1. Module 1 –Basic Permit Info

2. How to get Access to ICIS

3. Requesting Access
All new ICIS users must, at a minimum, complete and submit the Rules of Behavior form. Optionally, if you will need access to enforcement sensitive data, you must also complete the Sensitive Access Request form.
When completed, please submit your completed form(s) to your Regional Administrator. For a complete list of ICIS Administrators, please click here:
ICIS System Administrators List
Please note if you will be using ICIS as an FE&C, NPDES, or ICIS-Air user as your Regional Administrator may differ depending on which Program you're associated with. Your designated Regional Administrator will evaluate your need for access, and if approved, will guide you through the rest of the process.
For EPA Headquarters users, please submit all signed documents and forms to ICIS Customer Support

4. Basic ICIS Navigation
Demo

5. Sample Training Permit
General Foods – Fictitious Permit created for training purposes
Access the copy of the permit for General Foods
What activities need to be done to enter the complete permit into ICIS?
ICIS has a test environment available where you could enter this permit for practice as you are reviewing this module
A sample permit has been developed that will be used for this training. Please refer to the permit for General Foods. As we walk thru the modules, you can code the permit into ICIS Test environment at the same time. If you need an ICIS User id for the Test Database, contact ICIS Customer Support. The first step is to log into the ICIS TEST environment to locate a permit number that does not exist in the database. You will need to create a permit number that can be used for testing or practice. For example, you can create a permit id that has your state in the first 2 characters (this is the only required fields in a permit number), and for the last 7 characters you could use the word TEST and 001, 002, 003, etc. An example of a 9 digit NPDES id would be N M T E S T When others search for permits in the Test database, it would be clear that this permit was used for testing or practice.

6. Create Facility and Add a Permit
Access our On-line Training Modules
Class example - Create a General Foods Company
If you would like to enter our sample training permit along with us, you will need to have created your permit and entered the bare minimum to save the record before proceeding forward. If the NPDES ID does not exist in ICIS, you will not be able to enter any permit information into ICIS. You must access our on-line training module “Adding a Permit” This module expects that the facility and permit exist in ICIS and we are going to continue discussing the fields on the Permit record. In addition, the General Foods permit is available for you to use as a model to practice entering permit limits.

7. Search Permit Search for the permit you created
Since you already created your Test facility, you will need to search for your permit

8. Search Results
The permit search results will appear with some basic information displayed. You can view, edit, reissue, terminate and delete (if you have been given those roles). Click on the NPDES id hyperlink or click on the radio button and “Edit” as both will have the same result.

9. Permit Hyperlinks
At the top of the Permit Basic screen is the hyperlinks related to this permit. As we enter our limits, we will be accessing the permitted features, limits sets and narrative condition hyperlinks. In the dark blue header area, is some important information about this permit including the NPDES Permit ID, Major Minor status and important permit dates. Just a hint …. I can tell where I am in ICIS because the “NPDES Permit” tab is dark blue and the “Basic Info” hyperlink is not underlined. We will go into more detail about the hyperlinks later in this module.

10. Permit Status Permit Status
Permits are assigned one lifecycle status by ICIS–NPDES at a given time, including
Pending
Effective
Expired
Not Needed *
Administratively Continued
Terminated *
Retired
The permit status shows the lifecycle of a Permit at any given time. We will discuss these in more detail. It is important to know that if you use the status of “Not Needed” or “Terminated”, you will not be able to use the permit number again. If you terminate a permit by mistake, contact ICIS Customer Support.
* Will not be able to use permit # again

11. Compliance Tracking Status
Compliance Tracking Status (CTS) allows users to indicate when ICIS–NPDES can generate Violations for a Permit
CTS of “Off” means ICIS–NPDES will not generate any Violations during that time period
ICIS–NPDES will track the changes of the CTS over time, potentially capturing multiple “On” and “Off” periods
CTS defaults to “On” when a Permit is first Effective
The CTS record with the most recent start date is in effect.
There may be a time when a facilities compliance tracking status needs to be turned off for a specific period of time. For example, during extreme weather conditions such as hurricane or floods, etc. If you turn compliance tracking off, the reason field is mandatory. ICIS will keep track of when compliance tracking is turned off and back on for a permittee. In our example you can see that compliance tracking was turned off due to a flood, and then compliance tracking was turned back on when the plant was back in operation. In rare circumstances should compliance tracking be turned off especially for major permittees.

12. Manage Permittees
You can edit the Permittees address information and change the Affliation Type from Permittee to a Co-Permittee
Permittees are a special form of Non-Government Address
At least one Permittee must be entered for a Permit to be saved
Multiple Permittees can be entered
The Manage Permittee will allow you to edit the name and address information and will allow you to change the Affiliation type from Permittee to a Co-Permittee. You will not be able to delete the Permittee unless more than one is linked to this permit. You will find that in ICIS if there are errors or modifications that need to be made to certain fields, there is a business rule which will require you to enter the corrected or updated data prior to being able to remove the existing data. Permittees are a special form of non-government addresses and the business rule is in place for this field. At least one permittee must be entered in order for the permit record to be saved. You can link multiple permittees to a single permit record.

13. Major / Minor Status
ICIS–NPDES tracks changes to a Permit’s Major/Minor Status over time
Only selected Headquarters users may update the Major/Minor Status and Start and End Dates
Major/Minor Rating Code is available to edit to all users who can access the Permit
ICIS will track changes to the Major Minor status. Headquarters is responsible for maintaining this field in ICIS. States and Regions must submit a memo requesting majors to be downgraded to minors and minors to be upgraded to majors. The procedures for upgrading and downgrading permits can be found at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. It is important to note that if any facilities are being downgraded to minors, they must not have a permit status of “noncompliant” on the current QNCR.

14. Permit RNC
Permit RNC Status tracks the Permit’s quarterly RNC status as displayed on the QNCR
Following the running of the Official QNCR for a quarter, users manually correct the status if found to be inaccurate.
RNC Status (Manual)
The Quarterly Noncompliance Report (QNCR) is run officially for the major permittees. In addition to assist the states and regions with identifying the compliance status and possible SNC violations, the QNCR program is also run for the minor permittees. RNC Status for minors is available in ICIS, but will not be displayed in ECHO/OTIS. The RNC status is maintained in ICIS for several years. As stated earlier the information for majors is displayed on the Internet and it is important to ensure the data is accurate. The RNC Status (Automatic) is populated when ICIS runs the Official QNCR for the quarter. If that status is not correct, you must enter the RNC Status (Manual) for the current quarter and you can change previous RNC statuses using the Corrected RNC Status (Manual) field. As you can see in our example, a corrected RNC Status has been entered for 4 quarters.

15. Issuing Organization Issuing Organization
Used to identify the organization (State or EPA) that is tracking compliance for a specific permit
NetDMR uses this field to determine which “Instance” (similar to account) Permittee will use to submit DMRs electronically
The issuing organization is a required field used to identify the Agency that is tracking compliance for a specific permit. Our national electronic DMR submittal program, NetDMR uses this field to determine which Agency the permit number belongs to for submitting their electronic DMRs.

16. ICIS NPDES Facility Interest
This section displays the linked Facility’s information
Edits to the Facility data, except the Federal Grant Indicator, must be made through the Facilities section
Note: Federal Grant Indicator identifies wastewater treatment plants that received Federal dollars to design and build their facility
The Facility section displays the basic address information. Notice it is hard coded and cannot be changed on this screen. If you need to make changes, click on the facility tab. The Federal Grant field identifies permittees that received federal grant dollars to build their wastewater treatment plant. The grant program has not been active for several years, but this field was kept for historical purposes.

17. SIC and NAICS Codes
The EPA data standards have switched from SIC Codes to NAICS Codes
NPDES Permit Applications still request SIC data rather than NAICS
The EPA data standards have switched from the SIC code to the NAICS code, however the SIC code is listed on the permit applications. The SIC code field is probably the most common field used to pull various reports from the database.
To add or remove an SIC code, click on the Add/Remove icon. You will not be able to type in data in this area. We recommend that you add an SIC code to your Test permit. You can follow the instructions on the next few slides.

18. Adding an SIC Code SIC Code Description with the word Wildcard %food
You can search quickly by entering the code or description for the specific SIC code. In this example, enter the Description equal to food and click Search. Notice a list of 3 SIC codes is displayed for you to choose. All of the SIC codes displayed begin with the word “food”. On the other hand, you can use the wildcard feature. If you put a percent sign in front of the word food, you will get a list of any SIC codes that have the word “food” anywhere in the description. Notice our list went from 3 SIC codes to 10 SIC codes.

19. Adding an SIC Code
Highlight your selection on the left and click “Add”
Highlight your selection on the left and decide if this is the Primary SIC code or other. Since a Primary SIC code has been entered already, we will add this code to the “Selected SIC code list where you can have multiple SIC codes. Choose the “Add” on the bottom to add to the list and click done.

20. Adding an SIC Code Adding an SIC Code
A pop up menu will appear that will enable you to add the Primary SIC (small box at the top) or multiple Selected SIC codes. The filter feature on the top left is the best way to search for the SIC code that you want to add. If you know the SIC code, you can enter in the field and Search. If you don’t know the code, you can enter a word or phrase.

21. Adding an SIC Code
SIC codes will be displayed on the Permit Basic Screen
When you go back to the Permit Basic screen, you will see the SIC codes are now displayed on the screen.

22. Application Dates
Some organizations track only the day an Application is received; others track only the day a complete Application is received
The Application Received data elements generate Permit Tracking Events, which will be discussed in a later section
The Application Date is very important for the permit status. Every permit requires that an application must be submitted prior to the expiration date of the permit. In most permits the application must be submitted at least 180 days prior to the expiration date of the current permit. For the permit status to accurately reflect that the permit has been Administratively Continued, one of these fields must be entered into ICIS. Administratively continued means that the permit has expired, however the permittee basically reapplied when they submitted their new permit application within the specified timeframe, and now it is up to the agency to reissue the permit. If the permittee failes to submit the application, they are essentially discharging without a permit.

23. Flow Data Other Information allows users to track Flow Data
Total Appl. Design Flow - required for municipalities
Whether the Permit has a New Source of discharge
Whether the Permit has been Appealed
In the other information area is flow data, new source and appealed data. The Total Design Flow is a required field for municipalities. The other fields are optional.

24. State Water Body Data
This section allows users to track an associated water body, using their own State information
The State Water body data can be tracked in ICIS.

25. Permit Backlog
To assist in managing the NPDES Permit backlog, users may enter
Reissuance Priority Indicator
Backlog Reason
The Office of Water has tracked the reasons for expired permits in the past. These fields are available to explain the reason why a specific permit is not being reissued. Currently there is no set criteria for the indicator field.

26. DMR Cognizant Official
The DMR Cognizant Official is a field that is populated for most permits. The Officials name will appear on DMR preprints.

27. User Defined Fields
Users may enter supplemental information for the Permit into the five free-form text fields
Reminder: Migrated from PCS - RDF6 thru RDF0 (10)
Users have User Defined Fields that can be used for tracking any data that the state or region may be interested in that does not have a field available in the database. These fields were originally migrated from our legacy database PCS. The Regionally defined fields 6 thru 10 were moved to the User Defined fields on the permit basic record. If you are interested in locating the Regionally defined fields 1 thru 5 that were in PCS, check the User Defined fields on the “Facility record.”

28. DMR Non-Receipt and RNC
The DMR Non-Receipt Violation Flag allows an authorized user to switch DMR Non-Receipt Violation generation on and off for minor Permits
The RNC Detection Flag allows an authorized user to switch the detection of Violations on and off for minor Permits
Access to update these data elements is available to selected Headquarters System Administrators
The Violation Generation RNC Detection area is available to turn non-receipt tracking off for the minor permits. For instance, you may have lost some staff that enter the minor DMR data and you want to turn non-receipt tracking off for a period of time until the new employee can be hired and trained. To turn non-receipt tracking off for selected minors or all minors, contact ICIS Customer Support. EPA HQs will make the change to the field in ICIS.

29. Effluent Guidelines
If a Permit is subject to Federal Effluent Guidelines when determining Limits, the user may capture that information in this section
The user may assign multiple Applicable Effluent Guidelines
ICIS was developed to include Effluent Limit Guidelines.

30. Manage Associated Permits
The relationships between associated NPDES Permits within ICIS–NPDES can be tracked
Examples
When an Unpermitted Facility is granted a Permit, the user may associate the Unpermitted Facility ID with the Permit NPDES ID
Effluent Trade Partners
The Manage associated permits will allow you to show a relationship between facilities in ICIS. For instance you may have an unpermitted facility that you inspected and created an “Unpermitted discharger” in the database. Once they submit a permit application and an NPDES id has been assigned, you can show the two ids assigned are related. You can also show a relationship between Effluent Trading Partners.

31. Manage Other Permit Numbers
Users can track other identifiers and relationships for a Permit
Other Permit Numbers do not have to exist as NPDES IDs in ICIS–NPDES
Examples
State tracking number for a NPDES Permit
Air Permit for the same Facility
Users can track other permits to show a relationship specifically for permits that do not exist as an NPDES id. Some examples are a state tracking number for the NPDES permit to enable you to cross reference and run reports or display the permit such as an Historical Society Permit for the same facility.

32. Government and Non-Government Contacts
Users may record as many of the following Contacts and Addresses as they wish for a Permit
Government Contacts (e.g., Permit Writer)
Non-Government Contacts (e.g., Principal Executive Officer)
Non-Government Addresses (e.g., DMR Mailing Address)
Users may enter as many Contacts as they wish for a specific permit. Government contacts such as the Permit Writer, QNCR reviewer, or Lead Technical Contact. In addition, non-government contacts and addresses can be entered. We recommend that you enter a government and non-government contact for your Test facility using the instructions that follow. Instructions for adding Contacts are included at the end of this module.

33. Users may enter detailed comments related to the Permit in this field
Note that these comments can be released to the public

34. The data can be edited or added from the Permit Basic screen
When creating the permit record, Special Regulatory Components can be added
The data can be edited or added from the Permit Basic screen
Users may also remove components if they are not applicable
It is very important to add the Special Regulatory Component to your Permit record if applicable. Usually this is done when creating your permit in ICIS initially. This topic was discussed in the Creating a permit module. If the component was added at that time, any Special Regulatory Components will be displayed on this screen. At any time the component data can be edited or added. In addition, if the component is not applicable, you can remove from ICIS.

35. Permit with 2 Components
This is an actual example of a municipal wastewater treatment plant with multiple components, Pretreatment and POTW.

36. Permit Basic Information Next modules for your review
Permit Tracking Events
Permitted Features
Limit Sets
Limits
Narrative Conditions (schedules)
History Section
Permit Reissuance
Note: To establish permit limits, these modules must be done in this order
We have completed our review of the Permit Basic information. If you are entering all the requirements of a permit, you will need to access our limit modules. The permitted features, limit sets and limits must be reviewed in that order. If there are any schedules in your permit, we have separated them in the database from schedules in an enforcement action and we refer to them as Narrative Conditions. You may have schedule events that need to be entered and it doesn’t matter whether you enter the permit limits or the schedule first. Along with the Permit and Narrative Condition modules, you may want to listen to the Permit Tracking Events training modules for additional information.