Chapter 01 · The brief
Fourteen thousand components. A clipboard and a prayer.
EPA OOOOa compliance managed on paper — with repair deadlines tied to dates that could be wrong.
The operator's Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) program covered approximately 14,000 equipment components across 47 compressor stations and metering sites. Under EPA OOOOa regulations, each component must be surveyed quarterly using an OGI camera or an instrument sniffer, with results recorded and repairs tracked to closure.
The field team was recording survey results on printed route sheets, returning to the office at the end of the day, and keying data into the compliance management system — sometimes the same day, often the next day or later when the day was long or the route was remote.
The lag between field detection and system entry created two problems. Regulatory: EPA requires repairs to begin within a defined timeframe from the detection date, not the entry date. If the detection date was incorrectly recorded due to the lag, the repair timeline was wrong. Operational: the repair team working from the compliance system was working from yesterday's data, not today's.
Two components with high-concentration readings in the prior year had been repaired outside the regulatory window — not by much, but enough to require corrective reporting.
Chapter 02 · Build
Data entry at the point of detection. Offline-first from the start.
We built a mobile field application for iOS and Android that put data entry at the point of detection.
- Field app core workflow. The surveyor opens the day's route in the app, synced from the compliance system the night before. At each component, they tap to record the survey: instrument reading or OGI observation, weather conditions, any anomalies. GPS coordinates captured automatically. Photos of flagged components attached inline. Submission happens immediately over LTE or is queued for sync when the field team returns to coverage.
- Offline-first architecture. Compressor stations in remote areas often have no cellular signal. The app stores the full route offline, supports complete data entry without connectivity, and syncs to the compliance system on reconnect. Conflict resolution logic handles the edge case where a record was modified in the office while a field team was offline.
- Integration with compliance system. The field app writes directly to the compliance platform's API. Leak detections appear in the repair queue within minutes of field submission. The repair coordinator sees the component, the reading, the GPS location, and the photo — not a keyed-in number from a spreadsheet.
- Regulatory timeline automation. When a leak is recorded, the compliance system automatically calculates the repair deadline based on the detection timestamp and the applicable regulatory standard. OOOOa timeframes vary by component type and concentration. Repair coordinators see the deadline from day one; escalation alerts fire at 50% and 80% of the window.
Chapter 03 · Outcomes
Zero regulatory gaps in twelve months. Surveyors covering twice the ground.
The data entry lag dropped from an average of 18 hours to approximately 65 minutes — the residual accounts for remote sites where sync is queued. Surveyed components now appear in the repair queue the same morning they are detected.
Field productivity improved because surveyors spend less time managing paperwork. The app handles route navigation, component identification via QR code, and result recording in a single flow. Surveyors completed 2.3 times as many components per field day in the three months post-launch compared to the three months prior.
In the 12 months following launch, the operator had zero regulatory reporting gaps. The repair team reported that GPS coordinates and photos with every leak detection reduced field revisit time — previously required when a repair coordinator couldn't identify the exact component from written notes.
Chapter 04 · Stack
Technology stack.
- MobileNative iOS and Android; offline-first data model with queue-and-sync on reconnect
- Field workflowRoute sync from compliance system, QR code component identification, inline photo capture
- GPS and telemetryAutomatic coordinate capture per component; GPS-stamped leak records written to compliance API
- Compliance integrationDirect API write to compliance platform; leak detections appear in repair queue within minutes
- Regulatory automationDeadline calculation from detection timestamp; OOOOa timeframes by component type; escalation alerts at 50% and 80% of window