Buildings overview

Buildings are the foundation of the Buildings and Meters module. One possible hierarchy configuration is to create buildings to represent your physical locations and group them with organizations.

buildings hierarchy example

Building facts

A building is the parent of one or more meters.
Is the child of an organization.
Cannot be created under another building.
Can represent a physical structure or logical place with characteristics such as size (area), location (address and weather station), and age.

Meters assigned to a building provide building totals in reports and dashboards.

Building attributes

Size is tracked in square feet or square meters. You can update the floor area as it changes. For example, when an addition is added to an existing building increasing the floor area.
An assigned weather station is used to perform weather sensitivity and weather normalization calculations. The weather station is automatically assigned based on building location. (postal code or latitude/longitude)
- In the US and Canada the building's postal code is used to assign the weather station. The assigned weather station is shown on the building and the meter Properties page with a weather station code (for example, 09W).
- For all other countries (excluding the US and Canada) the latitude and longitude assigned to a building are used to assign the weather station. The assigned weather station is shown on the building and the meter properties page as AUTOMATIC.
A primary use (or the purpose) of the building is used to create automatic groups in Groups and Benchmarks and reports.
Latitude and longitude can be provided or updated and are used to accurately place buildings on maps.

Building name and code

The building name is a common label for the building and isn't required to be unique (like the code) but it may be confusing in reports and dashboards if it is a duplicate.

The building code is a unique identifier and typically does not change. The code must be unique and cannot have spaces. If your organization already has a method for building codes use these same codes in UtilityManagement.

Steps to add a new building

Where will the new building be placed in the buildings and meters tree? Does the parent organization already exist or do you need to create a new one?
To create a new building click on the Create button and Add Building.
Fill in the Add New Building form. The Parent is the organization you selected or created in step 1.
Save your building.
The next step is to assign this building as the parent to an existing meter (edit the meter and select this building as the parent) or create a new meter and possibly a new account.

If you are creating a new meter it helps to have a copy of the bill so you have the account number, vendor name, and rate schedule information.

Manage buildings

Created with the plus sign (Create dialog) or with a create spreadsheet.
Edited with the Actions menu or an update spreadsheet.

Building reports

Download configured reports without leaving the Buildings and Meters module.

The filters used to create the report are listed on the last report page and set for you when you use Configure Advanced Options.

Permissions

A report of user roles and their permissions is available for download on the Users and Roles page.

Custom user roles are created by administrators.