MP-Desktop Objects and Terminology

An Introduction to MP-Desktop Objects and Terminology

MonitorPro Desktop contains a number of primary entities/objects. Below are their default names, however, these can be renamed (some commonly used alternatives are in brackets).

Location

Groups

Locations Groups (often called Site Groups or Monitoring Type/Data Type Groups) are local groupings of Locations. In multi-site implementations, this might be Regional or Geographical groupings and in single-site, this might be Monitoring Type/Data Type groups such as Water, Dust, Air, etc. 

Locations

Locations (often called Site or Monitoring Type/Data Type). This is the top level of grouping for Sample Points. The location contains Sample Point Groups, which in turn contain individual Sample Points. In a multi-site database (where there is more than one physical, geographic site) this top level is likely to be used to define these physically distinct sites. In a single-site database then this level can be renamed and used as the Monitoring Type/Data Type (the common groupings for the monitoring locations such as Surface Water, Groundwater, Noise, etc). This allows the lower levels of grouping to be used in a more fine-grained way (such as Surface Water containing groupings for Lakes, Rivers, etc).

Multi-Site

Where there are many sites in a database, for example, a landfill company managing 20 landfill sites in a single database. In this case, locations would typically be called 'Sites'. E.g. Windy Hollows Landfill, Blueberry Hill transfer station, etc. All sample points and groups of sample points located in each site are within this folder.

Single-Site

Where there is a single site in a database, this level of organisation can be used to denote the type of data typically called Monitoring Type or Data Type, e.g. Groundwater boreholes, Dust Gauges, Weather, etc.

Sample Point Group

A sample point group is a logical collection of sample points, e.g.

• Perimeter gas boreholes
• Leachate wells
• Groundwater Piezometers

A sample point can appear in any number of sample point groups they are not mutually exclusive.

Sample Point

A sample point refers to a unique sampling location. It is a container to store readings taken at, or about, that location.

They are single unique items within the Site or Monitoring Type folders described above. They are user-defined and typically refer to a geographical location with a known X and Y coordinate, however, they can also refer to non-fixed geographical objects for an area. They could also be used for a non-geographically fixed item such as a vehicle or a person.

Examples might be:

• Borehole1, Borehole 2, Borehole 3, etc
• Dust Gauge 1, Dust Gauge 2, Dust Gauge 3, etc
• Stack 1, meter 3, pump ABC, river points 23, Peter in the warehouse, vehicle registration number ABC123, weighbridge 26, recycling bin 45, etc etc etc.

Variable Suite

A variable suite is a logical grouping of variables, e.g. air quality indicators, total metals, field measurements. A variable can appear in any number of variable suites.

Variables

A variable is a substance being measured, e.g. CO2, Alkalinity mg/L, Energy Consumed kWh.

Unit

A unit is the unit of measurement for the variable(s) it is associated with. 

Data Source

A source is used to determine from where the data originated, e.g. Field Reading, Lab Reading. 

Sample Type

A descriptor of the type of sample that has been taken, for example, duplicate, quality, spike or blank. Its primary use is to denote QA/QC samples so they can be filtered in/out of a Dataset during reporting. Each Sample Type used for QA/QC has a special type that needs to be associated with it. this allows for automation of QA/QC management in the Monitoring Scheduler.

It can be expanded to denote any relevant differentiator not included in the Sample Point, Source, or Sample Reference (non-regulatory, purged, grab). Data can subsequently be filtered by Sample Type to provide only relevant information, for example, Sample Types for the tide coming in or going out are of primary importance to estuary sampling when a plant is upstream of a sampling point. Labelling data with tide direction allows the selection of flow in one direction. 

Data Point

A data point refers to a unique individual piece of information. X and Y coordinates can be added to individual data points to refer to geographical location or a specific area of a site. A data point is inextricably linked to the Date/Time, Sample Point, Data Source, and if provided Sample Type,  Laboratory Ref, and Sample Ref.  

Sample Reference

A sample is what is physically taken for analysis; this could be a water sample for example. Results from a sample can be imported into the system with a sample reference, which data can then be viewed against in the system. Sample references can also be automatically generated from a Monitoring Schedule.

Datasets and Dataset Folders

A Dataset is used to store a pre-selected set of sites; sample points, variables, sources, and a date range which to filter the data upon.

You can create a Dataset with fixed dates, or specify as a dynamic date, i.e. the last complete month. There are also a number of additional filters to better refine the required output. Datasets are the backbone of the application in terms of quickly and easily producing output from this library of saved Datasets. 

Control Panel

The main area for configuring MonitorPro settings and workflow functions. All system and administration tools are located under the Control Panel. 

Calendar

The Calendar Control Function allows overviews of various functions of MonitorPro in a calendar format. The calendars are accessed via the Database Explorer.

There are five different calendars available and daily, weekly, and monthly views can be accessed.

• Data
• Breaches
• Files Imported
• Scheduled Tasks
• Monitoring Schedules
  
  

Compliance

A Compliance is a group of Compliance Rules. Each Compliance Rule contains a number of Compliance Levels. A Compliance Level refers to a specific upper or lower limit set against a variable, e.g. CO Upper Limit of 10ppm. A Compliance Rule includes the location(s) this is applicable to and any conditional or additional rules, which ned to be applied. 

Compliance can be used in multiple ways:

• Enforced regulatory limits
• Company-enforced limits
• Targets
• They can be static (fixed), or more dynamic such as calculated values, and also conditional on other factors (discharging, start-up conditions, etc.)

Recycle Bin

Deleted items are moved into the Recycle Bin. Items may at a later date be restored from the Recycle Bin by right-clicking them. 

Archive Bin

Archived items are moved into the Archive Bin. Items may at a later date be restored from the Archive Bin by right-clicking them. The archive folder allows for data to be separated out for historical locations and avoids the clutter of the main Database Explorer.