Tonnage Reporting Data Miner Reports

Description

This tonnage data is submitted to the DEP via an Excel Workbook to enter monthly summaries of wastes received at a solid waste facility (SWF) as required by N.J.A.C. 7:26-2.13(e). The completed Workbook must be uploaded every month through the Solid Waste Facility Monthly Tonnage Report service on NJDEP Online (https://www.nj.gov/dep/online/). Therefore, when a request is submitted for this data, an OPRA request is required every time and as the data is uploaded monthly, similar OPRA requests for the (same) but updated data become cumbersome. While there may only be a few OPRA requests per month, many of them have similar queries, potentially causing duplicative work.

Problem Statement


The Division needs a way to allow people within and outside of our Division in the DEP and the public to access the tonnage reports that we collect from Solid Waste and Recycling Facilities. This project is derived from the frequent requests via OPRA about receiving information about solid waste and recycling facilities.

Project Justification

 There are a few benefits to this project, including the reduction of OPRA requests on data that should be publicly accessible anyway. This will ease the burden on both OPRA and the employees that process these requests. We can continue to answer these requests for non-confidential information through OPRA requests.
 Or we can implement an alternative that would reduce the number of OPRA request, but then reduce the ability for the DEP to track such requests by sending all of these requests to the date unit each time reports are needed. This would unnecessarily add to the data unit’s workload.
One other alternative is through development of dashboards via Tableau, but that has its own set of issues that would be circumnavigated by the development of data miner reports.

Estimated Transactions

None

Target Rollout Date

27 May 2024

Target Rollout Date Reason

Continued potential for duplicative work by having both the OPRA and Data Unit processing these requests. Completion target - 12/01/2024
Inaccessibility of data to public, leading to more OPRA requests when the data should be publicly available.

Attachments

Activity