Standard

1. - OVERVIEW
2. - REPORTS
3. - GRAPHICS

I - Overview

Kulu's standard version is an user-friendly application, which requires no previous knowledge or training efforts to make use of it. It suits for the novices and endusers as well as qualified professionals. In the standard version all the main routines from updating the meter readings to graphical analyses of consumptions and feedback production can be easily managed in the same window of the programme. In addition to Finnish the current version of Kulu supports the following languages: Finnish, Swedish, English and Estonian. New languages can be added easily!

Kulu consists of different kind of databases, which can be updated and analysed for reporting and other purposes. The standard database contains information about the monitored objects and meters as well as meter readings and consumptions. In the other databases there can be information about the characteristics of the objects, weather, personnel etc. New databases for analysing etc. purposes can be added easily. The development of consumption can be seen immediately in the graphs and tables. Comparisons to the previous months and years can be made easily and the abnormal consumers,breakdowns, leakings etc. can be found rapidly.

Just load the demo version and make a closer look with the help of the following instructions.

Kulu user interface

Kulu userinterface consists of seven parts (marked with numbers): choose of the object (property) and meter, updating the date and meter reading, consumption table and graph and the menus. In the following the normal steps in the use of Kulu will be explained.

• Full-size user interface picture (large)

Steps 1-2: choosing the property and the meter

In the property-field (1) can be seen the name of the active object of monitoring. It can be a building, a group of buildings, an apartment, an industrial process etc. The list of objects (properties)can be opened by clicking the field (or the arrow). If needed the list can be scrolled up and down. The objects in Kulu's main database are alphabetically sorted in the list. In a long list of properties a certain one can be found easily by pushing the first letter in the name of the property. There are no limits for the amount of properties (objects of monitoring). In the demo however there are only two properties.

In the meter field (2) can be seen the name of the active meter in the chosen property. The list of meters can be opened by clicking the name of the meter or the arrow on the right side of the field.. Also the meters are sorted alphabetically in the list. The active meter can be chosen from the list by clicking the name of meter. There are no limits for the amount of meters in one property. In most cases however the number of meters in one property will be below ten. In the demo there are only some typical meters. In addition to the typical consumption meters like heating, electricity, water etc. there can also be meters for the outputs of the property like units of production, amount of services or selling, number of users, served people etc.

Steps 3 and 4 - updating the table of meter readings

The lowest row in the table of meter readings is for the updating. The date of a new meter reading will be given by clicking the date field (3) so that the frames of the field will become dark. After this activation the new date can be written in the form yy.mm.dd. containing also possible zeros. For the first time of updating pushing of F12 will bring the date directly from the calendar of the computer. Later on when the date has already once given for one meter/property F12 will bring the same date rapidly after the choose of the new meter/property. The double clicking of the date field will bring the calendar where the date also can be chosen.

When the date is written or given by F12 the meter reading can be written into the next field (4). The fastest way to go to Reading-field is the use of tab-button. The decimals in the meter reading are separated by comma character (,). If instead of reading you want to give directly the consumption (or outputs, amount of users etc) the Reading field will be left empty and into the next field (Sp=special) will be written character K. After this the consumption (or outputs etc.) will be written into the next field. The last field in the row (consumption/day) will be always left empty.

After pushing enter-button Kulu updates a new row into the table of meter readings and calculates the consumption and the consumption/day based on the given data. In the case of typing errors etc. any row in the table can be deleted by clicking the date field (activating the row in question) and pushing Ctrl+D or choosing the Delete from the Reading-menu. If needed also the (lowest) updating row in table can be cleared by the same way.

Step 5 table of consumptions

After pushing the enter-button Kulu calculates also values into the table of consumptions (5). Kulu takes into the account the real date of meter reading and makes automatically correction according the calendar. For the consumption of heating energy (meters) also weather corrections based on monthly degree-days can be made. As default monthly consumptions will be displayed in the table. For the comparisons also the respective consumptions of previous year will be displayed. From the Graph menu the content of the table can be modified (+???). As default the consumptions of the last two years will be displayed. By clicking the date in the table of meter readings the years can be chosen and changed. Values in the tables can be marked by mouse and copy and paste via clipboard e.g. to excel-spreadsheet.

Step 6 - Consumption graph

The results of calculations will be displayed also in the graph (6). The graphtype (bars, areas, lines, pies) for the current and/or previous year (2nd and/or 1st column) can be chosen from the Graph-menu. The colours and values of the graph (6) are based on the columns in the consumption table (5) - the pie is exception. From the Graph menu also the time span of displayed consumptions (yearly, monthly, daily) can be chosen. For the monthly and daily consumptions the accumulated view can be displayed too. From the Graph menu the graph can be copied to the clipboard or to the file in wmf-format. Depending on the display the graph will be scaled so that on Super VGA or higher the whole right part of the Kulu window will be reserved for the graph.

Step 7 - Menus

The use of the menus is presented in details in Kulu's manual. You can download the help files in Microsoft Word (Windows) -format or in pdf-format).

• Kulu manual, Microsoft Word -format
• Kulu manual, pdf-format

In the following some short instruction for the use of menus will be presented.

Property

From the property menu new properties can be added into the Kulu's databases and the data of existing ones can be updated. A property is typically a consumer of energy and/or water like a building, a group of buildings, an industrial plant or process, a household etc. The definition of the property is in most cases based on the existing consumption meters.

Necessary data for the use of Kulu are the code and the name of the property. Other data can be added later when needed. The code is an unique key for the Kulu database so that all properties must have the their own unique code. The code is alphanumerical and can consists of letters and numbers.

In practice Kulu sets no restrictions for the amount of properties. At the moment 5- and 8-digit property codes are supported. In bigger organisations a decentralised use of Kulu is often possible alternative Additional options of Kulu support the combining of several databases e.g. for the company wide analysing and reporting purposes.

Meter

Meter menu supports the updating of meter data. One property can have as many meters as needed. Typical ones are the meters for heating energy, electricity, water, hot water etc. Depending of property and needs of monitoring there can also be meters for outputs etc. like for the amount of production or selling, number of clients or users etc. In the demo version this kind of meter is the users of demo school. In most cases one property will have less than ten meters. By utilising the options of Kulu the relations between different meters can be analysed and e.g. reports on specific consumptions can be produced.

Reading

From the reading menu some operations for the meter reading table can be made. All the operations can be made also from keyboard and after some short period of use the reading menu will be needed no more.

Daily use

The commands mostly needed in the daily use of Kulu are located in the Graph and Report menus. The content of them will be explained closer in the respective sections.

Standard

1. - OVERVIEW
2. - REPORTS
3. - GRAPHICS