Improvement plan - QC/QA plan – Inventory plan
1.3 Inventory preparation
1.3.3 Procedures for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), and detailed review of greenhouse-gas and KP-LULUCF inventories
The data tables and the pertinent NIR are archived in secure form in the inventory description (cf. also Chapter 1.3.3.1.5). The content of the CSE database used for calculation purposes is also archived.
1.3.3 Procedures for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), and detailed
1.3.3.1.3 Start-up organisation for establishing the Quality System for Emissions Inventories Within the QSE framework, a concept for a start-up organisation was developed that defines binding responsibilities, for the Federal Environment Agency, for implementation of the necessary QC and QA measures. The defined roles and responsibilities have the purpose of facilitating effective information exchange and directive-conformal execution of QC and QA (cf.
Table 4).
Table 4: QSE – Roles and responsibilities
Role Task Responsible
Responsible expert at the operational level (FV)
Preparation of parts of the National Inventory Report (NIR) Data collection and data entry in the CSE, and calculation in keeping with the selected//prescribed methods
Execution of systematic QC measures in the NIR, CSE and inventory description
Execution of verification measures
Archiving of all category-specific inventory information (inventory description and decentralised documentation)
If necessary (for category-specific QC): Definition of category-specific quality targets and of the criteria for their achievement, in
consultation with the QC section representative, the specialised contact person and the QC/QA co-ordinator (QSEK).
Review, processing and answering of review results Active participation in review processes. This includes giving presentations, providing explanations and being available for questions (before and during the process, and in any follow-up).
Initiating and developing (preparing specifications) R&D projects, and providing specialised support
All staff appointed by the head (FGL), on a category-specific basis
QC/QA section representative (QKV)
Execution of systematic measures for assuring the quality of the data and report sections delivered to the Single National Entity
Checking and approving data and report sections
Ensuring that the necessary inventory work, quality controls, documentation and archiving are carried out
Defining responsibilities relative to emissions reporting in specialised fields, and provision of the necessary time resources
Providing support for review processes, and participating in them
All responsible heads (Federal Government and the Länder)
Specialised contact person (category-specific) in the SNE (FAP)
Category-specific support for responsible experts (FV) and QC/QA section representatives (QKV); support/guidance of FV/QKV in:
• Implementation of international requirements
• Supporting work involving data and report texts
• Quality control / quality assurance
o Preparation of lacking parts of the National Inventory Report (NIR)
o Collection of any data lacking in the CSE, entry of such data into the CSE and carrying out of calculations in keeping with the selected/prescribed methods o Ensuring that the necessary inventory work, quality
controls, documentation and archiving are carried out o Execution of systematic QC/QA measures in the NIR, CSE
and inventory description
o Archiving of any lacking category-specific inventory information (inventory description and decentralised documentation)
Initiating and supporting R&D projects
Execution of all work using the CRF reporter, and execution of quality control
Assumption of tasks of unavailable responsible experts (FV) and of positions that have not been filled
Review, processing and answering (as necessary) of review results Support, participation in and execution of (as necessary) FV tasks in connection with review processes
Execution of overarching work (affecting more than one category) If necessary (for category-specific QC): Definition of category-specific quality objectives and of the criteria for their achievement, in consultation with the QC section representative, the specialised contact person (FAP) and the QC/QA co-ordinator (QSEK).
Staff of the Single National Entity (SNE) that are appointed on a category-specific basis
Role Task Responsible
Report co-ordinator (NIRK)
Coordination of text contributions
Compilation of the NIR, from the various contributions
Overarching QC and QA for the NIR and, some cross-checking with the CRF
An appointed staff member of the Single National Entity (SNE)
CSE co-ordinator (ZSEK)
Overarching QC and QA in connection data entry and calculations for the inventory (data)
Assuring the integrity of databases and report tables (Common Reporting Format (CRF))
Emissions reporting and data aggregation into report formats Supporting specialised departments in connection with questions relating to the Central System of Emissions (CSE) and to the report tables
Determination of uncertainties (with Approach 2), using Monte Carlo simulation
An appointed staff member of the Single National Entity (SNE)
QSE coordinator (QSEK)
Overarching QC and QA throughout the entire reporting process Maintenance and further development of the QSE
Management and updating of the QC and QA plans, QC checklists and QSE manual
Management for the administration and updating of the inventory plan and of the improvement plan
If necessary (for category-specific QC): Definition of category-specific quality objectives and of the criteria for their achievement, in consultation with the responsible expert at the operational level (FV), the QC section representative and the specialised contact person (FAP)
An appointed staff member of the Single National Entity (SNE)
NaSE co-ordinator (NaSEK)
Ensuring of on-time, requirements-conformal reporting Initiation of overarching measures from the inventory plan Selection of institutions and collection of relevant informational materials and legal agreements
Organisation of expert-peer reviews – for example, in the framework of NaSE workshops
Ensuring that all relevant inventory information in addition to that archived in the inventory description is centrally archived Preparation of execution and post-processing of inventory reviews
An appointed staff member of the Single National Entity (SNE)
In very rare exceptional cases, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is unable to fill the position of the responsible expert at the operational level (FV) for a particular category. In such cases, the Single National Entity assumes complete responsibility for the QSE role system, by itself filling the roles of the responsible expert (FV), specialised contact person (FAP) and QC/QA section representative (QKV) – with a different person for each role.
This role concept is simplified, for reasons of capacity limitations, only in cases in which
categories are of exceptionally low importance in terms of their contribution to total emissions.
In such cases, the Single National Entity fills the roles of the FV and the QKV. In compensation, external quality assurance is then carried out, at regular intervals, for the relevant source categories. Currently, the situation and procedure described apply only for CRF 1.B.1.
1.3.3.1.4 The process organisation of the Quality System for Emissions Inventories Procedures for QC/QA measures in the QSE are oriented to the emissions-reporting process described in Chapter 1.2.3. At the same time, quality management is directly linked with the various steps in the inventory process. Suitable QC measures, assigned to the various process players, have been allocated to each step of the inventory-preparation process (cf. Figure 6).
Figure 6: QSE – Roles, responsibilities and workflow
The required quality reviews pursuant to Paragraph 25 (f) of the Reporting Guidelines
(24/CP.19) are provided, in the form of quality checklists and along with data requirements, to the FV, QKV, FAP and NIRK (cf. Table 4). They are completed in the course of the relevant supporting work.
1.3.3.1.5 Documentation in the Quality System for Emissions Inventories
The requirements pertaining to the execution, description and documentation of QC/QA
measures, as formulated in connection with the minimum requirements for a QC/QA system (cf.
Chapter 22.1.2.1), are largely fulfilled in conjunction with production of the pertinent inventory contributions. For the QSE, a documentation concept was developed that represents all such measures and related actions in an integrated form tailoured to the specific parties and tasks concerned. The various components of such documentation are shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Control and documentation
A general description of the quality targets is provided in the QSE handbook; the description is derived from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (Vol. 1, Chapter 6). In addition, individual operational objectives, relative to quality control and quality assurance, have to be derived for the various categories from comparison of the requirements from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, the results of independent inventory review, the improvements required in the NIR framework and
assessment of inventory realities.
Pursuant to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (Vol. 1, Chapter 6) and Paragraph 19 of the Reporting Guidelines (24/CP.19), the necessary QC/QA measures for emissions reporting should be summarised in a QC/QA plan. Such a QC/QA plan is to serve the primary purpose of organising, planning and monitoring such QC/QA measures. To permit transparent, effective control of execution and monitoring of measures for achieving these objectives, the measures are set forth in a quality control plan (QC plan) and a quality assurance plan (QA plan) with respect to specific roles and specific categories. Quality targets may be focused on the inventory, the
reporting process or the QSE itself. In the framework of the quality assurance plan, scheduling of quality-assurance measures is also carried out. Such measures are executed partly by internal staff and mostly by independent, third parties (external). Both plans may be understood as sets of specifications.
As to their structure, the QC and QS plans are combined with the checklists for quality control and quality assurance, which are used to review and document successful execution of QC/QA.
In this context, quality checks are actually defined not as checks but as quality objectives (data quality objectives pursuant to 2006 IPCC GL, Vol. 1, Chapter 6.5); in each case, either compliance with the objectives must be confirmed or non-compliance must be justified. The QC/QA
Improvement measures in
inventory plan
Inventory, NIR
Individual targets in
quality control plan
Individual targets in
quality assurance plan
Methods & review criteria in
inventory description
Direct correction
Does reporting conform to