Tetra Tech designed and developed the MANAGES™ software, which simplifies management of environmental data collected at coal ash management facilities, manufactured gas plant sites, and other locations where these data are regularly collected. MANAGES assists utilities in meeting monitoring and reporting requirements, managing data, and developing compliance strategies consistent with state and federal regulations. These capabilities benefit the public by providing timely access to accurate data and improved environmental performance at existing and new facilities.

MANAGES is database software customized for management and interpretation of water quality, soil quality, and waste characterization data. It provides a variety of built-in reports and graphs for displaying data, comparisons to regulatory limits, trend analyses, and statistical evaluation. The comprehensive statistical package in MANAGES includes an automated routine for running a standard suite of statistical tests as part of a groundwater monitoring program. Also available is a flexible export module to extract data for use in other popular data mapping and analysis programs such as Surfer™, Rockware™ Utilities, and ArcView™.

MANAGES has a powerful import module capable of reading data from most databases, ASCII files, and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). Users can define multiple templates for customizing imports from different sources, minimizing the potential for transcription errors. To further ensure data quality, a user can utilize several data checks on import, define data limits, and calculate charge balance. Results can also be manually entered and verified, using templates that list parameters arranged to match the order of the data as reported by the laboratory.

Data are stored in either an Oracle™, or Microsoft SQL Server™ relational database that ships with the program. MANAGES uses a Windows™ interface which makes it easy to cut and paste data, graphs, and reports from MANAGES directly to other Windows applications, such as word processor documents and spreadsheets.

MANAGES complies with the requirements of the CCR Rule (40 CFR 257 subpart D) for data analysis and reporting. Statistical routines have been updated to comply with the EPA Unified Statistical Guidance. Reporting modules for detection, assessment, and corrective action monitoring have been added. MANAGES will assist utilities in meeting new monitoring and reporting requirements, managing data, and developing compliance strategies consistent with state and federal regulations.

Annually, Tetra Tech provides training to over 13 member utilities in a 2-day workshop. The annual workshops are an integral part of the software development life cycle as all users get to participate in determining what features will be added to the next release. Each workshop also focuses on a particular set of problems e.g., running statistical routines and understanding the results, reporting to state and federal regulators, or general strategies on how best to analyze their data. The workshops are attended by several experts in the field of ground water management and users get to meet and discuss issues specific to their sites.