Changing the Common Unit Roll-Up (Example)

This example provides the process for changing the Common Unit Roll-Up  for Propane from the default of ‘lb’ to ‘GAL’. Common Unit Roll-Up is the generally reported unit of measure for all meters sharing the same commodity. Common Units are used by EnergyCAP whenever multiple vendors report commodity use in different units. Using the common unit for most reports in EnergyCAP ensures an 'apples-to-apples' comparison of use, cost, and unit cost when reporting on commodities across the enterprise. The exceptions to this rule would include cross-commodity reports that would combine diverse commodities using the Global Roll-Up Unit, and bill-by-bill reports which might report the 'native unit' determined by the bill entry template.

Changing the Common Unit Roll-Up

1. In EnergyCAP, select the Unit System… option from the Tools menu. 
   
    
2. Confirm the Common Usage Roll-up Unit for Propane (the default EnergyCAP setting is ‘lb’) by clicking the Commodities tab and scrolling to the Propane commodity. The Common Usage and Global Usage Roll-Up settings are indicated in adjacent columns in the Commodity table. 
   
   
3. Click on the Equivalencies tab and scroll down to see if an Equivalency exists for Propane with a Default Unit of “Gal”. 
   
   
   If not, click on the “+” button in the lower left corner of the window to add the new Commodity 'on the fly'. The Create Equivalence window will open.

Creating the 'New' Commodity (if not present)

1. On the General tab of the Create Equivalency window, select the Commodity, Class, and Unit Type from the available drop-down menus. Also, check the Common Role-Up checkbox to make this combination of Commodity and Class the Common Roll-Up. 
   
   
2. In the Relationships area, select Types and Units that can be made equivalent. Typically, the only Type selected is “Use” and most of the available Units are selected. 
   
   
3. Click on the desired Common Unit Roll-Up unit (“Gal” in this example). 
   
   
   This will activate the Make Default button.
4. Click the Make Default button. 
   
   
   NOTE: When the Unit has been made the Default, an asterisk (*) will appear to the right of it.The General tab should now look like the one below.
   
   
5. Click on the Conversions tab. Then click the “+” button to create a new equivalence.
   
   
6. Select Energy Usage Heat [MMBtu] in the Convert TO: drop-down menu. Enter 0.09160 for the multiplication factor (based on 91,600 Btu/Gal). 
   
   
7. Click OK to save this Conversion.
8. Click OK to save this Equivalence.The Equivalencies list will refresh in the Unit System Editor.

Verifying the new Common Roll-Up Unit

1. Click on the Commodities tab to confirm that the changes are reflected there--first in the Equivalencies tab ... 
   
   
   
   And then in the Commodities tab ...
   
   
2. Click Close to close the Unit System Editor.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unit System changes will impact any bills entered AFTER the date of the change. 
! Existing historical bills in EnergyCAP will need to be updated to reflect the change. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATABASE PRIOR TO MAKING UNIT SYSTEM CHANGES. ! 

Below is a sample SQL Script that could be run from either SQL Server Query Analyzer, or via the EnergyCAP Administrator Program to update the historical bills with the new roll-up information:

UPDATE BILL

SET bill.dirty = 1

WHERE billID in (SELECT billID from billaccountmeter

WHERE billaccountmeter.commodityID = 10)

GO

--

EXEC cleanbill