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SBP Data Transfer System

Information Bulletin No.5

Introduction

The SBP Data Transfer System (DTS v0.5) has now been up and running for seven weeks. Over 300 transactions have been recorded and more than one-third of SBP Certificate Holders are making use of the system. That is an encouraging start, and we’ve received some useful feedback from those Certificate Holders that have sent or received SBP Transaction Claims through the system; some key themes are reviewed below.

For those Certificate Holders who have not yet used DTS v0.5, users report that it’s easy to use and that it simplifies the process of passing SBP claims to customers. Use of the DTS became mandatory on 1 October 2016, and it is the only valid mechanism for recording details of SBP Transaction Claims being passed to customers. A review of Transaction Claims in the DTS for each Certificate Holder will become part of the Certification Body’s audit process. Please start to use the system now.

Feedback since ‘go live’

So far, the implementation of DTS v0.5 has been very smooth. Feedback received to date has been constructive and it is extremely useful for informing the development of v1.0. Three themes have emerged, as follows:

Automatic form filling – users have asked whether it is possible to implement a form filling solution providing the option to select previously entered data for certain data fields, thereby saving time in completing each DTS entry. That is a great suggestion, but unfortunately the application used to provide DTS v0.5 will not support such a solution. However, it will be addressed within DTS v1.0, as that system will have the capability to store details of customers and suppliers. As a short-term solution it might be worth considering an automated form-filling application for your web browser. There are a number available, some of the more popular ones are reviewed in this article. Please note, SBP is not able to endorse any specific service.
Review of data inputs – users have expressed a wish to be able to access a summary of all the transactions they have entered, both for the purpose of checking the accuracy of the data entered and for maintaining records of the transactions. As a result of this feedback we are now working on enabling such functionality for v0.5. In the meantime, should any erroneous data find its way into the system, please email DTS@sustainablebiomasspartnership.org with a full explanation of how the entry should be corrected; and
Volume of data input required – users have advised that, in some cases, the number of transactions entered into by a Certificate Holder can make the manual data entry process burdensome and, therefore, enhancing the functionality of the DTS such that data may be uploaded en masse from an appropriately formatted file would improve the efficiency of the data input process. Again, this suggestion will be considered for v1.0.

Instruction Documents 5A, 5B and 5C v1.1

Instruction Documents 5A, 5B and 5C v1.1 were published on 12 October and are available at: http://www.sustainablebiomasspartnership.org/documents/standards-documents/instruction-documents

A training session is being held on 8 December at Hilton Schiphol Airport Amsterdam from 9am to 1pm for Certification Bodies and Certificate Holders. The session provides an ideal opportunity to improve your understanding of the data collection and communication requirements for feedstock and energy and carbon savings.

To register for the session please send your details to Melanie Wedgbury.

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