B15.3 – ECEL v3.0: Technical improvements and population of the integrated risk management measure (RMM) library

Description

B15.3 is an extension of the “Cefic-LRI B15-2 project: Development of an integrated risk management measure library”.

The main goal of this proposal is to upgrade ECEL v2.0 to ECEL v3.0 such that it is a well-designed, user-friendly tool with up-to-date information that is supportive to the industry for a wide range of risk management applications.

Objectives:

• adapt the existing user interface to ensure a more intuitive application from the beginning to the end of an assessment
• develop new functionalities that were not previously available in ECEL v2.0
• updating the occupational data and updating the environmental data
• testing, feedback and evaluation

Task 1: User interface improvements

In this task we will adapt the existing user interface to ensure a more intuitive application from the beginning to the end of an assessment (see Mockups in Appendix 1). The following topics will be addressed:

• Layout: the layout of each screen, including the used fonts, font sizes, colors & icons will be improved and checked with a designer for a more user-friendly experience;
• Sequential screens: the current screens will be extended to ensure that screens have less content per screen and designed for easy navigation between screens;
• Small improvements: Current list of suggestions (based on testing B15.2) and any issues that comes up during the project (based on task 4) will be identified and resolved if considered feasible within the project budget.
• Linking and selection of parameters: The library structure will be adapted to allow the selection of a single or multiple options for parameters, and to ensure more links between parameters to increase user-friendliness when using drop-down lists.
• User manual: The user manual / guidance will be extended with detailed background information of the tool, underlying data and technical information on RMMs, including a step-by-step guidance using screenshots of the tool.

Task 2: New functionalities (features)

This task will develop new functionalities that were not previously available in ECEL v2.0:

• Reporting: A suitable report template will be developed that will capture all the relevant information for a user selected scenario, e.g. a summary of the scenario search parameters or query. Where relevant, the relevant plots or histograms will be included in the report. There will be an option to convert the report to a pdf format for downloading by a user.
• E-cards: Similar to the occupational e-card, an e-card specifically designed for the environmental module will be developed to capture important information of a study.
• Save scenarios: To ensure user-friendliness, the user will be allowed to save selected scenario’s while moving between screens and be able to load previously selected scenario’s in follow-up login sessions.

Task 3: Population of the database

For this task, preferably two interns will be employed over a period of at least 6 months – one dedicated to updating the occupational data and another dedicated to updating the environmental data. The following work is foreseen to populate the database:

• Literature search: perform systematic literature review using the abstract screening tool in the DIAMONDS platform (see Figure 1) to prioritize a list of sources that are suitable to be entered in the database, and further supplemented to include grey literature through an internet search (preliminary list presented in the Appendix 2).
• Data selection and preparation: Select suitable data in collaboration with the Monitoring team. Review and processing of the selected data to prepare for data entry.
• Data entry: Manual data entry or transfer of datasets (if available) by the interns under expert supervision. Quality check by expert, both for occupational and environmental data.

The above described population of the database will ensure that all the readily available data (from the previously described search) and therefore the vast majority of all occupational and environmental RMM data (with quantitative effectiveness values) will be entered in ECEL v3.0.

Task 4: Testing, feedback and evaluation

During the entire development process, the CEFIC Monitoring Team will have the opportunity to provide feedback to ensure that the database functionalities and content will be suitable for application in making up REACH dossiers. To test the suitability of ECEL v3.0 for application in making up REACH dossiers, external experts and stakeholders will be asked to evaluate this and provide recommendations.

After completion of the revision and population of the database, a Beta-version of the database will be available for testing purposes (milestone 3). For this purpose, the library will be tested by experts from TNO for both the occupational module (TNO RAPID) and the environmental module (TNO CAS). This will include experts that have not participated in the construction of the tool.

A final evaluation by the CEFIC Monitoring team will be incorporated in this process to finalise the version 3.0 of ECEL at the end of the project.

It is essential to the future success of ECEL to have the key functionalities in place to increase the user-friendliness and to add sufficient data. This will determine the value and use and therefore support the acceptability of ECEL in the context of REACH.

Read the Executive Summary “ECEL v3.0: An Integrated Risk Management Measure (RMM) library” here.

More about ECEL V3.0 here.