Instructions on how to get the most out of the software
This guide provides instructions to help you get the most out of the Ecologic assessment and retrofit platform.
The following instructions describe how to use the software interface to accurately describe the building occupants, features, and appliances.
The audit process comprises a series of questions, each with a specific form control suitable to collect the type of data requested.
Some common form controls include:
There are also several special form controls that are unique to this software:
Questions are grouped into sections, with each section representing a particular building feature, fixture or appliance. Sections are turn grouped into steps, which represent collections of similar sections such as those sections on utilities, the building occupants, electronic appliances etc.
Instead of overwhelming you with questions, we've gone with a more layered approach.
Questions are grouped by priority, with critical questions such as the type of heating system shown prominently, and more detailed questions shown in optional slide-out forms.
To add more detail about a property feature simply click 'more detail' in the bottom right of the question pane and the additional questions will slide out from below the top-level question. For instance, if you need to adjust the thermostat setting of your heating system, simply navigate to the heating question and click 'more detail', to view the thermostat questions.
If you don't want to answer a question that's no problem. We fill any unanswered questions with smart defaults.
The defaulting logic varies from question to question and is detailed in the Engineering Reference Documentation however the following provides some simple examples:
Many defaults are location-specific, such as the local electricity tariff structure and rates, or the most common heating or cooling system.
The default is typically shown in the audit interface as a pre-selected question.
If you're unsure how to answer a question or if you'd like to learn a bit more about a particular question, you can access more contextual information, including what the data is used for and a detailed description of how to answer the questions, including a detailed description of each of the question choices where relevant.
To access more information click the small 'i' button next to the question. This will launch a panel on the right of the app.
A range of details are requested about your building to assess how it is likely to perform throughout the year and how much energy your heating and cooling systems are likely to use. This includes:
In addition, the questionnaire includes a widget to describe the specific floor plan and features of the building.
To specify the building floor plan:
For many buildings we are able to provide a default floor plan using machine vision of satellite imagery. In those situations, a default floor plan will be provided in advance of your assessment that you can edit as necessary.
Your answers to the building-wide questions will be applied as defaults to the entirety of the building. If you wish to specify an exception for a specific wall (e.g. a different wall construction or window area) you need to edit that wall individually. Simply click on an existing wall to edit, which will show a dialogue box, with a set of questions for that wall (e.g. wall type, window area, external boundary condition, eave depth etc).
Similarly, the heating and cooling systems specified in the earlier questions are applied by default to all floors and zones in the building. If you wish to specify an exception for a specific zone (e.g. a different heating / cooling system or a different thermostat setting for a specific zone) you need to edit that zone individually by clicking and editing that zone.
Once the simulation have been completed you will be sent a list of charts to help you analyse your energy use and help you develop a tailored energy plan.
The first page provides a sense of how the property performs, including a comparison of the property energy consumption with equivalent typical and efficient properties and a breakdown of which appliances consume the most energy to run. Similar comparisons and breakdowns can be provided for the water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and bills.
The second page provides information to help you identify your preferred actions to reduce your bills and your impact. This includes the estimated cost of each action, together with the estimated bill savings you're likely to achieve, taking into consideration your unique situation.
You can add or remove actions from your plan by clicking on the checkboxes. Once you're happy with your selection click 'create plan' to pledge your actions and create your plan.
We have provided a range of services to help you implement your tailored action plan.
In the planner you are presented with a card for each of the actions you nominated earlier.
We have prepared a set of guides, online resources and external links to help you act on your plan, all accessible by clicking 'more info'.
For many actions we have also prepared a set of offers from local product or service providers. To request a specific offer, click 'Buy now' or ''Get Quote' and fill out the form provided. This will forward your contact details and any other necessary details to your preferred product or service provider.
This section provides instructions on how to perform several features that are available to Pro and Partner team members.
The professional features are designed for users providing building energy and carbon advice to households and businesses. Pro team members have a range of extra capabilities including managing multiple properties on behalf of client households and businesses, generating PDF reports and managing team members.
To become a pro click the profile button in the top right corner of the app and then click 'Create Team'. You can then upgrade to a pro team by clicking 'Become a Pro' in the team admin page.
To review the property profiles for your team click the 'list' button or 'home' button on the top menu. You should see a set of headline profile counts at the top of the page, followed by an interactive map and table showing all the property profiles listed under your team.
To create a new property click the plus button in the top right navigation menu. If you are a member of multiple teams, you will need to select which team to create the property under.
To edit existing properties, click the buttons to the right of each property in the profile table, including review / edit the rating, review / edit the action plan.
To generate a PDF report for the property click 'PDF' next to the relevant property. You can also generate a PDF report within the profile view using the top right navigation menu.
To generate a CSV report of all property data click the download / cloud button at the top of the table (Note: you will need to have Admin team access level to perform this function).
To generate a report you have two options.
To edit the report template including the report logo, standard text copy or styling:
To edit your team navigate to the team console by clicking the 'profile' icon button in the top right of the app, then selecting your team and clicking the 'Team Members' panel. Note, you will need Admin access to add and edit team members. Contact your team administrator if you need this access level.
To add a team member:
To change the access level for a team member, click the 'pencil' button next to the relevant team member and modify their access level using the dropdown menu.
The different access levels can perform a different range of features.
To delete a team member click the 'bin' button next to the the relevant team member
This section provides instructions on how to perform several features that are available to supplier team members.
The supplier features are designed for businesses offering energy and carbon saving products and services to households and businesses in the platform marketplace. Supplier team members have a range of extra capabilities including the creation and management of offers and the creation and management of projects created on the platform.
To become a supplier click the profile button in the top right corner of the app and then click 'Create Team'. You can then upgrade to a supplier team by clicking 'Become a Supplier' in the team admin page.
To create or manage your offers you'll need to navigate to your Team dashboard by clicking the home button, then clicking the 'Offers' tab.
You should see a table of existing offers specified for your team.
Each offer has the following features:
To create an offer click 'Create offer' above the Offers table.
To edit an existing offer click 'Edit' next to an offer in the table.
To publish an offer, click 'Publish' next to an offer in the table and select which domains to publish to.
To create and manage offers you need to be registered as an admin or manager within a Supplier team. If you don't have access, contact your team admin.
Projects can be reviewed and managed in the projects dashboard. To navigate to the projects dashboard click the home button and then click the Projects tab in the top of the page.
You should see an interactive map and table of all projects currently requested or in progress for your team.
For each project you should see the following features:
To edit the project status click the 'Plus' button or clicking an existing project status flag.
To edit the project status labels, you'll need to be a team admin and navigate to the Labels tab in the Team admin page. We suggest matching your project status labels to match your CRM status labels if you are syncing the project status to your CRM.
This section provides instructions on how to perform several features available to partner team members.
The partner features are designed for businesses, councils, governments and community groups that wish to offer an integrated energy and carbon advice service to their community or network. Partner team members have a range of extra capabilities including managing their own custom branded partner gateway, managing a network of suppliers, and coordinating email and social media campaigns.
To become a partner click the profile button in the top right corner of the app and then click 'Create Team'. You can then upgrade to a partner team by clicking 'Become a Partner' in the team admin page.
Your Ecologic Partner subscription includes a Gateway or white-labelled instance of the Ecologic Platform for your networks to self assess their properties. To edit your gateway click the Gateway tab in the Team admin section (you'll need team admin access to edit your gateway).
Your Gateway includes the ability to provide the following customisations:
Ecologic Partner allows you to centrally coordinate which suppliers can promote products or services in your marketplace. Once supplier offers are approved for the marketplace, you can then monitor supplier quotes and projects in realtime to ensure customers receive value for money, quality products and superior customer service.
To review supplier offers visit the Marketplace tab in the Team dashboard (you'll need to be a team admin or manager).
You should see a table of all current offers listed in your Partner domain together with all offer requests.
To review an existing offer or offer request click 'review' next to an offer in the table.
To unpublish an existing offer click the 'unpublish' button next to an existing offer in the offer table.
To approve an offer request click 'approve' next to an offer request in the offer request table.
Ecologic Partner provides several features to support effective email and social media campaigns.
To track the performance of campaigns, Ecologic allows UTM parameters to be included in email and social media links. This does not require any configuration within Ecologic, however it is important to embed the UTM params including source and campaign ID in the shared hyperlink.
To streamline user onboarding for email direct marketing campaigns, the software also provides support for key user details, such as name and email address to be included in a 'magic link'. Essentially, the user's details are embedded in an encrypted key, which is included in the email hyperlink. When the user clicks this link, their details will be forwarded to our database and an account automatically generated for them. To enable this feature you will need to obtain an encryption key from us and we will assist you with creating the 'magic links'.
Ecologic Partner provides the ability to monitor the participation rates, program impacts and project status in realtime using the campaign dashboard.
To monitor program participation including the number of households and business participants and their onboarding status, click the 'Profiles' tab. You should see the following headline metrics:
To monitor program impacts including the number of actions taken, their utility bill savings and their greenhouse gas reductions, click the 'Actions' tab and review the following headline metrics:
To monitor project status including the number, type and status of projects deployed via the platform, click the 'Projects' tab.
To analyse the geographic distribution of program participation, program impacts or program projects, use the interactive map below the headline metrics.
To analyse participant segments input a query using the search or filter buttons in each of the tables above. The program monitoring metrics, interactive map and table will automatically update to reflect the section.