Notifications

Notifications are ways for EnergyTracer users to get automated updates about their data. These notifications are delivered via EnergyTracer email service. There are currently two types of notifications: automated data notifications and scheduled report notifications. The notifications tab can be accessed from the profile section via the settings cog icon in the top right corner of EnergyTracer.  From this tab you can view and edit existing notifications, create new notifications, resend notifications, and delete unwanted notification. 

Creating a notification

Notification can be created from the notifications tab by clicking the bell icon next to the dropdown of existing notifications. New notifications require a name, a deliver frequency, and an organization (only for scheduled reports).  Notifications can be scheduled daily, weekly, or monthly depending on the type of notification. Notification frequency can also be sent to off if you no longer wish to receive updates but do not want to delete the notification.   

Existing notifications

Once a notification is created it will be sent any day that matches frequency option. Existing notification are available via a dropdown in the notifications tab. Notifications can be edited by clicking the pen icon. Notifications can be resent with the arrows icon; this will redeliver the notification as if it were delivered today. Unwanted notification can be deleted with the trash icon but this cannot be undone. If a user's access to data within a notification is ever revoked, upon the next delivery of that notification any part of that notification that uses restricted data will automatically be removed. 

Automated Data Notifications

Automated data notifications give updates on any new automated utility bills that have entered the system since the last time a notification was delivered (calculated from the frequency not actual delivery). Automated data notifications are customized by adding organizations wanting to be tracked to the notification. Organizations can be added to a notification by navigating to an existing automated data notification and clicking the icon on the right side of the page that looks like building. There is no limit to the amount of organizations that can be added to a notification but if many organizations are being tracked it may be beneficial to create more than one notification. Added organizations will appear in a list near where the add icon was and can be removed from the notification by clicking the trash icon next to their name. Removed notification organizations can be added back anytime. 

When resending a an automated data notification the update range will be from when the previous notification should have been to the current day not the expected deliver day. Example: if you are receiving weekly updates on Monday you will get data from the previous Monday to Sunday. If you resend the notification on a Wednesday you will receive data from the previous Monday to the current date which would include the current Monday and Tuesday. 

Scheduled Report Notifications

Scheduled report notifications generated and deliver reports than can be found on the EnergyTracer reporting tab. Scheduled reports can only be sent on a monthly frequency. These reports are not guaranteed to have complete data sets so it is recommended to verify the reports accuracy upon receiving them. Scheduling the reports around when utility bills are expected can help improve the reports' accuracy.  

Reports can be added to a new or existing notification from the reports tab. Next to the 'Generate Report' button there is now a Save Report Setting button. To view or remove reports that were added to a notification, navigate to the notifications section and select the notification in question.  There existing a limit to 5 reports per notification because of attachment size limits for various email services. It is recommend to not add large reports (> 1-2 MB) to a notification as this may also cause issues if attachment sizes limits are hit.  

When a report is saved to a notification, all existing selections for the report will be saved apart from any field that includes a date. Instead the difference between the current date and selected date will be saved so that when the report is generated monthly the date difference is maintained. For example, if run a report the end in October 2024 in the month of December 2024 then that would be a difference of 2 months. When that notification is later sent in March 2025 the date of the report will be for January 2025 (a difference of 2 months).