Meter Data Loading

Glossary
Term Description
Interval Interval Consumption meters record the utility consumption for each
Consumption interval.
Meter
This is the typical data received from smart meters.

Accumulative Accumulative Reading meters record the total utility consumption of a

Reading meter over time. Accumulative meter readings are like the odometer of your
Meter car - they always increasing and will eventually rollover and start from 0
again. Envizi calculates the interval consumption by comparing meter
readings against the previous value and uses the interval consumption for
all dashboards and reports.

Accumulative meter readings have some advantages as they are more

tolerant of short data gaps, however ultimately the choice of which
connector to use will be determined by the data coming from the client.

Connector A meter data connector is responsible for parsing the contents of a meter
data file and getting the data ready for loading into Envizi.
Term Description
Component A meter component defines the data type and units of measure supported
by the meter. The meter component determines how data is loaded into the
platform, including any data validation, data correction or other calculations
to be applied at the time of loading.

Data Type A data type determines how metering data is displayed and reported. The
data type defines:
• The utility group to which the meter belongs
• The primary units of measure used in dashboards and reports
• The emission factors (if any) applied to the meter data
Utility Group A utility group is used to categorise meter data for consolidated reporting. All
meter components are grouped into one of the following utility groups:
• Electricity
• Natural Gas
• Water
• Thermal
• Fuel
Overview
Envizi provides two types of records for capturing a client’s transaction
data:
• Accounts - used to capture any type of activity data such as invoice
or billing type data (e.g., electricity, water), consumption data (e.g.,
waste, paper, travel) and KPI type data (such as production units,
sales, occupancy, floor space). An account record can be captured
for any time period (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) with it then
being normalised into monthly values for reporting purposes.

• Meters - used to capture timeseries data for utility consumption only

(electricity, water, natural gas, thermal and fuel). Supported meter
data resolution is 15min, 30min or 1hour interval data. 5min data
may be supported for specific connectors - please reach out to your
Envizi customer service or support representative if this is required.

The decision on whether data is loaded into an account or a meter is

based on the resolution of the data. If a client is providing meter
readings but it is only a single daily consumption value and not hourly
readings, then the data must be loaded into an account in Envizi.
Meter data loading pathways

Envizi provides two pathways for bringing meter data into Envizi:
1. On the top shows an Envizi Services Pathway where IBM
Integration Services, via Expert Labs, can be engaged to perform file
transformation and ongoing monitoring services.
2. On the bottom shows the Self-Service Pathway where clients or
partners take ownership of collecting and transforming their own
data to align with Envizi’s universal file formats, eliminating the need
for paid services.

Self-service pathway

Clients can choose the self-service pathway to load data using Use of these
connectors is included in the subscription cost for each meter and does not
require a separate connector licence.

All clients have access to the self-service pathway to load meter data using:
1. Universal meter connectors
2. Regional standard meter connectors

To load data using these connectors clients simply need to send files to
their provisioned data services (e.g., email, SFTP, S3) ensuring the file
format is correct and the meters have been configured correctly.

Data Transformation Service - Envizi services pathway

Clients can choose the Envizi Services Pathway to engage Envizi to

transform their meter data into one of the Universal Meter Connector
formats. This pathway incurs an upfront services cost through Expert Labs,
and an ongoing software subscription fee charged as a connector licence.
Envizi provides a data transformation service for clients that are unable to
send meter data to Envizi in one of the supported meter connector formats
above. Through the services supported pathway, a client engages IBM
Integration Services, via Expert Labs, to build and maintain a data
transformation flow in IBM App Connect. There is an upfront fee from
Expert Labs to design and build this flow, and an ongoing software
subscription fee to maintain this flow. This is charged as a connector licence
for 1, 5 or 10 data types.
Connectors
A meter data connector is responsible for parsing the contents of a meter
data file and getting the data ready for loading into Envizi.

How is meter data loaded into Envizi?

All meter data must be loaded into Envizi via a supported meter connector.
Unlike account data, meter data cannot be manually entered via the Envizi
UI.

Supported meter data connectors

There are three main categories of meter data connectors which are
described below:
1. Universal meter connectors (Envizi proprietary)
2. Regional ‘Industry Standard’ meter data connectors (industry
standard)
3. Custom meter data connectors (legacy)

The charts below shows the connector distribution by the total number of
meters in the platform and by the number of organizations using these
connectors.

Connector Distribution by Meters

Client Custom,
4036, 13%
Universal
Meter, 10036,
33%

Regional
Standard,
16711, 54%

Client Custom Regional Standard Universal Meter

 Connector Distribution by
Organizations

Universal
Meter, 95 Client Custom,
129

Regional
Standard, 100

Client Custom Regional Standard Universal Meter

Universal Meter Connectors

Envizi provides two universal connectors for loading meter data:
1. Universal Interval Consumption Meter Connector (previously SBS
connector)
2. Universal Accumulative Reading Meter Connector

The universal meter data connecters provide a generic file format for
loading metering data. This metering data can come directly from the client
via a facility’s building management system, via a third-party meter data
provider for utility metering, or from partners providing data aggregation
and transformation services.

The universal connectors are included in the subscription for each meter.
Clients can choose the self-service pathway if the meter data files align to
one of the two universal file formats. If clients require data transformation
services, these are provided by IBM Integration Services (via Expert Labs).

Refer to the Components section of this article for details of the supported
components, data types and units for the universal meter data connectors.

Regional ‘Industry Standard’ Meter Connectors

Envizi historically developed meter data connectors to meet regional file
specifications.

In markets like Eastern Australia, Envizi has developed a connector

conforming to the NEM12 & NEM13 file formats published by the Australian
Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

In markets like the UK, Envizi has developed connectors conforming to file
specifications from major data providers like Stark, IMServ and SSE (now
OVO Energy).
Based on the number of meters and clients using these connectors, Envizi
will continue to actively support the following regional connectors:
1. NEM12 and NEM13 connector for Eastern Australia
2. Stark connector for UK and Europe

Other connectors will be maintained but clients will be encouraged to use

one of the universal connectors where possible.

Envizi will consider requests for new regional connectors to be built

depending on the market size. Please raise an enhancement request in IBM
Ideas - Envizi ESG Suite for this to be considered.

Custom Meter Connectors (legacy)

Historically, Envizi developed custom meter connectors to meet client
specific requirements.

Envizi will continue to support these connectors as per any existing

agreements with clients. Longer-term, Envizi will migrate all clients to use
one of the supported universal or regional standard connectors, with data
transformation services offered to meet client specific requirements.

API Connectors

Historically, Envizi built custom connectors to fetch meter data from 3rd
party data providers' APIs. These custom connectors are challenging to
maintain as Envizi doesn’t have control over changes made to the data
providers' APIs, and data issues are harder to troubleshoot outside of the
Envizi environment.

Envizi is investigating how to leverage App Connect to build custom API

connectors to fetch and transform data into the universal meter connector
formats. This will likely follow a similar model to the Envizi Services
Pathway described below with clients engaging IBM Integration Services
(via Expert Labs) to design and build the flow, with an ongoing connector
subscription fee based on the complexity of the integration.

The Envizi product team will advise when this solution is available.

Supported meter data file formats

Envizi supports meter data sent as csv and xls/xlsx (xls or xlsx files should
contain one sheet only).
COMPONENTS
A meter component defines the data type and units of measure
supported by the meter, as well as any emission factors or conversion
factors applied to the meter data.

Meter components serve a similar purpose to account styles. The

component defines the data type and the primary consumption units of
measure for meters. E.g., Electricity (kWh), Natural Gas (GJ) etc. This
determines how data is loaded into the platform, any calculations applied
such as emission factors and conversion factors, and how data is viewed in
dashboards and reports.

Unlike account styles, meter components are linked to specific connectors.

The list of supported components for each of the standard meter
connectors is provided below. Please reach out to the product team if other
data types and/or units of measure are required.

IoT Data

Envizi no longer supports metering for IoT devices like air quality sensors,
lighting and occupancy. This was part of our building optimization solution
previously but is no longer a focus area of Envizi. Envizi now solely supports
metering for utilities such as Electricity, Gas, Water, Thermal and Fuel.
MONITORING & LOGGING

Data Flow Automation - File Delivery Status

The Data Flow Automation - File Delivery Status page provides information
on whether a file has been received, processed and loaded successfully.

The File Delivery Status grid indicates the status of each stage of meter data
loading:
1. Delivery Status
a. if the file has been downloaded successfully from the
data source
b. if downloading the file from the data source encountered
an error
2. Processing Status
a. if the file was successfully transformed by App Connect
(or was passed through without requiring transformation)
b. if the file has been transmitted to App Connect but the
transformed copy is not yet available
c. if an error occurred in transmitting the file to App Connect
or in the transformation process
3. Loading Status
a. if the file has loaded successfully
b. if the file encountered an error while loading

If there are any errors in the file delivery status or file processing status,
these can be viewed by selecting the View Logs action for the relevant file.

Detailed file loading errors for meter data files are not yet available via the
Envizi UI (see below). Users will need to reach out to Envizi support to
investigate meter data file loading issues until these features are released.
Data Receipt Report and Error Logs (coming soon)

For accounts, there are two features which provide information to users on
data loading:
1. Data Receipt Reports - which sends email notifications to designated
users each time data is loaded.
2. Files Processed - Accounts & Setup - which provides access to error
logs.

These features are currently not available for metering. Historically, meter
data was sent to Envizi directly from meter data providers. These files
normally contained meter data for multiple organizations making it difficult
to expose the logs for individual organizations.

With the transition to the Data Flow Automation solution these challenges
can now be overcome, and we are planning to enable data receipt reports
and access to error logs for meter data in 1H 2024.

Note that detailed logs are available to Envizi staff in the backend, so we can
always troubleshoot meter data loading issues. The logs are just not yet
available to users via the Envizi UI.