Measure Features

Advanced Management of Measures

Our unique Phased Measure design allows for measures to be automatically moved forward from one project phase to the next. Users are able to easily track Measures at each Phase of the project and automatically view the Measure revisions throughout the life of the Project. For example, the customer was offered an incentive for replacing 100 lightbulbs, and committed to replacing 90; yet installed only 50. Thus the evolution of the project is kept in tact. And the proper Incentive is tracked.

Measure Templates

Dynamic DSM provides an entity for Measure Templates. There is no limit to the number of fields that can be added to each template.

  • Easy Selection. Measures that are added here can be flagged to automatically appear in the Selection window (typically new measures are flagged for this selection)
  • Hide Selection for Inactive Measures. Measures can also remain in the database as Templates yet be removed from the Selection process (his is typically done when a Measure is no longer needed for the upcoming Program Year)
  • Retain yet Hide. In those cases, it is advised to keep the old Measure Template for evaluation purposes yet remove it from the selection window

Deemed Data

Dynamic DSM stores deemed data in the Measure Templates.

  • When Projects Measures are created and Measure Templates are selected, the deemed values in the Measure Templates are copied over from the Template into the live Measure
  • This ensures that the deemed values are properly entered – by avoiding user error

Dynamic DSM – Features

Dynamic DSM – Energy Savings includes a simple method to quickly select measures – as well as flexible editing, and calculations for energy savings and incentives, among many others features.

4 Flexible Calculation Templates (SUTO)

Together with our top clients, we have worked hard to develop a calculation system to cover the multiple and various measure requirements that our clients have. The result is 4 Calculation Templates. Please note that additional Measure Calculation Templates can be easily built, but these 4 represent the 4 that have been typically implemented.
For example, some measure are completely based on deemed data and need only to have the quantity amount updated. In these cases, the quantity field is editable while all other fields are calculated and locked down (uneditable) to prevent potential human error. Another example is that some measures are custom and thus unique to the project. In these cases, a number of fields (that might normally be locked down) become editable and can be filled in by the user. Of course, our audit-trail system captures all edits/revisions (WHO revised the the data FROM what data TO what data on which DATE).
Our 4 variations allow for powerful and flexible management of Measure Calculations. Our Override system (combined with our Audit Trail) allow for increased flexibility while maintaining the integrity of the data.
Manual Override
On Project Measures, those that are limited by the measure calculation templates are provided the Manual Override option. The user can enable Manual Override for the Total Savings and the Total Incentive independently. When the override is enabled, the applicable fields are unlocked and no further calculations of that type will run. There is no “undo” on the Manual Override, and this function applies for the Current as well as the future phases of the measures.
SUTO Calculation Logic

S — “System Controlled”

  • The user enters in the Units, and the system provides and calculates the Energy Savings and Incentive Amounts.
  • To override the system provided values, the user can manually override the Energy Savings and the Incentive Amounts separately. When overriding the Energy Savings, the Per Unit and the Total Savings can be overwritten.

U — “User Controls Per Unit Savings”

  • The user provides the Units and the Per Unit Energy Savings, and the system calculates the Total Energy Savings and Incentive Amounts.
  • To override the system provided values, the user can manually override the Total Energy Savings and the Incentive Amounts separately.

T — “Total Based”

  • The user provides the Units and the Total Energy Savings, and the system calculates the Incentive Amounts. The Per Unit fields are left unlocked, though are unnecessary in these types of measures.
  • To override the system provided values, the user can manually override the Incentive Amounts.

O — “Open” (aka “Off”)

  • The user provides the Total Energy Savings and Incentive Amounts. The Units, Per Unit fields and Incentive Rate fields are left unlocked, though are unnecessary in these types of measures.
  • Note: Manual Override is not needed for (O) measures.

Measure Calculation Type

This determines the following three things:

  • Field Security – – i.e. is a field editable or not?
  • Calculation – – i.e. is a field calculated by the system or not? If so, how is it calculated?
  • Override – – i.e. can the Savings or Incentive data be overwritten or not?

Incentive Calculation

Since all fields on “O” Measures are manually entered, the user must pay special attention to filling in the following fields – for reporting purposes:

  • Incentive Electric (Sub-total of all Electric Incentive Amounts)
  • Incentive Gas (Sub-total of all Gas Incentive Amounts)
  • Incentive Total

Measure Costs

Measure Costs provide several options.

  • Cost Breakdown – the Total Cost field sums up from the other Cost fields (such as Labor, Disposal, Equipment, etc.)
  • Override – the user is able to manually override the Total Cost field
  • Total Cost – sums up to the Project Summary
  • Incremental Cost – sums up to the Project Incremental Cost field

Tracking Measures By Phase

Dynamic DSM breaks all Measure KPI values into 3 phases: Pre-Commit, Committed, Installed

  • Automated Focus. When the Project is moved into the Committed Phase, the Measure window automatically displays the Committed tab, while the Pre-Commit and Installed tabs are collapsed. The user is now able to edit the Committed data (that has been copied from the Installed fields). The same logic takes place when moving from Committed to Installed
  • Snapshot. This allows for the evaluation of Project transition by keeping a snapshot of the values for each phase

Security

Dynamic DSM provides conditional field level security based on the Project Phase. Show/Hide functionality is also built into the logic of the system. Users are only shown relevant data.

  • Conditional Editable/Browse. The Committed and Installed data is collapsed when the Project Phase is Pre-Commit.
  • Collapse/Expand. The user is able to manually show the Committed and Installed fields by clicking on the header of each tab
  • Copying for Audit Purposes. When the Project moves from Pre-Commit to Committed,  (a) the Pre-Commit values get copied into the Committed fields and (b) the Pre-Commit fields are no longer editable
  • Skeleton Key. At times, Projects & Measures need to be manually edited – even after being locked down. The Skeleton Key function allows specified administrators to make such manual edits.