EnergyCAP Releases

EnergyCAP Enterprise 6.3 SP1 Released

12/13/12 at 12:49 PM

EnergyCAP Enterprise 6.3 SP1 has been released with usability enhancements and bug fixes for all clients. This release is compatible with any client currently running an EnergyCAP Enterprise 6.3 release.

If you are using EnergyCAP Enterprise Release 6.3 or if EnergyCAP, Inc. hosts your database, please use these installation instructions.

If you are using EnergyCAP Enterprise Release 6.2 or earlier, please use these upgrade instructions.

 

Improvements

  • [ECE-355] - The Bill Importer now compares the Rate Schedule Code on the Bill to the Rate Schedule Code assigned to the Account/Meter.
  • [ECE-503] - Additional line items were added to Bill exports to satisfy A/P interface needs for some clients.  
  • [ECE-583] - The EDI Importer allows access to meter serial number fields for verification.
  • [ECE-627] - The option to only submit the most recent 18 months of data was added to the ENERGYSTAR submittal screen.
  • [ECE-697] - Bill navigation on the Bill View no longer skips bills with the same start and end dates.  A small asterisk was added to the table view to indicate the current bill being viewed.

Bug Fixes 

  • [ECE-450] - Add the ability to create bill splits using the batch parameter, the start & end date parameters, and the account list parameter in conjunction with both of them.
  • [ECE-477] - Bill Entry Template selection is now based on the Start date of the bill regardless of whether the entry is launched via 'Current' or 'Historical' menu options.
  • [ECE-568] - The Monthly Tab of both the account and facility PowerViews now correctly reports monthly use.
  • [ECE-593] - The ability to void/unvoid a bill is now tied to Bill Properties Modify permission, instead of Bill Properties Delete permission.
  • [ECE-599] - On the Place PowerViews General Tab, the floor area records now display in chronological order.
  • [ECE-600] - Group Manager ranking is displayed in correct numerical order.
  • [ECE-602] - Bill Payment Import task is now honoring NULL cleared date.
  • [ECE-610] - Bill import truncates captions greater than 32 characters.  Previously, the line was skipped altogether creating unbalanced bills.
  • [ECE-611] - ENERGY STAR properties data is now validated on Save instead of when exiting the field.
  • [ECE-612] - Bill splits honor the Batch Variables for Accounting Period and Year, if any are available.
  • [ECE-628] - Meter code now allows periods and spaces through manual entry and copy/paste.
  • [ECE-665] - The account code field in the Account/Meter Wizard can now contain spaces.
  • [ECE-675] - Bill Import for the first two months of an account is setting the correct Billing Periods.
  • [ECE-677] - The account search now works for account numbers less than three characters in length.
  • [ECE-678] - The Max Reading field in Channel Properties now allows up to five decimal places.
  • [ECE-681] - Added the ability to assign the same rate code to multiple commodities from the same vendor.
  • [ECE-688] - The Device Properties chart legend now matches the colors used on the chart.
  • [ECE-691] - Corrected an error generated from the Commodity Tab for Cost Center and Places when only account level charges existed.
  • [ECE-687] - The meter code field in the Calculated Account Wizard can now accomodate 32 characters.
  • [ECE-693] - When assigning a rate, the rate selection list now filters rate options to current commodities only
  • [ECE-694] - The report .ini file was updated to display the latest reports.

EnergyCAP Enterprise 6.3 Released

04/16/12 at 03:26 PM

EnergyCAP Enterprise 6.3 has been released with significant enhancements for all clients. This is also a cumulative release, incorporating all bug fixes and improvements of release 6.2 service packs (SP1, SP2, SP3 and SP4).

If you are currently implementing EnergyCAP and are hosted on "staging.energycap.com," please speak with your EnergyCAP Project Manager before upgrading.

If EnergyCAP, Inc. hosts your database, please download the install instructions and the new release to install it.

If you host your own database, download the upgrade instructions. After reading the instructions, ensure you have sufficient IT help to perform the database upgrade, and then download the following files:

Improvements

Security Enhancements

There have been major improvements in the security communication between EnergyCAP Enterprise and the application server for clients who utilize the "Internet" connection mode.  All users that utilize Internet mode are encouraged to apply this update, along with EnergyCAP Online 2.11.  While there have been no reported issues, the updates will assist in any future security incidents.

ENERGY STAR

As mentioned in a separate update, the ENERGY STAR improvements made available in release 6.3 allow for much greater flexibility and coordination with the Automated Benchmarking Service (ABS) that ENERGY STAR provides to submit building data for a rating. The changes in the User Interface of EnergyCAP Enterprise include:

  • ENERGY STAR ratings have been moved to a PowerView tab at the building level as presented in EnergyCAP Online
  • Buildings can now have up to eight space types per building, particularly useful for multi-tenant users of EnergyCAP
  • The same space type can be used multiple times for vacant situations
  • Space type properties can now be dated so that historical changes are tracked in Portfolio Manager (PM)
  • Water meters will now be created in PM
  • Schema updates match new settings from ENERGY STAR on most space types
  • EnergyCAP database name is now saved to prevent a new PM account from being created if a client restores an EnergyCAP database as a new name, currently used as an identifier during submission
  • The minimum and maximum values are now honored for required fields, preventing users from submitting invalid values for required fields

Bug Fixes

  • [ece-600] - Sorting of dollar values in Groups now sorts correctly for numeric values
  • [ece-603] - External EnergyCAP tasks that allow the "remote" option now work with the new encrypted data provider

EnergyCAP 6.2 SP4 Released

04/16/12 at 03:20 PM

 

If you already have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you. After reading the instructions, you can download the new release.

If you do not have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you.

Bug Fixes

  • [ECE-567] – Custom Spreadsheets now honor column ordering for crosstab style spreadsheets
  • [ECE-576] – Significant improvements to EDI processor memory usage that prevented some timeout issues with larger EDI files
  • [ECE-577] – In some situations an “out of bounds” error could appear in Group Manager with lists of varying sizes
  • [ECE-578] – Weather stations created in EnergyCAP Online now import weather data correctly using EnergyCAP Enterprise
  • [ECE-585] – Historical bill import had an issue when the Vendor Code column was included but not provided for all lines in the file

Improvements

  • [ECE-180] – Added Vendor Code as an optional field to the budget import file for when different vendors have the same account numbers within an EnergyCAP database
  • [ECE-472] – Improved performance and user interface response for advanced account search dialog
  • [ECE-569] – Users can now paste into “CODE” fields of object property dialogs like accounts and meters
  • [ECE-571] – A new option in Workflow Manager settings configures the “On Hold” folder to only display bills that are approved or not
  • [ECE-582] – An updated XML parser component has been added to the project for bug fixes

EnergyCAP 6.2 SP3 Released

03/08/12 at 02:06 AM

If you already have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you. After reading the instructions, you can download the new release.

If you do not have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you.

Bug Fixes

  • [ECE-428] - Calculated Account Properties now shows the expected channel properties after a switch in reading types when the old channel still exists.
  • [ECE-511] - An old rate code can now be reused in the rare cases that a client switches back to it in the future. The rate code will receive a new "effective date".
  • [ECE-513] - Reimporting the Custom Spreadsheet XML file now fixes the "End Date" filter, which previously didn't populate any selectable choices.
  • [ECE-519] - Creating Bill Splits now correctly differentiates between different account codes with the same account display.
  • [ECE-554] - The EDI import engine now exports the CURRENT meter rate code for use in EDI import scripts.
  • [ECE-555] - In some cases, Bill templates didn't correctly draw "information only" line items with the correct display color.
  • [ECE-562] - Calculated and Split Accounts were doubled in the Accounts tree after adding the new display icons. This has been fixed.

Improvements

  • [ECE-539] - A new converter option for the Import Task allows users to import Bill Payment Data without using the Administrator program.
  • [ECE-546] - Increased the size of Check Updates dialog so that the "Update Available" message fits without having to scroll.
  • [ECE-547] - The Split Account listing on the Account General tab now includes Account Display and Meter Display along with the Codes.
  • [ECE-556] - EDI scripts can now contain "dblNull" in the cost field to prevent the cost portion from displaying on the bill entry/edit dialogs when they have no value.
  • [ECE-557] - Some internal query locking hints were added to the bill import code to prevent potential locking when multiple instances of EnergyCAP are importing bills at the same time to the same database.

EnergyCAP 6.2 SP2 Released

02/14/12 at 07:55 AM

Release Notes are below.

If you already have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you. After reading the instructions, you can download the new release.

If you do not have 6.2, these installation instructions apply to you.

New Features

Weather Import Task:  A new task application has been included with this release to allow weather data to be imported on a scheduled basis, rather than being a manual process accomplished through the User Interface. The filename in the program folder is "WthrTask.exe". Having up-to-date weather data is essential for Calendarization and Normalization to be as accurate as possible.

See documentation for further details or simply double-click the task to see a brief Help on startup parameters.

Bug

  • [ECE-231] - Audits don't work from group manager
  • [ECE-356] - Historical bills could not be saved if the start date occured before the effective date of the template, even though it was chosen correctly based on the end date
  • [ECE-456] - Sometimes new batches couldn't be created immedately after a previous batch was closed due to a data caching issue
  • [ECE-473] - The facility tree view in the budget manager now honors display settings for filtering out unassigned and inactive meters
  • [ECE-474] - The "Show Inactive" checkbox in Account Search sometimes had to be re-enabled to correctly affect search results
  • [ECE-494] - Bill Split Processor now ignores voided bills
  • [ECE-498] - Export to Itron MVRS from the Administrator Export Menu FAILS for new Account/Meters
  • [ECE-502] - Batch.startDate is incorrectly updated when the batch is closed
  • [ECE-504] - "Up or Down vs. Last Year?" PowerViews had a decimal formatting issue for the values
  • [ECE-509] - Auto-Assign weather station failed with ZIP+4 variants
  • [ECE-517] - Calendarization and Normalization roll-up tables were not updated correctly when a meter was moved or deleted, which prevented buildings from later being deleted
  • [ECE-523] - Editing a contact in Report Distribution failed to retain the correct topmost settings
  • [ECE-525] - Enhancements have been made to the Bill Split processor to ensure that the split of multi-meter bills doesn't result in unbalanced destination bills
  • [ECE-541] - HTTPS and defined ports in a Web Report URL throws an exception
  • [ECE-73] - Bill Screen shows wrong meter serial number, rate code based on bill start date

Improvements

  •  
    • [ECE-231] - Audits don't work from group manager
    • [ECE-356] - Historical bills could not be saved if the start date occured before the effective date of the template, even though it was chosen correctly based on the end date
    • [ECE-456] - Sometimes new batches couldn't be created immedately after a previous batch was closed due to a data caching issue
    • [ECE-473] - The facility tree view in the budget manager now honors display settings for filtering out unassigned and inactive meters
    • [ECE-474] - The "Show Inactive" checkbox in Account Search sometimes had to be re-enabled to correctly affect search results
    • [ECE-494] - Bill Split Processor now ignores voided bills
    • [ECE-498] - Export to Itron MVRS from the Administrator Export Menu FAILS for new Account/Meters
    • [ECE-502] - Batch.startDate is incorrectly updated when the batch is closed
    • [ECE-504] - "Up or Down vs. Last Year?" PowerViews had a decimal formatting issue for the values
    • [ECE-509] - Auto-Assign weather station failed with ZIP+4 variants
    • [ECE-517] - Calendarization and Normalization roll-up tables were not updated correctly when a meter was moved or deleted, which prevented buildings from later being deleted
    • [ECE-523] - Editing a contact in Report Distribution failed to retain the correct topmost settings
    • [ECE-525] - Enhancements have been made to the Bill Split processor to ensure that the split of multi-meter bills doesn't result in unbalanced destination bills
    • [ECE-541] - HTTPS and defined ports in a Web Report URL throws an exception
    • [ECE-73] - Bill Screen shows wrong meter serial number, rate code based on bill start date
    • [ECE-173] - Custom Spreadsheet filter properties now say "Yes" or "No" for true/false values rather than "1" or "0"
    • [ECE-208] - New distinctive icons have been created to visually identify Calculated, Split Target, Split Master, and Virtual accounts in the account tree
    • [ECE-242] - Place and Meter Group filters have been added to Budget Creation
    • [ECE-290] - Acct Period batch headers can now be set to default values in the workflow wizard settings
    • [ECE-390] - Various Budget improvements made at the request of specific client
    • [ECE-497] - Modifications to Itron MVRS Export Menu Option in Administrator to satisfy client need
    • [ECE-518] - When using the "Auto-Assign Weather Stations" dialog, a new checkbox is available that allows the user to re-link all buildings to new weather stations.  As Postal Codes change and weather stations are modified, this allows EnergyCAP users to link to the most recently available data.
    • [ECE-531] - Significant improvements have been made to the Report Distribution Task to allow large distribution groups to finish successfully

EnergyCAP 2.9.3 Released

01/19/12 at 02:28 PM

New Features

User and Application Validation:  In preparation for the upcoming 2.10.0 release, the final pieces of user and license validation have been added.  This allows EnergyCAP Online to provide the same validation messages and limitations as EnergyCAP Enterprise.

Bug

  • [ECO-376] - When a Cost Center/Account name is changed, the tree was not reordered
  • [ECO-529] - When editing voided bills, a label now displays on the bill entry template to show this
  • [ECO-605] - Both lines of an account address can now be displayed in the bill entry window
  • [ECO-650] - Datasource field did not hide based on config file setting in all cases
  • [ECO-670] - Login screen allows special characters in the password field
  • [ECO-768] - Line Charts now display tooltips for points regardless of where they fall on the lines
  • [ECO-770] - If the Postal Code lookup failed when creating a meter, the wizard could appear to freeze and require a reload of the application
  • [ECO-783] - Modifying ENERGY STAR properties in ECO didn't clear the problem flag, preventing the building from being submitted to ABS
  • [ECO-859] - User Properties - Select a user role should be marked as required and Custom should be added to it
  • [ECO-908] - PowerViews under Accounts > Monthly showed multiple tabs of the same commodity in some circumstances
  • [ECO-916] - Default the report title and description if it does not exist in translate files
  • [ECO-962] - Export Data button was not working on bill grids in EnergyCAP Express
  • [ECO-988] - Meter-level GHG units did not show properly in PowerViews
  • [ECO-1010] - Load Factor PowerView did not correctly use actual demand when present on a bill
  • [ECO-1019] - Bill Import - Bills began to import before a commodity was selected if a commodity wasn't provided in the file
  • [ECO-1022] - Account Total Cost summary - oldest year of data was not complete
  • [ECO-1026] - Bills With Problem Flags query optimized to provide faster response
  • [ECO-1046] - Bill Imports - Accountcode is now imported as text to avoide scientific notation conversion
  • [ECO-1066] - Bill Imports - remove "A/C/E" column from the validation logic that determines if the import file is an EnergyCAP Advanced template
  • [ECO-1089] - "Remember Me" was not saving password field
  • [ECO-1093] - Bills imported through ECO reimport are flagged as having been exported from the database
  • [ECO-1095] - Catalog service locking issues occur when too many tokens accumulate in TokenManagement table

Enhancements

  • [ECO-766] - Allow "contact us" to be displayed for self-hosted installations and allow configuraton if it should show or not

EnergyCAP 2.9.0 Released with New and Improved Bill Import

10/06/11 at 04:35 PM

EnergyCAP 2.9.0 includes a major overhaul of Bill Processing in the application. In particular, Bill Import has been extensively enhanced to import many bills into the system quickly.  For more information, read below and visit Help in EnergyCAP via Home.

This release is currently available to hosted clients. Clients who host their own databases will be notified when it is available for them.

New Features

Calendarization and Normalization

This release of EnergyCAP Enterprise includes the exciting new features found in release 2.8.0 - previously only offered to our EnergyCAP Express clients.  Please see the announcement here.

New and Improved Bill Import

Importing bills has been significantly enhanced to allow greater flexibility for users to get data into EnergyCAP.  Previously, importing was only allowed via templates that we provided and only on a per-account basis.  Now the Importer allows a significant amount of customization in importing your bills. There is no limit on the number of accounts and meters that can be imported. Also, the cause of bill import failure is displayed so you can correct it without having to re-import the entire file.

The previous bill import feature has been removed in favor of the new, permanent bill import process. Help documentation for the new Importer is available in the Help pages along with a detailed sample file. The sample file can be downloaded through Help documentation or on the first page of the Bill Import Wizard. A Help video will be available soon to provide further details and examples.

Bill Import Errors

A new list in Bill Processing shows all bills that failed to import. It also displays the reason they failed so you can correct and then re-import. Before this enhancement, the procedure was to delete the imported batch, correct the file based on the feedback of the Importer, and try to import the file again. Now the lines of the bill are kept together so they can be corrected and the entire bill can be imported again.

The second advantage to the list of import errors is to identify data that’s not currently in your database. For instance, if an account number changed, but wasn’t updated in your database, you can correct it and then re-import, rather than starting over with the entire import file.

Improved Bill Lists

All bill lists in Bill Processing have been modified to provide consistent features, information, and exporting.

  • Filters: Where applicable, any bill list that provides some kind of filters is now available in the “Filters” tab at the top of the screen. This allows filters to be accessible, but creates space in the interface previously taken by the filters.
  • Details & Actions: This tab of the various bill lists displays the same basic data in all areas in the same places. Data typically includes: Total Cost of all Bills queried, Total number of bills returned and displayed, an Export to Excel button, and an “action” dropdown that displays the list of available options for any bills that are selected in the list.
  • Export to Excel: All Bill Processing lists now allow you to Export data to Excel. Previously the visible rows (up to 1000) could be copied to the clipboard for pasting. This improved export ability provides an Excel file with all bills in the query (not just 1000) in the order you have defined.

New “Kiosk” Permissions Available

EnergyCAP Online now takes advantage of new permissions that hide the display of meter and account level data from users who do not have access. This provides a mechanism to set up a public “kiosk” user for general use. Users logged in with this account only see rollup information in both the Building & Meters and Accounts trees. 

Currently, these permissions are set through the installed version of EnergyCAP Enterprise. In the future, a new user role will be added to EnergyCAP Express, which will enable this type of login permission.

Bug Fixes

Any fixes or features previously announced between your current version and release 2.9.0 are incorporated.  This includes, but is not limited to:

  • [ECO-620] – After moving all meters from a building to new building, the original building could not be deleted.
  • [ECO-623] – On the Buildings & Meters Calendarized Tab, the Use vs Weather chart options has scroll bars.
  • [ECO-629] – Calendarized & Normalized Chart Options displayed more than 10 years.
  • [ECO-632] – EUI Chart ignores use from buildings without floor area. The trend line needs another digit after decimal to avoid flat line.
  • [ECO-626] – Turn off Calendarization and Normalization reports tree nodes if the client hasn’t licensed Cost Avoidance.

 

Release 6.2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

09/08/11 at 03:21 PM

Release Notes

Helpful improvements and enhancements to 6.2.

EnergyCAP Enterprise Release 6.2

05/06/11 at 02:05 PM

Release Notes
Installation Instructions (Client-Hosted)

  • Major Improvements to the web browser version of EnergyCAP:
    • User-configurable Dashboard, which allows you to set your own charts and data on the Home screen
    • Configurable Groups, which enable user permissions and reporting for specific buildings
  • New Audits (#50, 51, 52)
  • New Custom Spreadsheet templates
  • More Bill templates
  • Copy to Clipboard option from the Bills Tab and Bills lists
  • More than 60 other fixes, tweaks, and enhancements

Release 6.1 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

09/20/10 at 08:59 PM

Release Notes

  • Close Batch right-click option added to the batch list in Work Flow Manager for users with Work Flow-modify permission. Allows a supervisor to close a batch created by another user, which can be important when a batch has to be closed but the batch originator is not available.
     
  • Edit estimated flag and note fields (Route Manager and Facility Manager). Added edit capability for monthly meter reading and channel data fields (estimated flag and notes). Use the Advanced option.
     
  • Over 20 other fixes and enhancements.
     
  • If you already have 6.1, this document applies to you:
  • If you do not have 6.1, this document applies to you: