Manage Templates

The Manage Templates dialog allows the user to manage the Custom model specifications available in the system. Custom model specifications are embodied in MetrixND files that are configured to be used as templates. To access the Manage MetrixND Templates dialog, select the Manage Templates option from the Tools Menu. Templates available to the system are displayed in folders organized by periodicity (Daily, Hourly, Half-Hourly, Quarter-Hourly, and Five Minute). From this dialog the user may perform the following actions:

  • Add Template.
  • Delete Template.
  • Add Multiple Templates.
  • Replace Template Project.
  • Export Template Project.

The Manage Templates dialog has a toolbar with buttons for Add, Delete, and Add Multiple Templates. Below the toolbar, the dialog has four areas.

  • Folders. On the far left, a fixed set of folders are provided. The folders are automatically provided by the system, and the user cannot modify the folder names or positions. There is one folder for each template frequency (Daily, Hourly, …).
  • Template List. To the right of the folders is a template list. This list shows the set of templates that are included in the system for the selected frequency.
  • Template Properties. To the right of the template list are the template properties. These proprieties are the template Name, Description, settings for whether the template is Blended or Auto-Regressive, and the date the template was last imported into the system. All fields can be edited by the authorized user except the last-modified date.
  • Replace/Export Buttons. Below the template properties are additional buttons to Replace the selected template or to Export the selected template to an NDM file.

Add Template

Add is used to add a new template to the Project Database. Pressing this button will open the Add Template dialog. The user can do the following in this dialog:

  • Browse to the template file to be added to the system
  • Name the template
  • Provide a description
  • Specify the MPI or periodicity of the template (Daily, Hourly, …)
  • Indicate if the template contains a blended model
  • Indicate if the template contains autoregressive terms
  • Indicate if the template should be used as a scoring method

Once these fields are completed, press the Add button to proceed or the Cancel button to stop return to the Manage Templates dialog without completing the Add action. When the Add button is pressed, the selected file will be tested to make sure it conforms to the requirements for a template. If it conforms, it will be added to the set of Templates in the database. If it does not conform, an error message will be issued. To conform to the system, template files must:

  • Be a valid .ndm file.
  • Include a data table called Loads of the same periodicity as the selected template type.
  • Include a data table for each XDriver that is used in the model. The data table name must be the same as the Concept name for the XDriver that is assigned to the model.
  • Include a parameter table called SunInput
  • Include an MStatComparisons table named Stats (Stats_HA, Stats_DA for blended)
  • Include a GroupForecast named Forecast (Forecast_HA and Forecast_DA for blended)
  • Include a Report named FcstPred (FcstPred_HA and FcstPred_DA for blended)
  • Include a Report named EstPred (EstPred_HA and EstPred_DA for blended)
  • Include a Report named EstResid (EstResid_HA and EstResid_DA for blended)

The specification check also looks for unexpected data tables other than Loads, tables associated with weather concepts (e.g., DryBulb, DewPoint, CloudCover, WindSpeed), other supported tables (Calendar, DLSav, and Bad), tables associated with XDriver concepts, and tables associated with status (LoadEvent, LoadControl). If any unexpected tables are found, a warning is issued. Project files with additional tables will still work if the static data in these tables covers the full date range required for estimation and forecast periods.

Blended templates contain two sets of models. Typically, one model is an hour-ahead (HA) model and one is a day ahead (DA) model. When a forecast is executed, the system retrieves both sets of results and combines them into a forecast using Blending weights (see the Manage Weight Sets dialog).

To help optimize the forecast generation processing time, the user is asked whether the model template includes Autoregressive terms. If the model template does include Autoregressive terms, then MetrixIDR will ensure that the most recently available Meter/MeterGroup data are available at the time of forecast execution. This includes refreshing MeterGroup data if needed. If the model template does not include Autoregressive terms, then MetrixIDR skips the steps required to ensure data freshness before forecast execution.

A full description of the template requirements is in the MetrixND Model Requirements section.

Delete Template

The second Toolbar button on the Manage Templates dialog is used to delete a template from the Project Database. Select from the Template list the template that is to be deleted. Then press the Delete button. A confirmation dialog will be presented in which the user will need to confirm the deletion of the selected template. This confirmation dialog is enabled by default. If the user checks the ‘Don’t show this dialog’ box, the dialog will no longer be presented to the user when attempting to delete a template. To re-enable this functionality, the user will have to reset their user settings to the factory defaults. If the template to be removed is in use for any of the Models, a ‘Template in Use’ message will be presented, and the remove will fail. It will be necessary to go to the Model List tab and assign an alternative template or delete all models using the template to be deleted.

Add Multiple Templates

The third toolbar button on the Manage Templates dialog opens the Add Multiple Templates dialog. On this dialog, the sets the following settings:

  • Browse to the path containing templates to be added
  • Set the MPI or periodicity of the templates (Daily, Hourly, …)
  • Indicate if the templates contain a blended model
  • Indicate if the templates contain autoregressive terms
  • Check whether existing templates are to be replaced if a template Name in the system is the same as the file name in the file folder being imported
  • Check whether to ignore warnings from the specification checking steps to prevent the import from halting to present the warnings to the user

Once the settings are completed, press the Add button to proceed with the import process. The Add Multiple Templates process will proceed to import all files that pass the specification checks and provide error messages for all files that do not pass the specification checks. If the checkbox for Ignore Warnings is checked, warning messages about the presence of extra tables in a project file will not be presented during the process.

Replace Template Project

Replace Template Project is used to replace an existing template with a substitute MetrixND project file. Select from the template list the template that is to be replaced. Then press the Replace Template Project button. This will bring up open the same Open dialog that appears in the Add action. If the new template conforms to the requirements for a template, the target template is replaced in the database. If the new template does not conform, an error message will be issued.

Export Template Project

Export Template Project is used to export an existing template to a specified location. Select from the template list the template to export. Then press the Export Template Project button. This will open the Save As dialog. Browse to the desired location, set the file name as desired, and press OK to export the template as a MetrixND project file.