Appendix M - Glossary of Common Terms
Attributes / Class / Construction / Consumption / Corrected / Energy / Energy_Utility_Map / Energy_Utility_Type / Entity / Facility / Ghost-over / Indicator / Invoices / Indicator / Local_ID / Entity / Meter / Meter_Configuration / Non-TOU / Organisation / Organisation_Type / Parent_Meter / Password / Plant / Plant_Configuration / Primary_Contact / Profiled_Consumption / Purpose / Quick_Tabs / Record / Results_per_Page / Sample / Site / Sub-Meter / Supply_Meter / TOU / Useful_Shortcuts / User / Utility

Attributes

These are parameters for each Entity which record how much it is utilised; its size, shape and environment; plus details of all the relevant materials used in its construction. They are further sub-divided into two broad groups of Records, namely, Construction Attributes (see Appendix H) and Utilisation Attributes and Indicator Data (see Appendix G). They comprise the key information necessary for measuring energy efficiency and for subsequent benchmarking. The specific Attributes required by the system for any particular Entity vary according to its Class and Purpose. All data entry screens for Attributes provide Ghost-Over explanatory text when the pointer covers the title of the requisite entry.

Entry field headings marked with the double asterisk - ie [Attribute Name]**, must be completed if benchmark figures are to be calculated. Should any of these fields be left blank, then no benchmarks can be provided. Those marked with a single asterisk - ie [Attribute Name]*, are fields for which an entry is desirable for better accuracy but not essential. Unmarked headings are either seeking general background information, or data which may be required for some envisaged future reports.

Class
When defining an Entity, one of the five offered Classes must be chosen. This in turn determines the range of choice for Purpose and hence also the range of appropriate Attributes offered for data entry. The five Classes are:
1. Common/Landlord Areas. Primarily of interest to a landlord, body corporate or administrator where there is a desire to have benchmarking reports which separate these areas from those deployed in the main usage/activity in the Facility. Might typically include foyers, lift lobbies (and shaft areas), stairwells, kitchens, and ablution/toilet areas.
2. Engineering Areas. Again primarily of interest to a landlord or administrator where there is a desire to have benchmarking reports which separate these areas from the above Class and from those deployed in the main usage/activity in the Facility. Might typically include vertical risers, Plant rooms and lift Plant.
3. Enclosed Car Park. An area enclosed within the building envelope used for car parking. Will generally be lit and ventilated but with no temperature regulation.
4. Temporarily Unutilised Space. The area would normally belong in the following Class but is currently vacant perhaps due to its being untenanted or refurbished.
5. Departmental/Tenanted Areas. This will be the Class most likely to be chosen for any Entity. While it can cover all areas not already included in the above four Classes its primary role is to include the areas where all of the main usages/activities actually take place in the Facility. It will quite often be the only Class chosen and if a Facility does have more than one such Entity with this Class it will probably be due to a need for covering different Purposes or recognising departmental space divisions.
Construction Attributes
See under Attributes

Consumption
The records of energy consumed or utilities employed, collected for each relevant Energy/Utility Type as recorded by each Meter.

Corrected
When efficiencies are calculated for benchmarking purposes, all data is first Corrected to enable comparisons to be made for any essentially 'given' factors, such as local climate, building construction and necessary usage patterns. This thereby enables really meaningful efficiency comparisons to made between all similarly deployed Entities on record in the system.

Energy
Currently the system mainly covers such sources of Energy as electricity, gas, and other fuels. Delivered steam and heated or chilled water are also included and there is scope to extend coverage to other Energy sources, such as solar, if required. Coverage is also being extended to some other non-energy Utilities and these two groupings are often more conveniently combined together under the single category of Energy/Utility Type.

Energy/Utility Map
An Energy/Utility Map is created by the system to show how the various Meter Configurations and Entities are inter-related for a particular Site. It provides a useful overview especially for situations where there are several different types of Energy or Utility in use and/or where the same Meter covers more than one Entity.

Energy/Utility Type
The type of Energy or other Utility being used or metered - eg electricity, reticulated natural gas, fuel oil, water etc.

Entity
This is the basic defined unit for which most benchmark reports can be produced. Any Facility must contain at least one Entity which might be either one building, a group of similar buildings, or, more likely, an easily identifiable segment of a building. The decision to define an Entity should be primarily determined by reporting needs which may be driven by a wish to delineate different usage areas or perhaps to separate otherwise similar areas according to departmental/management responsibilities. Each Entity must then be identified as belonging to one of five Classes after which the predominant usage or Purpose is chosen. A later version will allow for some automatic aggregation of reports by Facility. The number of Entities chosen for each Facility will generally depend on its complexity or size, but for many situations, choosing only one may be quite sufficient.

Facility
A Site will generally comprise several Facilities, each of which will contain at least one Entity. Single buildings are the most likely choice to be defined as a Facility although several buildings can be grouped into one.

Ghost-Over
A Ghost-Over is a relevant text message which appears briefly in a small box just near a heading or a link when the mouse pointer is held over it. If it disappears too soon, moving the pointer away and back again will reinstate it.

Indicator
This is an Attribute chosen to be a benchmarking size or activity Indicator employed as the divisor to calculate the corresponding rate of energy consumption for comparative efficiency purposes. For example, it may be part of an expression citing the rate as kWh per square metre, per Full Time Equivalent Staff member, or per occupied bed day etc, depending on the Purpose of the Entity.

Invoices
This term is used as an identifier for the Invoices checking procedures now provided in Version 3.2 of the system. This important innovation enables every Energy and Utility bill to be routinely checked for accuracy. A later development will allow automatic comparison with relevant past records on an exceptions basis. The Invoices heading in the SHORTCUT SECTION and Appendix L describe this significant improvement in more detail.

Local ID
The unique name given to a Meter for identification purposes when its details are first entered. Choosing this could have important implications for Invoice checking as described further under the Local ID heading in Appendix D.

Login Name
The name chosen by an authorised user for logging on to the system.

Meter
The Meter is the point at which the energy or utility Consumption can be most accurately quantified and details for at least one Meter must be entered for each Energy/Utility Type. The Consumption to be recorded by Meters can range between automated downloading of every half hour of electricity or gas usage on the one hand to manually entering each month's coal tonnage or gas bottles consumed on the other. In this latter example, the Meter is really a virtual item rather than an actual measuring device. However, it is essential to ensure that appropriate usage data is ascertained and entered in the system regularly for each relevant Energy/Utility Type.

Meter Configuration
This is an essential requirement for creating the Energy/Utility Map because it allocates the proportion of each Meter's recorded throughput by Entity in situations where the service being metered is supplied to more than one Entity.

Non-Time of Use (Non-TOU)
Metering which is less sophisticated than Time of Use. The most basic version just records Consumption and the periodic readings have to be taken manually. For electricity supply, Non-TOU Meters can hold dual measurements to distinguish between controlled circuits (ie those subject to ripple control) and those which can draw energy at any time. They can also further extend to separate measurement for simple built-in time divisions between night and day usage but usually without being able to identify it by the day of the week. Different tariffs usually apply to each separately measured usage.

Organisation
This is the client institution which has the contract with ETS for the e-Bench service.

Organisation Type
A broad indicative way to classify the Organisation chosen from a drop-down list on the Assets - Organisation Details screen.

Parent Meter
Any Meter which has at least one Sub-Meter fed by it. A Parent Meter may be a Supply Meter or a Sub-Meter and there is no limit to the number of possible sub-metering levels.

Password
The Password chosen by an authorised User for logging on to the system. One is initially allocated by ETS until Users enter one for themselves.

Plant
A central heat, chilling, or pumping plant which services all or part of a Site. It is in some respects equivalent to a Supply Meter which may then be subject to further measurement through one or more Sub-Meters. However, unlike a Supply Meter, a Plant will also be an Entity in its own right so that its efficiency performance can be benchmarked and monitored.

Plant Configuration
This is an essential requirement for creating the Energy/Utility Map because it allocates the proportion of the Plant's recorded throughput by Entity in situations where the service being metered is supplied to more than one Entity.

Primary Contact
The key User for each Organisation who can authorise other Users with various levels of access.

Profiled Consumption
There is sometimes a need to create a virtual Meter to thereby include in the system significant Consumption which could not be easily recorded otherwise. This is called Profiled Consumption and the profiling is the means of estimating this. The most likely example is street lighting which may not be actually metered. However, it can be reasonably well profiled by using the number and ratings of the respective kinds of lamps deployed with the expected hours per night of lighting to produce a total Consumption figure. Although not metered as such, street lighting electricity may also be invoiced as bulk charges based on the profile.

Purpose
This is the predominant usage/activity which is chosen for each Entity after first selecting the appropriate Class.

Quick Tabs
These comprise the top row of every screen and some have drop-down menus as well. They enable you to access your more commonly used screens without having to return to the e- Bench Main Menu each time.

Record
A Record is one of two key parts of an Entity's data listed as either the Construction Attributes Record or the Utilisation Attributes and Indicator Data Record. Where an Entity is to continue operating, but with some modifications which only affect its Attributes, either Record can be ended and a new one started with effect from the date of the change. Because most of the Attributes will remain as is, the new Record rolls over the existing data so that only the changes need to be entered. If, however, an Entity is closed, or its Class or Purpose changed, then all Attribute data is cleared.

Results per Page
Below the Search box of most list screens and above the list itself, there is a dark blue block with this Results per Page heading in the upper left hand corner. Just beside the heading, a display setting can be chosen by clicking one of the available numbers between 5 and 100. (Default setting is 20.) Immediately below that, the system shows the range of results displayed out of the total number. On the lower right hand corner of the block, there is scope to scroll between pages or choose a particular page number.

Sample
When benchmarking comparisons are made, the Sample comprises all of the other like Entities in the system - ie those which have the same Purpose.

Search
On some screens of lists, just below the heading at the top, you will find a Search box, which enables you to select a new list according to the various selection criteria available across the top either as a type-in request or choice from a drop-down. Clicking the Search button at the right hand end of the box produces the list as selected. At the top of the new list, the entries chosen in the Search box are retained although dropdown options remain at their default All setting if they were not actually set otherwise. In such a case the All can be taken to mean all those qualifying under the other search criteria. For a type-in request, the search will select any relevant item containing the same sequence of characters entered. This can be helpful if the spelling or choice of an abbreviation of the sought name is uncertain because by using only a few known-to-be certain characters, or even just one, you should quickly manage to achieve the desired selection.

Site
This is the first sub-division of an Organisation and will contain at least one Facility. A Site cannot be smaller than the area serviced by any Meter nor must it cross any significant regional boundaries because climatic benchmarking corrections link back through the region chosen for the Site.

Sub-Meter
A Sub-Meter is one that measures energy usage after that energy has already passed through a Supply Meter (or possibly another Sub-Meter) as its Parent Meter. There is no limit to the number of possible sub-metering levels. Sub-Meters are generally installed to measure energy use more precisely for a specific Facility, Entity or grouping of them.

Supply Meter
A Supply Meter measures the energy supply where it is first delivered to the premises. Such a Meter may cover the supply to a whole Site or just to one or more Facilities or Entities.

Time of Use (TOU)
This describes a form of sophisticated Meter which records Consumption and other parameters for each half hour and then periodically transmits the data electronically to the supplier. TOU metering enables separate monthly tariffs to be charged for usage during both different types of days and for different times of the day. For example, with electricity and some reticulated gas supply it is common to have a different set of TOU prices for each month, which further distinguishes between business days and non-business days and then finally divides each of these types of day into six separate four hourly price zones.

TOU
See Time of Use above.

Useful Shortcuts
On some screens, just below the heading at the top, you will find this box, labelled Useful Shortcuts which offers direct links or drop-down menu choices of links to other screens likely to be relevant. Sometimes there is also a Useful Shortcuts box at the bottom of longer screens.

User
A User is a person authorised by the Organisation to have access to the system. Further details on types of User and levels of access can be seen in Appendix A.

Utilisation Attributes
See under Attributes

Utility
This term is used to describe services other than Energy to be covered by the system. These two groupings are often more conveniently combined together under the single category of Energy/Utility Type. Utility examples are services for water consumption or wastewater disposal which can be measured or monitored by the system. Version 3.2 includes water consumption for the first time and there is scope to add wastewater if required.