MOH Updates
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Please find below a message from Ministry of Health and BECA that will be of interest to members.
With the New Year marching on, Ministry of Health thought it was time for another DWO update. Below you can read about how DWO has progressed over the last few months. A response document to a list of issues raised is also attached.
As always, you can contact the support desk on 0800 620 383 or support@drinkingwateronline.nz for any questions you have or help you require in using Drinking-Water Online.
You can also take the opportunity directly to give us feedback through a DWO User Survey.
To ensure the project team are capturing and recording your user
experiences and feedback fully, we have set up a user survey through Survey Monkey.
Your feedback and input is invaluable for gathering the sort of intel that will
ensure the solution is and remains fit for purpose into the future. The aim is
to assess the rollout of the Drinking Water Online (DWO) solution generally and
determine what improvements need to be made in order for it to support the
collection of information of the 2017-2018 Annual Report on Drinking-water
Quality (and beyond).
Whilst the initial build is constrained by scope and budget, and aims to
deliver a very specific tool that ensures the Ministry of Health are meeting
their legislative requirements, we are acutely aware of the need and desire for
continued improvement – primarily informed by the users themselves. The
following link will take you directly to the survey (you may need to cut and
paste this URL into your browser): www.surveymonkey.com/r/DWOusersurvey.
The survey will remain available until 28 February 2018. Please share the link
with those as you see fit.
PROGRESS UPDATE
1. Support Desk
2. Enhancements to functionality
3. User Manual Updated
4. User Uptake of Solution
5. Archiving WINZ 6 & 7 Data
6. Compliance Module
1. SUPPORT DESK support@drinkingwateronline.nz
Remember to contact the support desk should you experience any issues using the
solution. They will endeavour to answer your query then and there or will put
you in touch with someone who can. All
user issues and feedback are captured electronically by our team
which ensures we have an accurate record of what needs to be done, including
future enhancements.
2. ENHANCEMENTS
TO FUNCTIONALITY
Drinking-Water Online was first demonstrated to users in March 2017, and much
feedback was received and considered. Since that date, and right through 2017,
improvements were progressively made to DWO, and we plan and anticipate further
improvements as resourcing allows.
Some of the improvements made over the last months include: Samples in: the Batch Converter has been improved, and is routinely used by some to add hundreds of test results in each batch. Compliance with the Standards is automatically calculated. Samples out: you can now extract sample results for multiple zones and plants into one spreadsheet in one step. This includes pre-extract filtering for sample dateMost data tables now default to active items only, with an option to see inactive ones only if needed. Where data tables are long, such as for samples, the latest entries now are shown at the top of the list. Data tables have been optimised to show column headings of most value to users. Almost every column can be used for filtering or sorting the table. range, sample purpose, sample name series, determinand, test method, etc. Water carriers has been streamlined to include a registration history, zone list for extractions and a full list of current tankers. Compliance Quarters have been improved so that they automatically default on creation to showing current WSP and treatment status. That status can be entered and maintained by DWAs directly against the supply or plant, etc., as soon as it is known. This allows DWO to present supply treatment and WSP status at any time, and the quarterly or annual compliance steps can be primarily a confirmation rather than a finding-out step.
3. USER
MANUAL UPDATED
Following recent tweaks and improvements to the solution, you will see that the
user manual has undergone an update. As this is a dynamic document that will
grow and evolve as the solution does, it is recommended that you just click on
the latest version on the DWO Home page and read it there. However you can
download the current PDF if you prefer.
4. USER
UPTAKE OF SOLUTION
Firstly, it is pleasing to see that there has been continued uptake of the
solution by users from around the country – no mean feat when this involves
having to learn a new system, so we thank you all for your patience and
perseverance. We anticipate that as you become more familiar with the solution
and you have completed the initial transitional exercises of setting up your
views, such as import spreadsheets and treatment plant fields, that the
day-to-day use of the solution will become much simpler. We have been tracking
the statistics of user uptake of the solution since ‘Go-Live’ and as of
mid-January, 262 roles have been registered in DWO, including 170 for
suppliers. Those users have added 35,200 test samples, including 29,600 tests
for E. coli. The rate of user entries is trending steeply upwards, as almost a
third of those samples were entered in January alone.
We encourage you all to help grow this user-base by championing the solution.
This can be achieved by sharing your knowledge or simply directing others to
sign up through the support desk on support@drinkingwateronline.nz.
5. ARCHIVING
WINZ 6 & 7 DATA
As you know, active support for WINZ 6 and WINZ 7 is now ceasing. It is the
responsibility of each organisation to determine their individual storage needs
and responsibilities for archiving WINZ 6 & 7 data.
WINZ 6 will continue to be accessible for several months in 2018, but will then
be withdrawn without further announcement. To assist PHUs and contributing
suppliers in maintaining a record of key data from the recent years of the
Annual Survey, ESR will provide each organisation with an extract of this data,
scoped according their supply responsibilities, in Microsoft Excel format.
Assuming all reviews of the 2016/17 data have been completed, this will be
provided by 31 March 2018.
With regards to WINZ 7 data, each PHU already holds their own dataset locally
in a Microsoft Access file. If any supplier would prefer their archived test
sample data to be available to them in Excel or csv format, they should contact
ESR, who will offer this service on a cost recovery basis until 1 December
2018. Several hours work would typically be involved. The spreadsheet would
give suppliers a convenient view of all analytical test results and their
transgression status, independent of the WINZ 7 application, and with the
potential to filter by date range, determinand, zone or plant code/name, etc.
(Note that the default offer is for samples only, so excludes quarterly
compliance, etc.)
If there is sufficient interest in this extraction service from suppliers, the
Ministry may also facilitate a similar extraction from WINZ 7 at the PHU level,
using current Ministry-ESR contracts.
6. COMPLIANCE
Compliance quarters are part of the database design and you will now be in a position to use the July to September 2017 and October to December 2017 quarterly periods to assess water supplier performance using monitoring data inputted. We encourage you to go to the compliance module and check it out as there have been significant changes and improvements to this module since Go-live.
Text from Ministry of Health
"As you are aware, the Stage Two report into Havelock North drinking-water contamination event recommended numerous improvements to the drinking-water framework for New Zealand.
The findings discussed the accountability of stakeholders involved in the supply of safe drinking-water and stated that several parties have responsibility and that high levels of care and diligence are necessary to protect public health. The Inquiry found that “There is an inadequate appreciation of the risks to drinking water, and the economic and health consequences of these risks, by both local government suppliers, and the public to whom those suppliers are accountable".
As you are aware, water suppliers have a range of legal obligations under Part 2A, including to prepare a water safety plan and to obtain approval of the plan from a drinking-water assessor. The status of a water safety plan (eg. drafted, submitted, redrafted, approved, implemented or not started) is captured in the annual reports on drinking-water quality published by the Director-General of Health. While the Annual Report - and status of water safety plans - is publicly available, the actual water safety plans are not.
As a result of the Inquiry findings, the Ministry is seeking to improve the transparency and accountability of water suppliers.
To support this initiative, the Director of Public Health has prepared the attached letter to drinking-water suppliers encouraging them to publish their approved water safety plans and associated drinking water assessor’s report on their website. It is the Ministry’s view that these documents can inform consumers about the safety and quality of their drinking-water and how the supply is being managed.
We have asked DHB public health managers to forward this letter to all large and medium networked suppliers in their regions, and to work with their water suppliers to ensure the approved water safety plans and associated drinking-water assessor reports are publicly available."