Why Data Quality Matters
Accurate, complete, and timely utility data is essential for making informed decisions about your building's sustainability performance. Poor data quality can impede progress toward your objectives, whether you're reporting to GRESB, preparing for regulatory disclosure, or planning decarbonization strategies.
This guide describes common data quality issues that our customers experience, explains why and how they happen, and details the tools and resources available to identify and address them.
Understanding these issues will enable you to:
- Identify problems before they impact your reporting
- Know when and how to take action
- Partner with Measurabl to maintain high-quality data
- Set realistic expectations for data management
A Partnership ApproachImproving data quality is a collaborative effort between you and Measurabl. While our system automatically detects issues, resolving them often requires action from both parties.
This partnership is key to maintaining high-quality data and achieving your sustainability reporting goals. |
Understanding Data Quality Issues
🔍 Data Completeness
Utility data is fully captured for all active meters and associated building spaces, with no missing or omitted records required for analysis or reporting
| Issue Type | What It Means | Example | Common Reasons |
| Gaps | Days when you have no utility data between otherwise complete readings. |
✅ Good: You have readings for Oct 1-31 and Nov 1-30.
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| Late Meters/ End Gaps | Your most recent utility data is more than 90 days old, meaning you don’t have up-to-date information. | ❌ If today is March 15, but your latest reading is from January 14, the data for this meter is late and causes a gap at the end of the meter. |
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| Overlaps | When there are two or more meter readings spanning the same or overlapping dates, causing the data to appear inaccurately higher than usual. | ❌ If your January bill covers Jan 1-31 and your February bill includes Jan 28-Feb 28, there’s an overlap from Jan 28-31. |
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📊 Data Accuracy
The recorded utility data precisely matches the information presented on the original utility bills, ensuring it is free of errors or discrepancies.
| Issue Type | What It Means | Example | Common Reasons |
| Outliers | Unusually high or low usage that doesn’t fit historical patterns. | ❌ Water usage for January is suddenly 5× higher than previous months. |
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| Duplicates | The same utility data appears more than once across multiple meters. | ❌ You see two identical readings for the same billing period covering two different meters |
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How We Identify Outliers
An outlier is a data point that looks unusual compared to historical utility usage - either much higher or lower than expected. These spikes or drops can happen due to data entry errors, billing mistakes, or real-world anomalies like leaks or equipment failures.
Measurabl uses a sophisticated three-stage process to identify the most relevant outliers while minimizing false positives:
- Data Preparation: We carefully filter the data to focus on relevant readings, excluding certain edge cases (like intermittent meters or zero-usage readings).
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Advanced Detection: Our system analyzes your meter data for unusual patterns in:
- Daily usage values
- Cost figures
- Usage-to-cost ratios
- Smart Filtering: We apply additional business logic to ensure you only see the most critical outliers requiring attention.
⏰ Data Timeliness
Utility data is made available within an appropriate timeframe following its generation or reporting by the metering system, supporting prompt analysis and decision-making.
| Issue Type | Resolution Owner | Typical Timeline | What We Do | Factors Affecting Timeline |
| Connect Data Issues | ||||
| Username/Password Failure | Customer | 1-3 business days | Notify customer of credential authentication failures in the Connect Dashboard and a biweekly email. | Customer's response time in updating credentials |
| Gaps / Late Meters | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and attempt to retrieve missing data from the utility portal | Utility provider data accessibility, account access issues |
| Overlaps | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and adjust data to prevent double-counting of meter readings | Number of affected meters/readings, meter reading detail on utility bills |
| Outliers | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and validate against source documentation (utility bill), and adjust or dismiss as appropriate | Volume of flagged readings requiring review, meter reading detail on utility bills |
| Duplicates | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and identify and remove redundant entries | Number of duplicate entries to process |
| Bill Upload Data Issues | ||||
| Gaps / Later Meters | Customer | Customer-dependent | Surface issues in Data Manager | Customer's response time in uploading missing bills |
| Overlaps | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and adjust data to prevent double-counting of meter readings | Number of affected meters/readings, meter reading detail on utility bills |
| Outliers | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and validate against source documentation (utility bill), and adjust or dismiss as appropriate | Volume of flagged readings requiring review, meter reading detail on utility bills |
| Duplicates | Measurabl | Reviewed at least quarterly, on a 30-day cycle | Surface issues in Data Manager and identify and remove redundant entries | Number of duplicate entries to process |
| Manual Entry, ENERGY STAR, API Data issues | ||||
| All Issues | Customer | Customer-dependent | Surface issues in Data Manager | Customer's response time in correcting data |
| System-wide Issues | ||||
| Utility Bill Template Changes | Measurabl | 5-10 business days | Update our data collection templates to match utility provider changes | Complexity of bill template changes, utility website structure, utility provider accessibility, account access issues |
| Third-Party Connections | Third-Party/Measurabl | 2-14+ days | Maintain regular communication with third-party connections to ensure accurate data deliveries | Third-party responsiveness, technical complexity |
| Utility Billing Delays | Utility Provider | Up to 30+ days | Monitor for the restoration of service |
Completely dependent on utility
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How to Resolve Issues
Measurabl and our customers share responsibility for maintaining high-quality data. Many data issues, especially those related to Connect, require action from our customers before Measurabl can resolve them. Understanding these shared responsibilities is crucial.
👥 Customer Actions
- Addressing common Connect account issues
- Correcting manually-entered data errors by reviewing and editing readings
- Providing missing information for gap periods (e.g., uploading missing bills)
- Removing duplicate entries from manually entered data
- Confirm unusual readings are legitimate by marking them as "dismissed" when they represent actual consumption. (Coming soon!)
🛠️ Measurabl Resolutions
- Directly addressing Connect & Bill Upload data issues once utility credentials are verified and after customers successfully upload new utility bills into Measurabl.
- Updating integrations when utility websites change their formats, e.g., when utilities redesign their customer portals or modify their bill layouts, to maintain accurate data flow.
- Continuously improving the identification of duplicates, outliers, and other data problems.
💬 How We Communicate Status
- Data Manager indicators: "Measurabl" appears as the assignee when our team is actively working on an issue.
- Issue tracking status: Each data quality issue is labeled as "New," "In Progress," or "Dismissed" so you always know where things stand.
- Regular reporting: Your Customer Delivery Manager provides reports highlighting persistent data quality issues.
- Email notifications: Alerts when issues are detected and resolved. (Coming Soon!)
Note: All data quality issues will appear in Data Manager within 24 hours. Measurabl reviews all data quality issues related to Connect and Bill Upload data sources regularly and makes corrections accordingly. The review frequency varies based on account-specific factors.