ESAR: Overview

The development of a Laboratory Results Data Standard was commissioned by the EDSC in January    2003. The EDSC agreed that development of a data standard to enable the sharing and integration of laboratory results data was critical for emergency response, public health assessment, environmental effects and trends analyses. A multidisciplinary team developed the draft standard. As the standard evolved it was decided that in order to adequately exchange the information the standard should follow the business processes of sampling, analysis and results. As a result, the name was changed from Laboratory Results Data Standard to the Environmental Sampling, Analysis and Results Data Standard (ESAR). ESAR completed a technical review in February 2004. Media specific reviews in water, waste and air followed in 2004 through the spring of 2005. These reviews resulted in the development of nine supporting standards; a more generic renaming of titles for the standards and names for the data elements; and division of the primary standard into four separate component data standards: 1) ESAR Project Data Standard, 2) ESAR Monitoring Location Data Standard, 3) ESAR Field Activity Data Standard, and 4) ESAR Analysis and Results Data Standard. The EDSC envisions that this approach of using small flexible component parts will enable developers to pick and chose those elements needed and make implementation easier. The EDSC approved the suite of ESAR Data Standards on January 6, 2006.

• ESAR: Overview Data Standard