The following information is by no means exhaustive so please contact our office to enquire about any item not covered or clarification on any issue. A comprehensive on-line help system is provided with the software.

The package has been designed to make the whole process of Monitoring and Targeting as easy as possible. By way of example the following set of actions may typically occur at the end of each month.

• Data disks provided by Supplier automatically imported to database.
• Data validation highlights where invoices may be in error or where usage or cost varies significantly on past performance.
• Exception reports further highlight any possible problems. Graphs reveal details of problems.
• Action taken to correct faults.
• Automatic email or print of reports allow on site representatives to check progress.

• Unlimited number of sites, accounts, meters and readings.
• Database stores Invoice, Direct Readings or 30 Minute data. This allows easy comparison between different sources of data, essential for determining specific causes of  problems.
• Sites, accounts and meters may be grouped to provide analysis on specific areas. In addition Virtual Groups may be created to analyse on a summed mathematical expression of meters (e.g. 90% of Meter 1 + 45% Meter 2 + ...).
• Site details include Site Name, Code, Address, Contact Details (names of people on site), Notes and up to 10 user configurable fields. By default the first four of these are set to Floor Area, Volume, Occupancy and Population. Reports based on these figures (e.g. Usage per Floor Area) provide a Normalised Performance comparison between sites.
• Account and Meter details include Supplier, Reference, MPAN, M Number, Targets, Tariff, VAT rate,  Notes and configurable fields.
• Data entry screens include all relevant fields on the Supplier Invoice. Notes may also be recorded of specific invoice issues.
• Batch numbers allow all invoices (or Direct Readings) entered manually or automatically to be analysed and validated at a later date.
• Monthly Degree-Day information for the 17 designated areas of the British Isles may be used to provide Degree-Day Adjustment to heating fuel usage data. Where all sites are within a small geographical area a single Degree-Day figure may be sufficient.

Automatic Data Collection

EDI files or data disks provided by the Supplier may be automatically imported by the wide range of import routines available. Full data validation is provided for both manual and automatic data entry. 30 minute data may also be imported automatically from Supplier disks, dial-ups, BEMs equipment or Data Loggers. kVArh and kVAr figures are stored when available.

Where Direct Readings are taken manually these may be loaded and imported via a spreadsheet or Web. A number of our current users use hand held recorders to enter readings from site. On return to their office these may then downloaded to our package.

Graphs and Reports

Reports may be easily configured by the user in Excel (or Access) and added to the Reports Library.

• 1 year, 2 year comparisons. Data may be compared up to 8 years previously. Degree-Day adjustment may be used on heating fuels. Data accrual allows estimates when data is unavailable.
• Regression Analysis.
• CUSUM.
• All Graphs and Reports display usage, cost or Carbon Dioxide figures.
• Specific Energy Ratio. Displays energy used per adjustment index. e.g. Barrels of beer per kWh.
• 30 minute day on day, week on week and month.

All these reports provide output in a graphical and tabular A4 style report.

Around 50 reports are provided as standard to cover the majority of user requirements. A Custom SQL facility allows additional reports to be easily added for specific requirements. In most cases where a user requests a specific report  a member of our staff develops and forwards by email. This is then added to the Reports Library for other users to use in the future.

We cannot detail all the available reports but we feel confident, especially with our Custom SQL facility, that any report may be generated from the data stored in the data base.

Security

The application has a built-in security system which, when enabled, requires all users to enter a username and password. The application administrator is able to add usernames and passwords, and is able to grant extra permissions to the users. Users are assumed to have read-only access unless the administrator grants extra permissions. Strong passwords are an administrator configurable option with which passwords are case dependent, must contain a minimum of seven characters of which at least one must be a digit.

Web Reporting

To access the web reporting application, a suitable web browser is required. The web reporting is actively tested with Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 and with Firefox 2 and 3. Other standards compliant browsers should work correctly, but are not actively supported.

Data is synchronised between the main desktop application and our web server on a regular basis. This process is initiated by the user. All communication with our web server is performed using web services. These can be configured to use either HTTP (port 80) or HTTPS (port 443). All communications are based on requests from the client, so no open ports or servers are required on the client PC.

The application administrator is able to add usernames and passwords, and is able to grant extra features to the users. Strong passwords are an administrator configurable option with which passwords are case dependent, must contain a minimum of seven characters of which at least one must be a digit.  

System Requirements

The following is a list of requirements for computers to be able to run Energy Manager:

• PC with a Pentium or higher processor recommended.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 or later operating system.
• 128MB of RAM.
• Program components approximately 40 Mbytes.
• Typical database sizes; 4 to 8 Mbytes per 100 sites; 30 minute data collection an additional 75KB per channel per year.
• Super VGA or higher resolution monitor.
• Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher and Microsoft Access 2000 or higher are useful for extended reporting.

The standard database provided is Microsoft Access 2000 (but this does not require a license for the use of Microsoft Access 2000 on the clients PC). For server installations using Microsoft SQL Server the following is also required in addition to the above:

• Database Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or 2005 and license to use.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 or 2003 on the server.