Solutions
Overview
SMR’s Utility Manager™ (UM) Integrated Software Solution is a powerful set of applications that can significantly reduce your organization’s utility costs and consumption. Our comprehensive solution combines bill management, interval data, utility accounting, and contract management in order to identify unique savings opportunities and verify the success of cost reduction programs.
In addition to our software solution, you have the flexibility of choosing to have your utility bills processed and paid by the UM Service Bureau, our industry-advanced outsourced bill processing and payment service.
Benefits of the UM Integrated Software Solution
- Identifies problem bills, missing bills, and unusual consumption patterns
- Enables detailed forecasting, budgeting, scenario analysis, and data mining
- Facilitates better procurement decisions and rate comparisons
- Makes facility benchmarking straightforward
- Creates robust, customizable reports, analysis, charts, and graphs
- Measures and verifies cost-saving programs and conservation initiatives
- Provides a customizable software solution for successful energy management
- Integrates multiple applications into an easy to understand user interface
Software Applications
UM Server/UM Pro is a utility accounting application that provides comprehensive setup, data entry, importing, exporting, and reporting capabilities. Energy and facility managers, executive management, and accounting personnel can access, track, view, and graph monthly utility billing information in itemized detail.
UM Server manages utilities for:
- Over 5,000 sites
- Over 50,000 accounts or meters
- Over 5,000 vendors
- Unlimited site groups and site categories
UM Online is a Web-based reporting tool that utilizes UM Server as its processing engine. This robust and user-friendly application enables energy and facility managers, executive staff, and accounting personnel to view utility consumption and cost data in a variety of customizable reports, charts, and graphs.
UM Profiler is a meter data profiling application that tracks previous-day utility usage at up to 15-minute intervals for specific sites. Using this data, energy and facility managers, as well as executive management, can (1) see if utility reduction measures are having an effect and what usage looks like at specific times of the day, (2) compare consumption directly with the utility bill, (3) calculate savings per actions taken, (4) share timely information with personnel.
UM Procurement Pro assists energy and procurement managers with the purchasing and management of deregulated energy contracts. The software tracks key contract provisions and the dates of critical contract events. It monitors both transportation/distribution and commodity costs and usage to determine whether they are in line with contractual obligations and alerts the user of any discrepancies. The program also streamlines the assembly of data required to solicit deregulated energy contracts and helps in the evaluation of alternative offers.
UM Cost Avoidance allows users to measure and verify the cost savings associated with energy-saving programs. The application incorporates bill data, meter data, weather data, and other adjustment factors into a linear regression model to measure and compare each year's utility performance against an adjusted base year. The current year usage and cost is compared to the base year and the level of savings is automatically determined. Adjustment factors can include square footage, equipment load, operating hours, and utility rates, among others. Savings can be identified at the site, region, or division level. Information is presented in a variety of report formats designed to meet the needs of energy and facility management, accounting, and executive management.
