What is nVIRO? 

nVIRO was carefully designed and engineered specifically to support the unique business needs of Environmental Regulatory Agencies (ERAs).  nVIRO incorporates a robust data architecture, built to support the unique complexities of environmental regulatory programs, and was designed based on many decades of combined staff experience building both agency-wide and program-specific environmental information management solutions.

nVIRO was built from the ground up to ensure compatibility with EPA’s regulatory and system interface requirements. For federal systems, it fully supports the data submission mechanisms of the Exchange Network and is fully compliant with the requirements of the Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Rule (CROMERR).

It is a proven agency-wide solution, already in use at various state environmental agencies, and includes the following critical capabilities:

• Support for online interactions (e.g., electronic permitting and compliance reporting, FOIA, and public notices) by the public and regulated community.

• Support for agency media/regulation-specific procedures and data needs, by balancing standardization of common, core processes with support for program-specific needs.

• Support for rapid system adjustments in response to regulatory change or agency process re-engineering (such as the regulatory agency shift to e-government and an automated mobile workforce).

nVIRO’s Model

The biggest challenge with enterprise solutions for ERAs is that they typically sacrifice either program-specific needs (by forcing programs into an overly generic solution), or long-term sustainability (by providing a monolithic, semi-custom, agency- or program-specific solution). Windsor has crafted a powerful, innovative solution that achieves the best of both program-specific needs and sustainable agency-wide needs without the shortcomings of either.

nVIRO, at its core, mirrors the fundamental functions of an ERA, and augments these with dynamic, user-configurable capabilities. This architectural combination enforces agency-wide standardization and sharing where most valuable, while also supporting program-specific terminology, data entry forms, workflows, document templates, notifications, and reports where necessary. Additionally, the standardized approach and user interface facilitates cross training of staff, as opposed to promoting system specific experts.

Regulatory Lifecycle Support

nVIRO's primary focus is support for the regulatory lifecycle. The user interface is separated into an External Interface (focused on the regulated community), and an Internal Interface (focused on Agency staff). The external interface provides the ability to submit electronic forms for permit/license applications and renewals, submit compliance reports, and perform other supporting tasks. The internal interface provides the functions necessary to process applications, develop permits, conduct evaluations, and conduct related enforcement activities.

What are the Key Capabilities of nVIRO?

Key capabilities of nVIRO include the following:

• Online portal for regulated community

• Centralized management of regulated entities

• Application submissions

• Permit management

• Compliance reporting

• Evaluations/inspections

• Enforcement

• Spatial data management

• Document generation and management

• Workflows and notifications

• Mobile field collection

• Environmental data monitoring

• Reporting and data inquiry

• Financial data management

• System administration and configuration 

For additional information on these capabilities, please see the related nVIRO sub-topics links.

nVIRO Modules

nVIRO is comprised of five primary modules:

nCORE

nCORE is the centerpiece of nVIRO, enabling the full integration of permit, compliance, and enforcement functionality across one or more regulatory program areas. Utilizing workflow management dashboards, the permitting, compliance, and enforcement activity processes are guided to completion.

nFORM

nFORM supports the management of online submissions from the agency’s client base, whether these be regulated entities, the general public, or other interested parties. Utilizing a low-code approach to form design, agencies can build and configure their own simple or complex forms, requiring e-signatures or not, integrated with payment processes if necessary to accept submitted data.

nSPECT

nSPECT provides mobile inspection capabilities supporting inspectors even when there is no data connection.  Contextual data is typically prepopulated and data returned via a seamless two-way integration with the nCORE module.

nSITE Explorer

nSITE Explorer empowers the public, regulated community and staff with self-service data exploration and discovery.  The map-based display of sites and areas of environmental interest allows users to query data based on program preferred filters.

nVISAGE

nVISAGE provides a flexible reporting environment to allow staff to manage the reporting needs of their programs.