The Carbon Trust is a not for profit company created by the UK government to help businesses and public organisations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, through improved energy efficiency and developing low carbon technology. Many of the services provided involve consultants visiting organisations to compete detailed surveys of current processes and recommending changes to minimise emissions and energy consumption, helping the organisations reduce costs as well as achieve objectives on environmental issues.

In August 2006, we completed Phase 1 of a web application known as “Closeout”. The purpose of the application was to import survey and recommendation details captured by consultants into a central database, and allow central analysts and administrators to view and amend details via a web interface on the Intranet.

Since initial release, the system has been enhanced and extended. A major development is planned for the latter part of this year, involving conversion of survey completion by consultants from an Excel-based process to online data capture.