Optimisation, Upgrading, and further Development of the Software EPM-KOMPAS for Environmental Performance Measurement and Evaluation
Table of contents
The software EPM-KOMPAS, which was created in co-operation with a circle of Saxon industry partners (small and medium-sized companies of the mechanical engineering industry) and industrial associations (inter alia VDMA, ZVEI, BDI etc.), was developed in an interdisciplinary collaboration at the Chair of Environmental Management and Accounting within the scope of the finished research project EPM-KOMPAS "Environmental Performance Measurement as an Instrument for a Sustainable Management. Conception, operationalization and multiplication of a controlling instrument for the environmental performance measurement as a basis for a publicly available specification" was financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The software is based on the idea of an integration of environmental, quality and risk management and can be used as a starting point for environmental management or for the further development of an existing environmental management in small and medium sized companies (SME).
For information about using the EPM-KOMPAS software for free, please visit our parallel German website.
Within the scope of the demands and dynamics posed by the practice of measuring the performance and success of environmental management, actual results and criteria to measure, assess, and evaluate environmental performance are needed.
That is why the EPM-KOMPAS, a tool to control environmental performance measurement, was customised at TU Dresden especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and offers not only reporting, but also decision functions. Moreover, it was developed for companies with the principle of decision support, the objective being to support these companies in integrating their environmental performance into the internal decision-making process.
Due to its comprehensive approach, the EPM-KOMPAS can greatly influence the decision-making, planning, controlling, and monitoring processes in a company. Thus, the aim should be an integration into the existing decision processes at a company, since the measured environmental performance of a company/a process/a product forms the basis for entrepreneurial and business decisions. On the basis of the driver analysis and Environmental Breakdown, direct control and influence on the environmental performance should be possible. An analysis of these driver values represents a structured method for decomposing the data provided by the eco-balance and other environmentally-oriented tools into controllable driver and influence values, i.e. reference points for decision-making.
The developed software EPM-KOMPAS supports the companies
- in handling hazardous material and waste,
- in establishing corporate material and energy balances,
- in determining of environmental objectives,
- in assessing environmental measures,
- in reporting to the authorities,
- in researching significant material and energy flows of the company and
- in checking the results/the success.
Besides these functions, the software EPM-KOMAS is open for individual requirements:
- usable within selectable system boundaries (e. g. process, site, product etc.),
- openness for other assessment methods,
- independence from consultation: the software works with a "silent moderator",
- software to support decision making,
- improvement of parts of the corporate risk and quality management,
- starting point for environmental management or for the further development of an existing environmental management, and
- customising reports and free research.
Apart from the typical material analysis, you will also find implemented in the EPM-KOMPAS software a "silent moderator" who leads you through the software, the KOMPAS-assessment method by Guenther/Kaulich, and the "Environmental Breakdown" instrument.
For information about using the EPM-KOMPAS software for free, please visit our parallel German website.
In this project, the Chair of Environmental Management and Accounting optimised and updated the EPM-KOMPAS software (e.g. upgraded the considered impact categories, usage of current factors from the GEMIS database etc.). Moreover, the Chair now has a pre-version of the EPM-KOMPAS software in English to use the EPM-KOMPAS on an international level.
The presentation of the EPM-KOMPAS software at the conference "Performance and Success: Environmental Management in Small and Medium sized Companies" on 14th May, 2004, at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Dresden was a great success.
"You can’t go wrong with the EPM-KOMPAS software!"
(Mr. Neubert, General Manager Metallgießerei Chemnitz GmbH)
Feedback has been very positive!
"The conference and the combination of economy and ecology within the instrument EPM-KOMPAS have impressed me very much!"
(Mr. Schulte, General Manager HJS Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH)
Leadership
Researcher
Dipl.-Kffr. Susann Kaulich
Cooperation
Lu2nar Consulting Software Service Berlin, Dip.-Ing. Murat Sürer
Axel Hempel - Softwareentwicklung, Bergstraße 23, 01819 Friedrichswalde
Term
since 07/2004
Publications, Presentations and Press Review
For information about publications, presentations and press review please visit our parallel German website.