Instructional videos: Single Window

Hello! In this video I will show you how to connect to Single Window Information Manager (or SWIM) for the first time.

Start by going to the Single Window website. You might want to bookmark this page now so it’s easy to find the next time you need it. Once you’ve accessed Single Window, you can choose the language you wish to use for reporting.

There are two ways to log in. You can use either a Sign-In Partner or a GCKey. To help you decide, I’ll give you a brief overview of each system. Sign-in Partner is a Secure Key Concierge service that lets you log in using your banking credentials. GCKey is a secure log in service used by many Government of Canada departments.

Either option is just as good, but keep in mind that you will need to use the same login each time you use Single Window. So it’s a good idea to take a minute to decide which sign-in option you would like to use.

If you choose Sign-In Partner you will be transferred to the Secure Key Concierge service where you will need to click on your bank icon. Not all banks are available. If yours is not listed, you will have to use the GCKey option. Once you click on your bank icon you will then be directed to your bank’s online application where you will log in using your banking credentials. Once logged in, you will then be redirected back to Single Window to continue with your reporting.  None of your bank information is seen or kept by us. It is completely secure.

If you continue to the GCKey option, you will be transferred to the GCKey service. GCKey is the secure log in service used by the Government of Canada. If you’ve already used GCKey for something else, use the same username and password to log in here.

If you don’t already have a GCKey, creating one is easy. Let me show you how to create a GCKey.

Start by clicking “Continue to GCKey” and then clicking the “Sign Up” button on the right-hand side of the page.

In order to continue, accept the terms and conditions of use by clicking “I accept”.

The next steps clearly explain what is required. A checklist is provided for each section on the right-hand side of the page so you will know if the criteria have been met. If there are errors, you will receive precise error messages on the screen so you can fix them right away.

To start, you will be prompted to create a username and then a password.

The final step is to provide some security questions, answers and hints in case you forget your password. These will not help you recover your username, so you’ll want to keep that in a safe place.

Now that the registration screen is completed, click “Continue” to proceed.

A confirmation message is displayed telling you the last time you logged in. Click “Continue” to proceed.

It’s good to keep in mind that if your account is dormant for a year or more, it will become inactive and you will have to create a new username and password.

You are now logged into the Single Window Information Manager, or SWIM, as a new user.

As a new user, you will see the new user screen asking for your email address.

Enter your email address.

If you forget your log in information in the future, you can search for your email address (by clicking “Search”) and we will send you a code to help you reconnect to your account.

 Now, click on the “Continue to My Profile” button to go to the My Profile page.

The My Profile page is the place to enter information about you, not about your company.

Try to enter as much information as you can. This will be helpful later on because most of the partner programs require a complete profile. But, at a minimum, complete the mandatory fields – the ones marked with a red asterisk.

Here’s one little trick to make the process quicker. There is both a physical address tab and a mailing address tab. If these two addresses are the same, use the “Copy to” button to copy the current address tab over to the other address tab.

Once you have entered your profile information, scroll down to the bottom and click “Save”.  This saves your profile and sends you back to the SWIM homepage.

Notice that there are some programs listed on the home screen. These programs automatically become available as soon as anyone has a profile, but it doesn’t mean that you need to report to them.

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.

Hello. In this video I will show you how to connect your profile to an organization. Follow along with me and you will be able to complete this part of the process quickly and easily.

Most programs using the Single Window Information Management system (SWIM) require accounts to be connected to an organization.

The organization is the top level of the information structure in SWIM. All other information, such as contacts, facilities, etcetera, connect back to the organization.

After logging into SWIM and setting up or verifying your profile, click on the “Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu.

This page displays the names and business numbers of the organizations you are already connected to, if any.

If your organization is not listed here, you will need to gain access to it or create it if it is not already in the system.

The first step is to check to see if the organization is already in the SWIM system.

Start by clicking the “Add a new Organization” button under the organization table. Then enter your organization name or business number to search in the Single Window database. 

Review the search results and find your organization. Once you have found it, there are two ways to connect to it: through your SWIM Organization Lead or through the Request Access process.

The best way to get access to the organization is through your SWIM Organization Lead.  This is a person who works in your organization and has the authority to grant access. This route is much faster than the Request Access process, which can take up to three business days. We discuss how to grant access to others in the video called Managing your organization.

But let’s focus on the Request Access process for now.

Request access to an organization by clicking on the organization name hyperlink in the search results table.

After clicking on the organization name, you will be sent to a page where you will find a list of the Single Window Information Manager programs.  Click on the applicable link.

At that point, decide which role you need for your reporting needs: lead, editor or member. Each role is defined to help you make your choice.

Once you click on the role, an email is sent to both you and us confirming the request. 

If your request is approved, you will receive another email with an access code.  Copy this code and paste it onto the Redeem ECCCKey in SWIM to instantly have access.

If you search for your organization and you don’t find it in the database, you must add it.

Click the “Add a New Organization” button under the search results table.

A new screen will appear called the Organization Profile Page. You will be asked to enter your organization’s details.

Try to enter as much information as you can. This will be helpful later on because most of the partner programs require a complete profile. But, at a minimum, complete the mandatory fields – the ones marked with a red asterisk.

There is both a physical address tab and a mailing address tab. If these two addresses are the same, you can use the “Copy to” button to copy the current address tab over to the other address tab. Once you have entered all of your organization’s information, scroll down to the bottom and click “Save”.

That organization will now be listed on the Organization page and, as the SWIM Organization Lead, you will be able to access it.

Here’s a little note about international organizations. These organizations will not have a Canada Revenue Agency Business Number, which is a mandatory field. The Canada Revenue Agency Business Number field will become non-mandatory once an international address is entered.

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.

Hello! In this video I will show you how to manage facilities for your organization in the Single Window Information Manager (or SWIM). This includes how to create a new facility, how to access existing facilities and how to add facilities that have been recently purchased by your organization.

Some programs in the SWIM system require accounts to be connected to a facility.  

After logging into SWIM, I click on the “Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu.

Select the organization that you want to manage facilities for from the list by clicking on the organization’s name (some people have more than one organization to manage). The left-hand menu expands to show more options.  

Click on the “Facilities” tab on the left-hand menu. All of the facilities currently connected to the organization will be displayed.  Although, just because they are listed here, doesn’t mean that you have access to them; we’ll come back to that a bit later in this video.

For the purpose of this example, the facility list is blank.

To create a new facility, click on the “Add a New Facility” button.

You will be prompted to search the database to make sure that the facility does not already exist in the system. You can search by facility name and/or postal code or zip code. If you’ve added an organization to SWIM, you’ll see that this process is very similar.

Enter the facility name and click the “Search” button. The search results are displayed.

If the facility is not found in the Single Window database, click the “Add a New Facility” button again to open the details page for a new facility.

Try to enter as much information as you can. This will be helpful later on because most of the partner programs require a complete profile. But, at a minimum, complete the mandatory fields – the ones marked with a red asterisk.

There are three address tabs; Mailing address, Physical address and Geographical address.  If you have the same Mailing address and the Physical address you can use the “Copy to” button to copy the current address tab over to the other address tab.

If your facility does not have a physical street address please make sure to complete the geographical address tab.  Complete either the latitude/longitude, the Land Survey Description  or the National Topographic Description .  The land survey and national topographic use drop down lists to make sure that the numbers are complete.

Once you’ve entered all of facility information, scroll  to the bottom and click “Save”. Once the facility has been created, it will appear on your facility list. Since you created this one, you automatically have access to it.

In another scenario, you might find that there is a list of facilities located under your organization, but you can’t access them.  Let’s look at an example of this.

After clicking on the “Facilities” tab on the left-hand menu, you can see that some facilities have blue hyperlinks and some don’t. You don’t have access to the facilities that are not hyperlinked.

There are two ways to get access to facilities: through your SWIM Organization Lead or through the Request Access process.

The best way to get access to facilities is through your SWIM Organization Lead.  This is a person who works in your organization and has the authority to grant access. This route is much faster than the Request Access process, which can take up to three business days. We discuss how to grant access to others in the video called Managing your organization.

But let’s focus on the Request Access process for now.

To start the Request Access process, click on the “Request Access” tab on the left-hand menu. Then click on the program you need to use to report for the facility. Let’s use NPRI for this example.

Click on the “Data Entry” role (or the role you need). Enter the organization’s name in the search bar and click “Search”. The organization will be found and returned in the table. Click the organization’s name then select the facilities you need access to on the next page.

Once you select the facilities and click the “Continue” button, an automatic email is sent to both you and the Environment and Climate Change Canada program confirming the request.

If your request is approved, you will receive another email with an access code. Copy this code and paste it onto the Redeem ECCCKey page in SWIM to instantly have access.

Now what happens if your organization sells a facility to another organization, or your organization buys a new facility? This type of trading happens a lot.

If your organization sells a facility, the best way to handle this is once the reporting obligations are completed for all programs in SWIM, navigate to the facility table and remove the facility that has been sold. This does not remove the facility from the SWIM database, it just makes it possible for the new organization to add it to their facility list so they can start reporting. Make sure to print or save pdf copies of any reports needed before deleting the facility from the facility table.

If your organization buys a facility, it will have to be added to your facility table.

Navigate to the organization in your SWIM account. Open up the facility list and click the “Add a new Facility” button. Search for the facility. The results appear in the list below the search bar. If the name of the facility is not hyperlinked, it can easily be added to your organization by clicking Add this facility.

It gets a bit more complicated if the facility has a hyperlink. That means that the facility is still connected to the old organization in SWIM.

There are a couple of options for adding this facility.

If you are still in contact with the old organization, you could ask them to remove the facility from their organization. Once they do this, you will be able to add it to your organization.

If this isn’t possible, you will have to do a Trade Request through us.

To do a trade request, click on the “Add this Facility” button on the right-hand side. This will trigger the Trade Request process. Select the correct ownership type and click on the “Submit” button.  We will receive this trade request.

We will contact you, requesting additional information such as proof of sale, in order to complete the trade. As soon as we receive the information, we will approve the trade and you will receive an ECCCKey to redeem in the system. That ECCCKey will let you add the facility to your organization.

Now that you have access to the required facilities, there are a few pages that you may need to complete.  There is a NAICS, Identifiers and Permits page and a Stacks page.  To open this section click on the facility name to expand the left-hand menu

Here on the NAICS, Identifiers and Permits page, you can add up to three NAICS codes, add any provincial identifiers that are relevant to your facility and any permits.  All of this information will be brought into your report if the program requires it so please complete as much as possible.

To add a stack click on the “add a new stack” button.  Enter all mandatory information and if your stack has a provincial identifier add that as well then click “Save”.

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.

Hello! In this video I will show you the different ways to manage access to your organization in Single Window Information Manager (or SWIM). This includes how to give others access to your organization or to specific reporting programs, how to remove people’s access to your organization or programs, and how to request access in case there is no SWIM Organization Lead available.

Managing access is important because some programs require assigned roles that determine how users interact with data and reports. For other programs, access isn’t so important because those programs have a public access role, which means that any user with a SWIM profile can access their programs.

If you need a specific role in order to access a program, there are two ways you can get the access you need.

The best way is for your SWIM Organization lead to grant you access. He or she can do this by following these steps:

Click on the “Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu.

Select the name of your organization.

Click on the “Manage Access” tab on the left-hand menu. (This page is only available to those with a SWIM Organization Lead role).

This page lists all the people who have any type of role for your organization.

To grant access, click on the “Grant Access” button at the top of the page. This takes you to the program selection page.

For this example, we will use the Effluent Regulatory Reporting Information System (ERRIS), but the process is similar for all programs in SWIM.

To grant a program role, select the program by name. This program has two roles that can be granted.  For this example, let’s select ERRIS signing authority.

The next step is to specify which facility this role applies for. In this case, since there is only one facility, select it and continue.

The final step is to specify the number of keys to create. This is the number of people that you wish to grant this level of access for your organization or facility.

Enter the number, in this case one, and click “Generate”. The key is displayed  on the screen. If this key was for a colleague, you would copy this key and paste it into an email to that person.

Your colleague would then need to log in to the system using their username and password, set up a profile if they haven’t already done so, and redeem the key on the Redeem ECCCKey page.

It is important to note that, as the SWIM Organization Lead, you can also redeem keys that you have generated. Let’s do that now by selecting the key and pasting it onto the Redeem ECCCkey page. Click on “Activate”.

This assigns the role and gives you access to ERRIS. When you return to the homepage, you now have access to the Effluent Regulatory Reporting System.

Users with the SWIM Organization Lead role also have the ability to remove access from others within their organization as needed. This is also done on the manage access page.

To get back there, select the “Organization” tab on the left-hand menu, then select the name of the organization you want to work with. Click on the “Manage Access” tab on the left-hand menu.

The manage access page will display a list of all of the people who currently have roles active in your organization.

For this example, let’s select the new role we just redeemed a key for, the ERRIS signing authority, and click “Delete all Selected”.

The next page gives you a chance to review the roles you are deleting. Confirm that they are correct and click “Delete all Selected” again.

This will remove the role from your profile. It will also remove your access to the program because you do not have any other roles under this program.

This program link is no longer found on your homepage.
Every organization should have at least one SWIM Organization Lead.

However, if there is no SWIM Organization Lead available at your organization, it may be necessary to ask us to grant you access.

If you need help getting access to an organization or program, you will need to Request Access by clicking on the “Request Access” tab on the left-hand menu. 

Select the program that you need to access.  For this example, let’s select the National Pollutant Release Inventory. 
Next, select the level of access that you need.

Let’s select the Reporting Lead – All Facilities role.

The next step is to search for the organization that you need to access to by entering the organization name and/or business number and clicking “Search”.

Review the search results and select your organization.

Now if the organization was not found, you can try searching again with fewer characters in case there was a spelling mistake. If you still don’t find it, this means it is not in the database and it will need to be created.  Refer to the video called Connecting to an organization for more information on creating a new organization.

Depending upon the role that you need, it might require a facility to be selected. If that’s the case, select the check box to identify the facilities that the role should apply for, and then click “Continue”.   

Once you’ve identified your organization, you’ll see the Access Request confirmation screen. It will show you the role that you have requested.

Once the request has been submitted, you will receive an automated email at the email address that you used in your profile confirming that your request has been submitted to us. Keep in mind that it may take up to three business days for your request to be processed.

Once your request has been processed, you will receive a second email. It contains instructions, as well as an ECCCKey for you to redeem in the system in order to activate the role.

Once you have that, log back into the system and select the “Redeem ECCCKey” tab on the left-hand menu. Paste the code into the box and click on “Activate”.

At this point a confirmation message is displayed indicating that your key has been redeemed successfully. You now have access to the organization.

If you have trouble redeeming your key, try copying and pasting again. Be careful not to copy any extra characters, such as spaces, at the beginning or the end of the code.

It is important to note that each key can only be redeemed once, but the role that is associated with the key stays with your profile until a SWIM Organization Lead removes it.  

Thanks for following along in this video. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.

Hello! In this video I will show you how to use the Recover your Account feature in Single Window Information Manager. or SWIM.

If you forget your SWIM username or password, or if you haven’t logged into SWIM in over a year and your credentials are no longer active, you will have to create a new username and password.

When you create new log in credentials, your identity will not be recognized when you arrive in SWIM and you will have lost access to your existing organizations.

It is important that at this point for you to use the “Recover Your Account” feature when you see the New User screen.

The New User screen prompts you to enter your email address. If your email address is still the same as the one in your SWIM profile page, then a confirmation message appears on the screen after you click “Search” and an email is sent to you with an account recovery key (at peak times, the email may take some time to reach you).

Click “Continue to Redeem ECCC Key” or log back into SWIM if you’ve logged out while waiting for the key.

Select and copy the key from the email you received. Paste the key into the box on the Redeem ECCC Key page and click on the “Activate Key” button.

A message is displayed confirming that you have redeemed the key successfully.

You can navigate back to the home page where your reporting program links will now appear. Your account has been restored, along with all the roles associated with it.

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.

Hello! This video will cover how to manage contacts within your organization in the Single Window Information Manager (or SWIM). 

Before we dive in, let me clarify the difference between a user and a contact. A user is someone who has reporting obligations. A contact is a person who does not have any reporting obligations, but who may need to be contacted by a Program if more information is needed. A user can also be a contact, but, in that case, he or she does not need to be listed on the contact page. It is very important that you keep the contact page up to date.

To get started, log into SWIM and click on the “Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu. Select the organization from the list that you want to add a contact to. Then click on the “Contacts” tab on the left-hand menu. 

The table shows all contacts that have been previously added to the organization.

Since this is a new organization, there are no contacts listed. To add one, click on the “Add a New Contact” button.

A new screen will appear. It’s the Contact page where you can enter the contact details.

Try to enter as much information as you can. This will be helpful later on because most of the partner programs require a complete profile. But, at a minimum, complete the mandatory fields – the ones marked with a red asterisk.

There is both a physical address tab and a mailing address tab. If these two addresses are the same, you can use the “Copy to” button to copy the current address tab over to the other address tab.

Click “Save”.

The contacts page refreshes to show the contacts you have created.

You can edit their information or update it by clicking on the name of the contact from this list. You can also remove contacts from this list by selecting them and clicking “Delete”.

Since contacts are not users of the system, deleting a contact does not remove any of their roles. 

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each Guidance page.

Hello! In this video, I will show you how to manage your parent organizations in the Single Window Information System (or SWIM).

Some programs in SWIM require you to list your parent organizations in the report. The parent organization is the company or group of companies that own or directly control the reporting organization or facility.

To add a parent organization, start by clicking on the “Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu. 

Click on the organization from the list and then click on the “Parent Organizations” tab on the left-hand menu.

Since you haven’t added any parent organizations yet, the table is empty. To add a parent organization, click on the “Add a New Parent Organization” button. Complete the details page for the parent organization.

Try to enter as much information as you can. This will be helpful later on because most of the partner programs require a complete profile. But, at a minimum, complete the mandatory fields – the ones marked with a red asterisk.

There is both a physical address tab and a mailing address tab. If these two addresses are the same, you can use the “Copy to” button to copy the current address tab over to the other address tab.

Click “Save”.

Here’s a little note about international organizations. These organizations will not have a Canada Revenue Agency Business Number, which is a mandatory field. The Canada Revenue Agency Business Number field will become non-mandatory once an international address is entered.

Once you have saved the parent organization, it appears in your parent organization list.

To get back to the details to update them, click on the name. You can also remove the parent organization by clicking “Delete”.

Thanks for following along. There are other videos available to help you navigate through SWIM. You can find them at the bottom of each SWIM Guidance page.