Competitions allows you to create resource reduction competitions across competing buildings, and display ranked building performance.
👍 This article will help you:
Create resource use reduction competitions for your organization
Generate custom baselines for your buildings
Troubleshoot common issues with competitions
To access Competitions, go to Apps on the left side menu, then Competitions.
📘 Further reading
Learn best practices for organizing and promoting competitions, and discover the pros and cons of choosing different baseline periods and competition periods.
Add a competition
To add a new competition, select the 'Add a competition' button.
The following fields display in the competition form:
Field | Description |
Competition name | The competition's name. |
Competition type | Organization AND by building at my organization: Participants at other organizations can only see your organization's overall results, not your buildings' results. |
Resource type | The resource that is targeted for reduction during the competition. Available resources include Electricity, Energy, Natural gas, Water, Steam, Waste, Compost, Recycling. |
Competition photo | The competition's profile photo. At least 500x500 pixels is recommended. |
Program (optional) | Programs enable multiple organizations to compete together. Competitions may be associated with a program if the competition's period is within the program's period. Competition results will count toward the program's total savings. |
Description (optional) | The competition's description, or notes for competition administrators. |
Lock | Competitions will automatically lock 7 days after they have ended. You may lock completed competitions early to prevent changes to competitors and results. |
Baseline period (inclusive) | Baseline period is the minimum two-week inclusive period used to determine results during the competition period. This period should have the same weekend-to-weekday ratio as the competition period. |
Competition period (inclusive) | Competition period is the minimum two-week inclusive period during which the competition will take place. If the competition does not begin and end at midnight, select the nearest day. |
🚧 Competitions are resource-specific
You’ll need to configure separate competitions for electricity, natural gas, and water. Once you have added Participants, you cannot change the Resource Type.
Add competition participants
On the Participants tab, select 'Add new participants' to add participating buildings to the competition.
A modal window will appear. Select buildings in the pane on the left to move them into the "Selected buildings" pane on the right. When finished, select 'Add selected buildings'.
📘 Not seeing a building on this list that you are expecting to?
A building will only show up on this list if:
The building is “Enabled” (this can be set on the building’s Overview page)
The building has a point whose scope is “Whole Building” (this can be set on the point’s Overview page)
Next, you'll need to confirm that the correct points have been selected for each building.
The default point selected for each building is the Whole building point corresponding to the competition's resource type. However, there are times when you may want to select a different point to be used in a competition. To change the point, go to the dropdown menu in the Point ID column, then select the desired point. You may select a bill point if no interval point is available, but note that result calculations may be delayed if bill data is delayed.
Add custom baselines
To enter custom baseline values for a building, go to the dropdown menu on the participant row, then select 'Enter custom baseline'.
A modal window will appear. Enter the start and end dates for the point's baseline period, or a custom kW baseline average. When finished, select 'Save'.
Your date selection or kW value will appear under the Baseline column of the Participants table.
View competition results
Competition results will begin to appear on the Results tab once the competition start date has arrived and data exist for both the competition period and baseline period.
To manually recalculate competition standings, select the 'Recalculate standings' button. The button will only appear on Unlocked competitions. Competitions may be locked to prevent changes to settings and recalculations. You can remove the lock on the competition Overview tab.
📘 How is percent reduction calculated?
Percent reduction is calculated using the following formula:
% change = 1 - (competitionUse/baselineUse)
competitionUse = average rate of consumption (kW) during the competition period
baselineUse = average rate of consumption (kW) for the entire baseline period
Competition standings update once every hour.
Programs
Programs enable multiple organizations to compete together. Competitions may be associated with a program if the competition's period is within the program's period. Competition results will count toward the program's total savings.
On the Programs tab, select 'Add a program' to set up a new program. Select 'Save'. Next, on the Organizations tab, select 'Add organizations' to add or remove organizations to or from the program. The Competitions tab automatically displays all competitions between buildings and organizations for all participating organizations.
Troubleshooting
Problem | Solution |
The percent reduction values are far higher or lower than I am expecting. Is there something wrong? | The most common reason for unexpectedly high or low reduction values is due to what stage the of the competition you are in. For example, at the very beginning of a competition, the average competition rate (kW) may only include an unoccupied Sunday whereas the baseline period rate is over a full two-week period. This could lead to unexpectedly low percent reduction values. |
The competition is almost over and the percent reduction values are still higher or lower than I am expecting. Is there something wrong? | It’s possible that one or more of the participant's underlying points encountered an offline period or a data spike during the baseline period and/or the competition period. |
I don’t see results for one or more of my participants. | Percent reduction results will not populate until the competition has begun. |
Can I change the competition dates after the competition starts? | Yes, you can edit both the competition period and baseline period after the competition starts. Once you save the new competition settings, new results will begin calculating. |
I cannot delete a competition. | There are a few conditions that need to be met in order to delete a competition: |
👍 Contact Customer Support
If you are still having issues, contact Customer Support. In your email, please include any additional details that will help our team investigate the issues.