Import historical data to the Platform

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This article describes how to upload historical data to the platform and how to manage it once it has been inserted. It is divided into the following sections:

  1. Uploading historical data into the platform
    1. Sending and importing data to the platform
    2. Obtaining historic data for Degree Days devices
  2. Managing historical data in the platform
    1. Joining historical devices
    2. Including historical data in an existent device

 

1. Uploading historical data into the platform

The platform considers as historical, data with date previous to the last value inserted into the platform. This would mean that if you have never inserted data into a certain device and you do so chronologically, this will not be considered historical, even if it refers to data from years ago.

1.1 Sending and importing data to the platform

If you are planning on uploading historical data into the platform, we propose you to read the article in which we explain the different methodologies that can be followed. 

Once you have decided which is the best methodology for you, we would recommend you to check the second section of this article.

 

1.2 Obtaining historic data for Degree Days devices

Sometimes it is useful to analyse the energy consumption compared to heating and cooling degree days in order to see if our systems react correctly with external conditions. 

Introducing historical degree days data into the Platform is pretty easy. Let's see how!

First of all, you need to create degree day parameters in your account. In order to so, please check the article in which this procedure is described. 
 
The result will be that you will find Degree Days devices in your gateways, following the name "DD name_of_location":
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Now it is time to go to degreedays.net website and download historical data from the same weather station you selected when you created your degree days' devices. 

Degreedays.net allows you to download until 36 months of historical data for free. If your desired weather station does not have enough historical data, we advise taking Airport Weather stations.

You need to select your weather station by writing the city or the weather ID, then select if you would like Heating or Cooling degree days, Celcius or Fahrenheit, the base temperature (16ºC) and the frequency (daily). Then select the range of time you would like and click on "Generate Degree Days".
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Once the file is generated, you can download it by pressing the "download" button at the top of the page:
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The same process should be repeated to obtain Cooling degree days.

Once you have both Heating and Cooling degree days excels, it is time to put all this information into an Excel template, with the correct parameters and device identifier. The device identifier is the Key that can be found inside the meteorological station. 
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The device Key is usually "DD-XXXX", in this case: DD-108206. The parameters related to degree-days are:

  • 18021 - Cooling Degree Days
  • 18121 - Heating Degree Days
  • 18221 - Mixed Degree Days (sum of cooling and heating)

Now you should fill these variables and copy and paste data to the template, save and upload it! Here you can see an example of how the spreadsheet looks like:

 

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In case you have any question regarding how to fill the excel files, please check this article.

 

2. Managing historical data in the platform

Once you have decided which is the methodology you will follow to upload the historical data, you might follow two different strategies:

  • If you have the data in two different devices, you might join them.
  • If you are inserting historical data of a device that already exists in the platform, you can upload it directly into that device.

 2.1 Joining historical devices

You might be interested in joining historical devices if:
  • One meter has been substituted by another and you want to link the information between them.
  • You have historical data for a device X that is still not registered in the platform. You can then insert data with a device Y, and once the device X is registered in the platform, join both of them.
The procedure followed is to concatenate devices and indicate which is the historical device of the other. To do so, you should follow the next steps:

1. You should go to Settings > Gateways > Edit Gateways > Devices
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2. You should edit the "new" device and choose a "Historical device". Also, you should indicate the join date of the concatenation of the devices. Please note that if your devices have weekly data, the joint date should be Monday; If they have monthly data, the joint date should be the 1st day of the month. Otherwise, the values from both devices will be added when displaying the total consumption for that week or month.
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In this case, the "new" device is called "Fiscal meter" and has as historical data the device "Historic Device". The join date of the two devices is the 19/04/2018. 

3. The historical device can have another device as historical data. The Platform allows up to 5 concatenations between devices. 
 
IMPORTANT. Following these steps, you have to make sure that you keep both devices because erasing the one with the historical data would mean erasing the historical data from the new one too. You might reject the historical device with no further affectations but do not delete the historical device.
 
Now you are done! After the join or joins, the main device will integrate the historical data in all the menus of the Platform.
 

2.2 Including historical data in an existent device 

If what you want is to delete the device with the historical data and just keep the current one, you should to download all the data from the former device on an Excel file and then upload it on the new device.

You have two options:
  • Download discrete data, i.e. quarter-hourly or hourly data.
  • Download cumulative data.

If you would like to download discrete data, you can do so from the consumption screen. However, we would recommend you to download cumulative data if the option is possible.

To download cumulative data you should:

1. First, you should go to the Advanced Analytics screen:
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2. You should Create a new analysis and Add Data Series:
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3. You should choose the Single Device option:
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4. You should select the basic resolution:
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5. This will be the result. You should then export the data by clicking the button shown in the following image:
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Once you have downloaded all the data, you should upload it to the platform by following the methodology described in this article.
 
Once ALL the data has been uploaded, you might reject the old device. 
 
 

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