need defensible groundwater, soil and vapour data for remediation decisions
• Laboratory Data Coordinators — who prepare, validate or correct EDDs before environmental data are loaded
• EQuIS System Administrators — who support project configuration, user practices and data-quality controls

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand the basic purpose of environmental monitoring data, including sampling locations, sample dates, laboratory results, units and detection limits. Familiarity with Microsoft Excel is expected because exercises involve reviewing tabular source data and EDD mappings. Prior use of EQuIS is helpful but not required; the course starts with the EQuIS interface, core tables and data flow. Participants do not need database-administration, SQL-programming or laboratory-method expertise. Complete beginners should expect an intensive first two days focused on EQuIS terminology, controlled values and the structure of environmental data before progressing to validation and reporting.

Training methodology

The instructor uses a realistic environmental monitoring dataset containing boreholes, soil locations, field measurements and laboratory analytical results. Short demonstrations in EQuIS Professional, EQuIS Enterprise and EDP are followed by individual guided exercises in a configured training database. Participants map and validate an EDD, investigate deliberate data-quality failures, load corrected records, build queries and review reporting outputs. Small-group discussions compare review decisions and governance controls. On day five, participants assemble their case-file deliverables and define an implementation plan for their own data intake and reporting process.

Course outline

Day 1: EQuIS foundations and environmental data structures

• EQuIS architecture: Professional, Enterprise, EDP and Collect roles
• Environmental data lifecycle from field collection to published reporting
• Core EQuIS tables for facilities, locations, samples, tests and results
• Facility and project setup concepts for monitoring programmes
• Location identifiers, coordinates, elevations and coordinate-system controls
• Controlled reference values, dictionaries and standard vocabulary management
• Data lineage, auditability and roles in an EQuIS operating model

Workshop: Participants inspect a contaminated-site project dataset and produce a data-flow map showing how field, laboratory and reporting records connect in EQuIS.

Day 2: EDD preparation and EDP validation

• Electronic Data Deliverable structure and EDD table relationships
• EDP format files, format definitions and required-field rules
• Mapping laboratory electronic deliverables to EQuIS result and sample tables
• Preparing location, sample, test and result records for import
• Unit, method, fraction, matrix and qualifier mapping controls
• EDP error messages, warnings and validation-log interpretation
• Correction cycles and documented resubmission of failed EDD records

Workshop: Participants map a laboratory results spreadsheet into an EDD, run it through EDP and produce a corrected validation log with resolved errors.

Day 3: Loading, reviewing and controlling data quality

• Loading approved EDDs into EQuIS Professional
• Reviewing loaded records through forms, grids and record relationships
• Duplicate detection and sample-event reconciliation methods
• Detection limits, result qualifiers and non-detect result handling
• Completeness, consistency, validity and timeliness QA/QC checks
• Managing corrections, superseded values and source-data traceability
• Data-review status, approval checkpoints and exception documentation

Workshop: Participants load a corrected EDD, investigate seeded quality issues and produce a documented data-review decision register.

Day 4: Queries, reporting and environmental decision support

• Query conditions, parameters and result-set design in EQuIS Professional
• Saved queries for analytical results, groundwater levels and field measurements
• Filtering by location, date range, analyte, matrix and reporting limit
• Using EQuIS Enterprise to access approved project data
• Generating tabular data extracts for compliance and consultant reporting
• Trend-review principles for recurring groundwater and soil monitoring data
• Report quality checks for completeness, units, qualifiers and reproducibility

Workshop: Participants create saved queries and a reporting pack for a quarterly groundwater-monitoring review, including an exceptions list.

Day 5: Governance, implementation and applied EQuIS workflow

• EQuIS Collect field-data concepts and synchronisation considerations
• Roles, permissions and segregation of data-entry and approval duties
• Standard operating procedures for data receipt, validation and release
• Laboratory, consultant and contractor EDD submission requirements
• Data-quality metrics and operational dashboard requirements
• Migration, integration and archive considerations for legacy environmental data
• Implementation planning for an organisation-specific EQuIS workflow

Workshop: Participants complete an end-to-end EQuIS case study and produce a data-management workflow, control checklist and 90-day implementation plan.

Tools & standards covered

EarthSoft EQuIS Professional, EarthSoft EQuIS Enterprise, EarthSoft EQuIS Data Processor (EDP), EarthSoft EQuIS Collect

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions