New Realities, New Requirements

In the past, Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) was receiving critical emergency and hazardous chemical inventory reports, known as Tier II Reports, in paper hardcopy and Tier 2 Submit floppy disks. IEMA Administrators endured a long and time-consuming process for their management of the Tier II Reports. IEMA’s budget for Tier II personnel was cut by almost 50%, forcing IEMA to look for a more feasible way of managing Tier II Reporting with fewer resources.

Old, Manual Process was Difficult to Sustain

•   The Tier 2 Submit floppy disk program would override reports if the facilities had the same record key IDs.
•   Administrators lost facility data while importing into the Tier 2 Submit program.
•   Administrators spent a lot of time importing all e-mail attachments, CDs, and diskettes into the old program.
•   Administrators spent a lot of time and money on printing out paper copies of Tier II reports and attachments for their own files.
•   Program administration team took more than 6 months to complete inventory data entry.
•   In addition to IEMA’s core Tier II team, IEMA employed additional clerical support to work part-time with Tier 2 data entry activities.
•   Since Tier 2 Submit software has no archive capabilities, staff had to print out each Tier II report for facilities that reported electronically.
•   Each year the printing process took at least three months to complete.
•   Historical reports were stored in 10 large filing cabinets It took 10 large vertical filing cabinets to store each year’s reports.
•   Each year, in December, Tier 2 reminder letters were printed and mailed to all 7,000 facilities.
•   The program group spent approximately 100 hours preparing a mailing list, printing letters, stuffing envelopes, and transporting letters to the mailroom.
•   The program group spent over $1,700 in postage, letterhead, and envelopes.

After an implementation of Hazconnect in early 2005, IEMA has achieved an astounding 99.9% online reporting rate from its 7000+ facilities and achieved significant cost savings in terms of improved data quality and accessibility.

Significant Savings with New System

• Usually getting businesses to participate is difficult. The program team had a 99.9% success rate of online submission in the first year statewide. Only a few facilities sent in hardcopy reports.
• Completed the Tier II Report review in less than 2 months without the help of any additional clerical support that core staff relied on during the previous years.
• Expenses for resource time and mailouts have been slashed.
• Reports and archive data is available 24x7 to businesses and program administrators.

New Features Extend the Team’s Capabilities

• The system’s Export to CAMEO feature allows critical data to be shared with LEPCs and fire departments statewide easily.
• IEMA has the resources to conduct compliance assurance on facilities for the first time since 2001.
• Have more time to concentrate on other areas such as Hazard Mitigation.