Successful air quality management programs depend on access to high-quality data to develop regulations that protect public health, demonstrate compliance, and track progress. Understanding the importance of this data, the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) in EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) is transitioning to a “Unified Platform” for their numerous air data systems. These systems, developed separately over time, have resulted in overlapping information, business processes, shared services, and system features. By consolidating these systems into the Unified Platform, the EPA aims to eliminate redundancy, gain efficiency, and enhance the user experience.
The Unified Platform will have a state-of-the-art architecture and will collect, process, store, and distribute all OAQPS-managed air data within a single system. This project seeks to:
- Reduce burden on state, local, and tribal air agency and industry partners.
- Create a single data submission portal that uses one username and password.
- Offer a single, modern portal to submit, view, review, certify, modify, and quality assure information.
- Maintain one data query system with increased data availability.
- Lower operational, infrastructure hosting and maintenance costs.
Data discovery began in September 2024. The team is currently creating a data inventory, prototyping data input, mapping business processes, building a system feature inventory, and exploring a standardized data submission framework.
Consistent with feedback from the E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC) during the fall meeting in Denver (see full EELC meeting article above), OAR will seek state, local, tribal, and key EPA partner office representatives to help steer and oversee development of the Unified Platform. In alignment with the Digital Strategy, the Unified Platform will be developed in an iterative, agile fashion, providing many opportunities for stakeholders to review and provide feedback. Additionally, the team will continue to consult with the EELC as the work progresses.
For more information on the Unified Platform project, please email the team.
