A web service for managing new construction utility incentive programs
Energy Design Assistance Tracker (EDAPT)
Client: Xcel Energy, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Laboratory of the Rockies
​As building codes become more stringent, Energy Design Assistance (EDA) programs must find innovative ways to reduce administrative costs, while still maintaining quality and consistency. Xcel Energy® and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly called the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) examined Xcel’s EDA program to look for opportunities to improve the process. This process was then extended for use by other utilities for their EDA programs.​
​
View site at: https://www.eda-pt.org/
Results
EDAPT has resulted in an estimated administrative savings of over $500,000 per year for Xcel Energy.
My Contributions
-
​Workflow analysis
-
User experience design and interface design
-
​Educational and training materials
-
Posters, presentations, and graphics to promote the project
-
EDAPT logo
Challenges
-
Tracking projects, mostly through email, was a manual and time-consuming process.
-
Viewing all the EDA projects at once required creating complicated spreadsheets.
-
Each energy design consultant had a different process for submitting models
-
Xcel required a careful review of the models to identify any quality control issues.
-
Energy efficiency measures were modeled differently and sometimes incorrectly.
Solutions
The EDAPT web service tracks projects, manages data and communications, and reports project-specific and program-wide outcomes.
-
Xcel program managers and project team members can quickly see project status and who is responsible for the next step.
-
Notifications are automatically sent out when new material is posted to the site.
-
Xcel can review the projected savings for individual projects or for all EDA projects.
-
DOE’s publicly available OpenStudio and EnergyPlus tools provide automated quality and EDA protocol checking along with an expanding library of Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs). As the energy consultants run their models, they can test them with an automated quality assurance process.
-
Model issues can be addressed before submission to the utility. Standard, tested EEMs are available on the Building Component Library (BCL). Not only does this speed up testing design alternatives, it also improves the repeatability of the process.
-
EDAPT connects project data with model outcomes to facilitate automated reporting. High-level and detailed reports are generated — in the format Xcel requires — at each stage.
Analyzing the Workflow
The complex, manual workflow was analyzed and transformed into the steps above. Then I worked to simplify that into sections to design a six-step process that could be incorporated into the website. ​​The redesigned workflow brought the tasks into the application, and the application notified team members and organized projects to eliminate all the email traffic and custom spreadsheets.
​​​Application Features
-
At-a-glance project status and responsible party notification.
-
Projected savings for individual projects or all projects.
-
Quality checks are performed before models are uploaded.
-
Automated report generation from uploaded model data.
Summary Screen
The user can quickly see all the projects that they are working on, how many projects are at each stage, and who is responsible for that stage. They view their projects on a map, by consultant, or see charts of the latest data. The key for the colors and team abbreviations is located below the map.
​​
We developed a version for the website that would indicate, by color and abbreviation, what stage the project was at and who was responsible for moving it forward.
Projects Screen
This screen goes into more detail about each project. Users can see the status, go to any stage, and view a chart of current savings.
​​
Application
New projects start by submitting an application on the online form below. After it is submitted, the program manager is notified to review the application.
​​
If the program manager approves the application, the project moves forward, and the application step is marked in green. The energy consultant is then notified to move forward with the next step.
.png)
Quality Control
The application automatically performs a check of the model uploaded by the energy consultant to flag errors that they can correct before sending them to the utility/./
