In previous versions of Metrix, you were forced to "tune" the meters, and then compare "Baseline" usage and costs to "Actual" usage and costs to determine Cost Avoidance.
Some Metrix users do not need the weather correction methodology that Metrix offers, and instead just want to compare year over year data. Metrix 4 now allows simple year over year comparisons.
Now, with Metrix 4, you can continue to calculate Cost Avoidance, but in addition (or instead), you can compare one year to another year, and find simple savings in that manner.
One of the shortcomings of earlier Metrix versions was that it could be difficult to find a specific meter in a large project. We have resolved that problem in Metrix 4.
Metrix 4 allows you to view your project in table or tree form. If you are looking for a specific meter, you can sort all meters in your project by account number, meter name, fuel type, or parent name. You can list Sites, Areas, Rates, etc.
If you prefer the tree format, Metrix 4 will display your project in tree format as well.
You can easily tell which meters have been tuned successfully, billmatched, have not been tuned successfully, or are empty by the notations next to the meters in the tree diagram.
Some of the confusing language in the earlier versions of Metrix has been clearly rewritten. An examples is listed below:
You can copy and paste data from Metrix 4 registers to Excel, and visa versa. You can select all data in a register by pressing control-A, or you can scroll and select only the data you want to copy. You can then paste the data into spreadsheets, word docs, etc.
Finally, you can copy and paste text from one field or form to another. The standard control-c and control-v work in Metrix 4.
The column labels are now easy to understand. In previous versions, you had to learn what the various headings represented.
Now, rather than listing all the Quality Control Warnings and Errors one at a time, Metrix 4 will lump them together for easier viewing.
In Metrix 3, there were two Scenario Inspection Forms, which were confusing to many users. Now you can view data from all scenarios in one place with the Scenario Inspection Screen. Now you can choose which scenarios to view in the graph, and you can select which scenario's data to view in the table. Even beginner users will know what data they are looking at.
Metrix will now automatically tune your meters for you, based upon criteria you can set. Simply pressing the Auto Tune button will result in automatically tuned meters.
Rather than having to learn how to interpret the tuning screen, Metrix 4 now displays the tuning equation at the bottom of the Tuning Screen.
If a meter does not tune, you can press the Set Fit to 0 button, which will zero out all tuning coefficients. Then you can press the BillMatch button, which will add the bill matching modification for you.
The Tuning Screen now shows the R2, the CVRMSE, and Mean Bias Error. This makes it easier to comply with the ASHRAE 14P Guideline when you tune.
The tuning algorithm has been adjusted to ensure 0 Net Mean Bias Error to comply with ASHRAE's Guideline 14. Tunings from older projects will not be affected.
Experienced Metrix users know that sometimes tuning TOU periods can be very difficult. Metrix 4 has found a better method to handle TOU meters. If you want, rather than tuning each TOU period separately, Metrix 4 will sum the TOU consumption data, and take the maximum of the TOU demand data. You can then tune only the Sum or Max of the TOU Periods. Metrix will then allocate Baseline and Target data back into TOU periods for your reports.
You can choose if you want to tune your demand to Maximum (for Cooling DT) or Minimum Temperatures (for Heating DT).
All reports are created in MS Excel. A series of macros will create a wide variety of tables and charts. To make reports, you just proceed through a report-making wizard, which will gather the information it needs to create the report you want. The end result is workbook that can contain several tables and charts.
You can report not just on energy units and dollars, but you can also report on the following units which were not available in earlier versions of Metrix:
Metrix 4 contains most of the reports available in prior versions of Metrix, but has several additional reports as well. Reports include:
Metrix 4 allows you to make reports for each Site, Area or Meter (or selected Sites, Areas or Meters) with just a few clicks. If you want to make the same report for each of 50 Sites in a Project, you merely make about 10 to 15 clicks and then let the Report Maker create the reports. You will then have a workbook with 50 reports, one for each site.
If you chose Many Graphs of Many Sites, you could then choose which sites you want to create reports for in the following Dialog Box:
The Diagnostics Report allows you to determine what tests to perform, and what thresholds to use to determine whether a bill might be a potential problem.
You can export reports to HTML, JPG or GIF formats.
You can define what colors you want associated with different scenarios or years.
The Metrix Report Maker allows you to configure it to your liking. This includes headers and footers that will appear on all tables and charts, printer settings, graph defaults, how you want your units to appear in reports, etc.
If you want to make your own report in MS Excel, you can use the Metrix Report Maker to grab raw data from Metrix. You can then manually or through macros format the data to make the report you need.
In larger Metrix projects, you might want to make a report that breaks out your meters into other groupings than just Sites or Areas. For example, suppose you have a Metrix project for a school district want to make a report that just shows Elementary Schools. It is likely that you have a different site for each school, so there is no easy way to make a report just for Elementary Schools. Or suppose you want to compare $/SQFT of Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools and Administration areas. Metrix now allow this with Grouping.
Each Site, Area or Meter can be assigned to a Group
There are three ways Grouping works in reports:
|
Method |
... which means ... |
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As a Filter |
You make reports as normal, but only show data associated with your particular SubGroup. Grouping works to "filter out" any data from other SubGroups. |
|
As a Level: with one report per SubGroup |
You make reports by SubGroups, rather than by Sites/Areas/Meters. One worksheet per SubGroup. This would work with Time Across Years, Scenarios and Fuel Type reports, but NOT with Time Across Items or Benchmarking reports, which can compare all the SubGroups against each other on the same worksheet. |
|
As a Level: comparing the different SubGroups against each other in one report |
You make reports separating and aggregating data by SubGroups, rather than by Sites/Areas/Meters. All SubGroups select appear in the same worksheet.. This would work with Time Across Items or Benchmarking reports only, but NOT with Time Across Years, Scenarios and Fuel Type reports, which will present one SubGroup per worksheet. |
You can filter reports so that only Sites/Areas/Meters associated with a Subgroup are shown. All other Sites/Areas/Meters are left out. In this example, we will compare monthly usage for only the elementary schools. We report on a Site level as we entered one school per site in the Metrix project.
Or you can sum data up by SubGroup and compare SubGroups in one report.
Or, you can aggregate data by SubGroup, and report one SubGroup per worksheet.
One of the most popular reports in Metrix 3 was the Savings: Energy and Dollars Report. It is now included in an enhanced form in Metrix 4. It will not only produce Energy, Demand, and Costs, but will also show HDDs, CDDs, user variables, and Emissions.
In addition, the report will also create 2, 3 or 4 graphs per page.
There is also a new report that breaks out savings on a meter basis. Each printed page shows energy and associated dollars for one year.
We have cleaned up the Report Maker interface to make it look more appealing to our users.
The basic functionality is the same, except we now have two methods of selecting the reports you want. If you are a Metrix expert, then you may know you want a "Time Across Scenarios Report." If this is you, then you will likely want to use Fast Reports.
If you are not familiar with the old Metrix reporting terminology, then you can use the Report Wizard, which separates reports by function, and gives a preview of the different report types. Underneath the sample reports are links which bring up different samples of the report type you have highlighted on the left.
Double-clicking on the report-link on the left will initiate the reporting process.
There is a new Report Maker registration scheme. We changed the scheme to make it easier for you to request licenses.
Do you want a quick way of running the same report over and over? Do you have a hard time remembering how you got a certain report? If so, then memorized reports will be useful to you. With memorized reports you can run a report, memorize it, and then run it again from the Fast Reports section.
When you create a report you will be prompted with this dialog.
If you select yes, you will be prompted with this dialog in which you can choose a name and other options for your memorized report.
You can then see a list of your memorized reports under "Fast Reports". Here you can run your report, remove it, or change its options.
You will probably want to change the options from time to time. If you press the "Details..." button, you can determine whether to let the report allow you to change dates each time you run the report, or change which sites/areas/meters/subgroups you are reporting on, etc. If you want the report to allow you SELECT the sites/areas/meters/subgroups, then you CHECK the sites/areas/meters/subgroups checkbox. In the example below, we wanted to keep the Start/End Dates the same as the time the report was memorized, so we leave that box unchecked.
Note: Items refers to bill line items. Some reports allow you to report on several items at once, like CDD, kWh, Total $, etc., These are what the dialog box is referring to as "Items."
You can also write a written description of the report in the "Report Details" tab.
Would you like to add your company logo to your Metrix Reports? The new Logos feature of Metrix Report Maker will allow you to add your company logo to the header of your reports improving the professional appearance of your reports.
To set up your logo, click on "Report Maker Settings" from the main menu of Metrix Report Maker. The "Report Maker Settings" window will pop up.
With the "Header & Footer" tab open, make sure the "Use Advanced Page Setup" checkbox is selected. Click "Setup..." to configure the Advanced Page Setup. A print preview of the current advanced setup will open.
To make changes click on the "Setup..." button at the top of the screen. The "Page Setup" window will open. Click on the "Header/Footer" tab and then click the "Custom Header" button to add a logo or text to the header of you Reports.
In the Custom Header window add any desired text to the Left, Center, or Right section by simply typing it into the appropriate text field. To add an image, select the field where you would like the image to appear and click on the picture icon. Click OK to save your Custom Header settings.
Set up the Custom Footer to the desired configuration using the same steps used to set up the Custom Header, and then click "OK" to save your settings and exit the Page Setup window. The print preview will now include your header/footer settings. Next, click "Close" to exit the print preview and "OK" again to save your Metrix Report Maker Settings.
It is likely that your logo in your header or footer will not be the right size. It will probably be either too large or too small, you will see this when you look at print preview (like below).
To remedy this, press the other picture icon.
Then you can change the size of your logo by changing the height or width in the Size tab.
All of you who have upgraded or would like to upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista are now in luck. Metrix and Metrix Report Maker now work with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.
Have you ever been confused by the various columns in the bill register or uncertain of how they got there? Now, the settings that control the appearance of your bill register (the # TOU Periods and Detailed Cost settings) have been moved from the Meter Setup tab to the top of the bill register.
The new location of these settings will allow you to immediately see how changing the #TOU Periods and Detailed Cost options affect the columns in your bill register.
You may now set the location in the Project, Site, and Area setup forms. This will allow you to apply a single location to the entire project, to each site, or to each area in your Metrix project.
Parlez-vous francais? Report Maker can now generate reports in French. To set French as the language for the reports first select "Report Maker Settings" from the Metrix menu.
Are you modeling rates? Have you ever needed to add an additional static cost or credit to your SimActual scenario but didn't know how? Well now you can easily add or subtract a simple dollar amount using a Fuel Adjustment.
If you have never used a Fuel Adjustment before you may add one by right-clicking on the meter, selecting New, and then choosing Fuel Adjustment.
Once you've added your Fuel Adjustment, you may click on the Fuel Adjustment item to enter the register. By default the Fuel Adjustment will have units of $/consumption unit (in the case of an Electric meter this would be $/kWh). Selecting Static will change the units of the Fuel Adjustment to $.
Now you are free to populate the register will any static cost adjustments are necessary. These adjustments will be applied to the "Misc" column in your meter's SimActual scenario.
In larger Metrix projects, you might want to make a report that breaks out your meters into other groupings than just Sites or Areas. For example, suppose you have a Metrix project for a school district want to make a report that just shows Elementary Schools. It is likely that you have a different site for each school, so there is no easy way to make a report just for Elementary Schools. Or suppose you want to compare $/SQFT of Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools and Administration areas. Metrix now allow this with Grouping.
One of the most popular reports in Metrix 3 was the Savings: Energy and Dollars Report. It is now included in an enhanced form in Metrix 4. It will not only produce Energy, Demand, and Costs, but will also show HDDs, CDDs, user variables, and Emissions.
There is also a new report that breaks out savings on a meter basis. Each printed page shows energy and associated dollars for one year.
We have cleaned up the Report Maker interface to make it look more appealing to our users. The basic functionality is the same, except we now have two methods of selecting the reports you want. If you are a Metrix expert, then you may know you want a "Time Across Scenarios Report." If this is you, then you will likely want to use Fast Reports.
Do you want a quick way of running the same report over and over? Do you have a hard time remembering how you got a certain report? If so, then memorized reports will be useful to you. With memorized reports you can run a report, memorize it, and then run it again from the Fast Reports section.
Would you like to add your company logo to your Metrix Reports? The new Logos feature of Metrix Report Maker will allow you to add your company logo to the header of your reports improving
Report Maker now has a new budgeting report. Budgeting reports enable you to easily create a forecast based on the previous year, or the average of multiple years in the past. With this forecast, you can make modifications as necessary to get a finished budget for the upcoming year.
Once You have made your Budget Forecast you can then track your expenses as the year goes by and get instant reports as to whether you are within your budget or not.
You can now choose to see the costs alongside the usages in the scenario inspection tab simply by checking the "Show Cost" option. This makes some comparisons more convenient.
There are now additional notes fields that can be used to keep track of changes and/or remind you or your coworkers why you've made a certain change. There is now a notes field in the "Rate Setup" tab within a rate, and also in the "Modification Setup" tab within a modification.
You now have the ability to quickly analyze your weather data with the new "Degree Days" tab under each weather item. Under this tab, you can see various graphs representing degree day values, both cumulative and not. The data is also presented nicely in a tabular form as well. Below are some examples.
When utility companies miss their meter read dates, the bill is often an estimated based on the same month from the previous year (bill matching) only to be corrected after the next meter read. Having the ability to indicate whether a bill is estimated or not can save a lot of headache when trying to explain an outlier month, where usage was expected to be different than it appears.
There is now a new fuel type for garbage, so you can track garbage as a utility type. The units are cubic yard.
This is a powerful tool designed to streamline the process of updating your database(s). Metrix 4.4 comes with a free 30-day free trial and if you like it you can purchase the full license Here. Manual bill entry is tedious and prone to error. This tool will save you both time and money. Once your data is entered, FastData Deluxe can automatically insert this data into multiple Metrix projects without messing with any MT1 import files.
Do you have to constantly process electronic bill data in Excel? We can create a FastData Custom Routine to do it automatically with the click of a button.
For Additional Information about Fast Data Deluxe, please visit:
Most Metrix users know that projects can get rather large. The new multi level breakdown summary enables users to easily see consumption, cost or demand for several scenarios including target, baseline, actual and simactual. You can summarize over all bills or select the dates you would like in your report. This summary gives a clear review of sites, areas and meters, no matter how large the project.
A picture is worth a thousand words! The Meter Tuning Contract in Report Maker will save you time and confusion. With just a few clicks, users will get a comprehensive report of a meter's tuning. The report includes statistical indicators, the baseline equation, explanation of modifications, excluded bills and more. Want to make it official? There is an option for contractor and customer signatures. Deliver the contract to a customer, or use it yourself to get another perspective on a tuning.
You won't forget to attach a report using this feature. Reports can now be emailed without ever leaving Report Maker. The template email(s) generated with a couple clicks of the mouse will include a subject line, the reports to be emailed and a description of the attached reports. Email addresses are auto-entered from the contact info tabs of your Metrix project. Send as is to save time, or take a few moments to customize.
