Energy Audit Software – General Features
Both BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro have a number of features that aren't directly related to the core functionality of energy modelling and reporting. Following are some of the more 'general' features of the software:
Simple, consistent user interface
We have put a considerable effort into making the software user-friendly, and we will continue to make improvements where possible.
BizEE user-interface basics
The user-interface of both packages is centred around a 'hierarchical tree', which allows you to add, remove, and edit items such as activity areas, energy inputs, and energy uses. A section of the tree in a BizEE site-model is shown below:
A red cross next to a tree item indicates that more information is needed, whilst a green tick indicates that there's no need for any more information (although you can often add more if you want).
A red cross makes all items further up in the tree have a red cross too – the top item (the business site itself) will only get a green tick when all the items in the tree have green ticks.
Advantages of the BizEE user-interface approach
- You can enter or edit data in any order you want.
- Whenever possible you're free to enter as much or as little data as you feel necessary.
- Once you've figured out the basics (see above), everything follows the same pattern.
- It scales very well: large, complicated businesses are covered in exactly the same way as smaller, simpler businesses.
BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro
The BizEE Pro user-interface is essentially the same as that of BizEE Benchmark, but there are more options to deal with. We consider this user-interface consistency to be critical for users who require both software packages for their day-to-day work.
Built for growth
Adaptability is integral to the design of BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro. The world of energy-efficiency is continually changing: new products are introduced, building regulations change, fuels and tariff structures change.
There is also an endless array of energy equipment. The software already models the most common energy uses (and allows for 'custom energy uses' to model the rest), but there will always be demand for new modelling capabilities.
Both BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro have been built for continual change and growth to ensure their long-lasting usefulness.
Automatic updates
Both BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro use an automatic update system to ensure that users are kept up-to-date with the latest features.
Every time the software is opened, it connects to our server to check for updates. When updates are detected they are automatically downloaded and integrated.
Online or offline usage
A constant web connection isn't necessary to use the software. If the software can't make a connection to the web to check for updates it will just open with the most recently downloaded version. Taking a laptop along on a site visit can be a convenient way to perform an audit – the software has been designed to cater for this option.
Flexible system requirements
BizEE Benchmark and BizEE Pro can be installed on almost any computer (Windows, Macintosh, Linux).
Some fairly intensive calculations are necessary for the energy modelling that the software performs. For this reason we recommend that the software be used on a computer with at least a 500 MHz processor and 128MB RAM. These are not absolute requirements, however. There should be no problems running the software on any desktop computer bought in the last few years.
We occasionally get asked if BizEE Benchmark or BizEE Pro can run on a PDA or handheld device. We can certainly see potential benefits to this, and, if the user demand is there, adapting the software for non-PC devices is something we'll consider in the future. However, our focus for the time being is on desktop and laptop computers.
If you'd like us to let you know when the Energy Audit Software becomes available, please email info@energyauditsoftware.com.