STATE OF MICHIGAN

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

ELECTRONIC REPORTING FOR WASTEWATER FACILITIES

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTIONS

Why Electronic DMRs?

Most wastewater facilities are required to submit to the Department a monthly Discharge Monitoring 

Report (DMR) which typically summarizes effluent quality or groundwater monitoring well results. An 

Electronic DMR (EDMR) simply provides an alternative way for facilities to submit these wastewater

reports. Using an electronic process for submitting reports can represent significant labor savings while

greatly increasing the timeliness, accuracy, and overall reliability of this information.

What is the Electronic Environmental (E2) Reporting System?

The Department has chosen Electronic Environmental (E2) Reporting System as the wastewater electronic 

reporting application for EDMR file submissions. The Department has worked with several other states, 

EPA, and its consultant, enfoTech & Consulting, Inc. to incorporate recent advances in web technology.

This new web application, the E2 Reporting System, includes advances such as the use of a more modern 

file format that can be used. This newer format, Extensible Markup Language (XML), is a universal file 

format that is being increasingly used for transmitting information across the Internet. The system also 

takes advantage of this newer technology to provide quick and easy to use forms for online data entry. 

Many of these new features make it be easier than ever to report electronically!

What are some of the benefits of EDMRs and the E2 Reporting System?

1. Save wastewater discharge facilities compliance costs with a streamlined reporting method and readily 

available computer tools,

2. Save program costs by reducing resources required for managing paper-based DMR reports,

3. Improve accuracy of compliance data by eliminating potential errors that might otherwise be introduced 

through manual data entry in the database, and

4. Improve the DEQ wastewater program's overall effectiveness with faster responses to data analyses,

compliance assessment, and decision-making.

What methods does the E2 Reporting System allow for submitting DMRs?

The E2 Reporting System provides the following two methods for submitting DMRs:

1. online manual data entry in web forms, and

2. copy and paste daily data from a spreadsheet into an online web form, and

3. submittal of preformatted XML files that meet the Department’s Electronic DMR Transmission Protocol.

What are the system requirements in order to submit EDMRs using the E2 Reporting System?

Since the E2 Reporting System is web based, the only system requirement for a wastewater facility to gain

access to the EDMR system is a web browser. For online data entry, there are no additional system

requirements since you will be able to enter data online, including the ability to save information which
will be completed on a following day. The E2 Reporting System includes an integrated process for

completing, signing, and submitting the information that was entered online.

In order to submit EDMR data to the DEQ, the data file must conform to the Department’s Electronic DMR 

Transmission Protocol. The protocol contains information about the EDMR data format and is available 

from the E2 Reporting System web site. Wastewater discharge facilities can choose to develop software inhouse to generate compatible data files, or purchase commercial software or services to generate these files. 

It is the wastewater discharge facility's responsibility to ensure that the EDMR data complies with the 

Department’s EDMR Transmission Protocol.

Computer requirements are:

1. The XML capable web browser, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, and an Internet connection.

What general approach could be used to incorporate an EDMR file creating routine in my existing

wastewater facility database?

In many cases, our wastewater facilities either purchased database systems or have staff that created some 

form of a data management system that is currently used to generate printed DMR forms and data. In many 

cases, these systems also help with the calculation of annual, monthly or other average values that may 

need to be reported. In most cases, it will be relatively easily to modify these existing data systems to 

automatically generate the text files that makeup the electronic DMR. In order to accomplish this, one 

should refer to the EDMR file protocol document that is available fromthe Department’s web site. The 

EDMR files are simply XML formatted text files that contain your wastewater facility’s specific 

monitoring requirements and the results that you wish to report. Many newer off the shelf office products 

(e.g., Microsoft Office XP) now have the ability to read and export XML files.

How does the E2 Reporting System capture an Electronic Signature?

Electronic signature requirements are being satisfied using unique Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) 

that are issued to EDMR Certifiers as part of the registration process. In order to obtain a PIN, user’s will 

have to be the permittee or an authorized representative of a wastewater facility. In addition, the PIN holder 

must sign a notarized agreement with the Department that protects the use and confidentiality of the 

person’s PIN. This PIN must be entered through the secure Internet connection when submitting each 

EDMR file.

What is the procedure to request a PIN number change?

The E2 Reporting System provides the flexibility to allow the DEP to change PIN numbers and document

the reasons for changes. Potential reasons for changing PIN numbers are:

1. The facility’s authorized representative(s) has changed,

2. The facility has a reason to believe that the PIN security has been compromised, and

3. The DEQ has a reason to believe that the PIN security has been compromised.

What if I sent an EDMR file to the E2 Reporting System and need to correct the report?

The system is fully functional and accepts both original submissions and revisions to those submissions. 

The E2 Reporting System automatically identifies subsequent submissions and flags these as revisions.

When can I begin submitting EDMR’s for my facility?
Once the E2 Reporting System is placed in production, wastewater permit holders interested in

participating in the electronic data transmission program should visit the E2 Reporting System web site to

obtain additional information. In many cases, facilities may wish to start by entering information using the 

online functionality of the E2 Reporting System. The online data entry system creates a fully populated 

XML file that contains all of the necessary DMR data.

If a facility wishes to automate the creation of electronic DMR files for submittal, the permittee should

review the XML schema requirements that are part of the Department’s EDMR Transmission Protocol. 

From there, the facility should consider their existing data management systems and determine the steps

they must take to establish a process for generating XML files. In many cases, the XML files created using 

the online entry process will provide an excellent reference for checking your ability to generate a prepopulated XML file.

Who can (or must) submit DMR data electronically?

Participation in electronic reporting for wastewater DMRs is voluntary. A permit holder wishing to

participate must register to use the system and the certifiers must sign an Electronic Signature Application

Agreement.

How can I find out more?

Additional information is being made available on the Department’s web site.
E2 REPORTING SYSTEM TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

The password I received may be difficult to remember. Can I change my password?

Yes. The Department will initially issue you a password after creating your account. The first time you log 

in, you will be prompted to enter your old password, along with your new password. The new password 

should be something that will be easily remembered, and must be at least 8 characters in length. After 

clicking Save changes, you will be prompted to login again, using your new password. You will be emailed notification of this change.

How can I view information about a facility that I am associated with?

Upon successfully logging into the system, on the left hand side, there are icons for each functional area of 

E2 Reporting System. Click on Facility Information in order to see which facilities that you may be 

creating EDMRs. To see detailed information about a particular facility, click on the blue “i” to the left of 

the facility name. To view information about another facility, choose from the drop-down at the top of the 

page.

There is a gray bar at the top of the screen, just below the DMR tab. What does the “Facility: 

Cerfify: # View: #” mean?

For each facility that you are associated with, you have been assigned either a Certifier role or a Viewer 

Role. Certifiers can create, certify, and submit EDMRs using E2 Reporting System. Viewers can create 

EDMRs, but cannot certify and submit the file. Both Certifiers and Viewers can view reports that have 

been submitted for a facility that they have been associated with. The information on the status bar 

displays the number of facilities that you have Certifier or Viewer privileges for. For example, Facility: 

Certify: 2 View: 1, means that you are associated with three facilities, two of which you act as Certifier, 

and one that you are a Viewer for.

How do I preview or print my reporting requirement for a particular permit?

Click on the Reporting Requirements & Forms icon to the left. Using the tabs, select the type of report you 

are interested in, such as Summary DMR, or Daily DMR. Select the Facility and Permit Number from the 

drop-downs at the top of the screen. Within the grid, find the month that you wish to preview the reporting 

requirement for, and click the icon in the View Form column. This will bring open a new browser that has 

two tabs labeled Form and XML. To preview the reporting requirement, click on Form. To print, right 

click on the form and select print.

The Preview Requirements window has appeared after I selected View Form. Can I edit the 

information that is displayed through this window?

No. The Preview Requirements browser window is for displaying information only. There are two tabs, 

Form and XML at the top of this window. By clicking on the XML tab, you can see all of the actual XML 

that is used to display the Form tab. Information within the XML cannot be edited within this window 

either. In order to do any editing of information, click on either the Download icon, or the Online Entry 

icon.

How do I create an EDMR?

E2 Reporting System has three options for creating an EDMR. Users can manually enter data through an 

online web form, copy and paste daily data into the bottom of the web form, or they can download a 

template XML file and create their own EDMR. Depending on the needs and resources of your facility, 

you may choose any of these options.
How do I fill out a web form?

In Reporting Requirements and Forms, after selecting the Facility and Permit Number, click on the icon in 

the Online Entry column that corresponds to the month you would like to create an EDMR for. This will 

open a new browser window. At the top of the web form, some of the information has been filled in for 

you, depending on the information that has been supplied by the Department. Other fields have text boxes, 

radio buttons and drop-downs for you to select and fill in. 

Some fields have restrictions associated with them, such as date fields. All date fields must be filled in 

using the following format, CCYY-MM-DD. For example, January 22, 2003 would be written 2003-01-22. 

Also, all drop-downs must be populated. Near the bottom of the page is the certification area, which must 

be filled in, and a comment area. 

At any point, you may click the Save button and close the browser. When you are ready to continue with 

filling out the form, again, click on the Online Entry icon. The data that you had previously filled in should 

be there. 

For a monthly DMR, the facility selected may have multiple monitoring groups associated with it. To 

navigate to another mo nitoring group, either select the monitoring group from the drop-down at the top left 

corner of the web form, or scroll down to the bottom of the web form and click on Save and next ‡, or fl

Save and back.. 

Once you have finished filling out the entire web form, and you are ready to submit the file, click on 

Finished and generate submission file. You will be prompted through a wizard-like process that will lead 

to the Submit Reports window. Enter the PIN that has been provided to you, read the certification 

statement, check on the I Certify, and click Submit File. The status of your submission will be displayed 

on the screen, and also will be sent to you via email. Next you will be prompted to download the file that 

you just submitted. This file is fo r record-keeping purposes at your facility.

How do I copy and paste daily DMR data?

In Reporting Requirements and Forms, select the tab labeled Part B – Daily. A fter selecting the Facility 

and Permit Number, click on the icon in the Online Entry column that corresponds to the month you would 

like to create a Daily EDMR for. This will open a web form in a new browser window.

At the same time, open up your spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel. Compare the parameters 

listed at the top of the web form with those listed on your spreadsheet. Move the columns in your 

spreadsheet as necessary to make them consistent with the web form. Starting with the actual daily data, 

highlight from the upper left hand corner of your daily data, but do not highlight the parameters or 

date/number. Select copy. Scroll down to the bottom of the web form, and paste the data into the large text 

box below the label Convert Data. Click on the Convert button. Scroll up and make sure that the data had 

copied and pasted successfully. 

Once you have finished filling out the entire web form, and you are ready to submit the file, click on 

Finished and generate submission file. You will be prompted through a wizard-like process that will lead 

to the Submit Reports window. Enter the PIN that has been provided to you, read the certification 

statement, check on the I Certify, and click Submit File. The status of your submission will be displayed 

on the screen, and also will be sent to you via email. Next you will be pro mpted to download the file that 

you just submitted. This file is for record-keeping purposes at your facility.

How do I clear the tabular fields on a web form that uses copy and paste?

To clear out the fields that appear in the daily data section of the web form, scroll down to the bottom of the 

web form, and click on Convert. This ‘paste’ the empty text in the text field into the tabular fields.
How do I download a template EDMR file?

In Reporting Requirements and Forms, after selecting the Facility and Permit Number, click on the icon in 

the Download XML column that corresponds to the month you would like download. You will be 

prompted for the location to save the template file. The template file contains all of the information that is 

displayed when using the View Form function. It can be thought of as a blank DMR form. The parameter 

and facility information has been filled in for you. Using a separate utility that may be provided by your 

facility, you may use this template to create your submission file, by populating the data elements in the 

XML file. 

How do I submit an EDMR file?

On the menu to the left, select Submit Reports. The first step asks you to locate the file from your local 

machine, and select it using the Browse button. Enter the PIN that has been provided to you, read the 

certification statement, check on the I Certify, and click Submit File. The status of your submission will be 

displayed on the screen, and also will be sent to you via email.

How can I view or print an EDMR that has been previously submitted?

On the menu to the left, select View Reports. Select the facility and time range that you are interested in, 

and click Get Reports. Below the search criteria a list of reports will be displayed along with some other 

file details, such as type of report, submission date, etc. Select a report by clicking on the icon to the far 

left, in the Report column. The View Report Result screen will open in a new browser window. Click on 

the Form tab to see the completed report. Right click and select Print to print.

This window is similar to the Preview Requirements screen, in that it has the Form and XML tabs. It 

differs in that it has a Chain of Custody tab, which provides detailed information about the submission, 

such as certifier details, submission date, acknowledgement date, and confirmation number. Also, a 

checksum validation is performed, to insure that the file that was submitted has not been altered in any 

way. All times, (except the checksum validation time, which is the local server time), are displayed using 

Coordinated Universal, or Greenwich Mean, Time. Click on the UTC to see a conversion table.

After I submitted a file, I received an email that there were errors in my submission. What do I do?

Upon submission, E2 Reporting System checks to see if the file that you are submitting is a valid XML file, 

and that it conforms with certain Departmental and System rules. The information within the email you 

received will indicate the type of error that has been encountered. The most common errors involve data 

formats. For example, all dates must be entered as CCYY-MM-DD, all times must be entered HH:MM:SS. 

One of the best ways to ensure that your file will be valid is by using the web form. The web form has built 

in fields that allow only certain values to be entered, by utilizing drop-downs for Frequency, Units, etc. 

Also E2 Reporting System checks the file that you have submitted against the reporting requirements that 

you have downloaded. If you change a permit limit value, for example, the system will reject your file. 

For a detailed list of reporting errors, refer to the user manual provided by your department. Once you have 

corrected the issues, re-submit your file.