DOCUMENT/DATA MANAGEMENT
NARROW THE FOCUS
When digitising your energy, what are the key elements you should focus on? Joe Warren, Co-founder and Director of ZTP, takes a gander at the range of possibilities on offer.
When we consider digitising a process – it can seem like a mammoth ‘jump’ to trust a new system will work, and whether it is worth undertaking what could be a logistical headache setting it up.
Most people do however see the benefits as an end product and wish they had that access to data. When it comes to energy, there are so many opportunities, products and levels of data that knowing where to start is part of the problem facing any FM.
From experience there are two key elements of data that are very readily available from energy suppliers and could help save large amounts of time in the first instance, and open up the possibility of energy reduction down the line. These elements are invoicing and meter read data.
The range of possibilities for handling energy invoices is never ending. However if this process can be automated to link to an accounting system, sent via EDI or even simply received as an additional file in an excel summary sheet – not only can the payment process be eased, month-on- month trends can be quickly analysed and reported on.
The second element is meter reads. Most suppliers will offer smart meters and for those already on half hourly data feeds – it is likely that information is readily available. This may be via a portal which itself can be manipulated, or again an excel spread sheet could enable some simple visualisation of the data without any direct monetary investment.
The first question to ask is how much time is being spent collating this data in the first place, and secondly who could benefit from any changes and access to digitised information.
Bill validation and payment is probably the least glamourous element of digitising energy processes. However, it will free up considerable time internally as well as allowing quicker production of monthly energy reports for future reference and trend analysis.
36 | TOMORROW’S FM
What to do with the readily available half hourly data for sites needs specific consideration regarding who will actually see, and benefit from the end result. Too much data can be just as bad as too little if it gets ignored. If a portfolio has specific site managers, they may want to drill down to a very granular level to see daily changes and occurrences. Automating this process via a supplier portal or making it a simple step process with some manipulation of an excel spreadsheet should certainly be considered, along with setting clear and achievable targets.
If there are resourcing constraints high level reporting concentrating on the five largest consuming assets may be a better option. Narrowing the focus down will allow more time to be spent on the relevant assets to start the energy management process. This is far more preferable than an all-encompassing data set that consumes the available resource and turns the process into simply data gathering without having the time to action any findings.
Ultimately, the following questions need to be answered to decide what and how to digitalise a process: Where is the biggest time drain right now, and can it be automated via my current suppliers? And, what resource do I have to act on any information if it were provided?
For energy – a myriad of options already exist, so installing more and more sub-meters at great expense to see exactly where energy is being consumed at a granular level, may not be the best solution, even if it gives the best looking end result. The data is often there and even the possible processes to extract and digitalise it. Start with the basics and narrow down the results into a manageable size to suit your own needs and goals.
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