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All great fuel delivery scheduling starts
with great forecasting and e-Fuel Forecasting provides PowerMax with
an accurate prediction of when a customers tank will hit the target
fill % using the latest data available, including historical
weather, historical fuel usage, customer fuel usage statistics
profiles, tank monitor float level and fuel levels recorded by the
driver or customer.
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Take control of your operating efficiency:
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Leverage information your organization
has about customer usage to continuously improve forecasting and
scheduling efficiency year after year.
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Improve max drop size and increase
gallons delivered per mile.
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Streamline delivery operations and
customer service.
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Make the most of your tank monitor
investment.
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90 Day Rolling Forecast
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90 Day
Rolling Forecast
combines the latest in automated data collection, weather data
reporting, weather forecasting and real time analytical processing
to predict customer fuel usage by tank for the next 90 days.
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Maximizes the
effective use of tank monitor and weather data. State of the art
statistical profiling identifies fuel usage patterns for the last 8
rolling seasons for use by the forecasting engine.
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Short and long term fuel planning capabilities.
Manage periods of high fuel delivery activity and shoulder seasons based on
complete historical usage patterns and timely 90 day forecast.
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Adapts fuel usage estimates daily for
each tank based on the latest:
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tank monitor level data
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live weather feeds
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NWS weather forecasts
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The most accurate
customer fuel usage forecasting model available.
Up to 18 statistical records for each tank, updated daily. Create a statistical
usage model specific to each tank based on individual tank monitor
data, & professional weather forecasting. Maximizes investment in broad tank
monitor deployments as knowledge of local fuel usage patterns can be
applied to non-monitored tanks.
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Benefits
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90 Day Forecasting works seamlessly with PowerMax Scheduler
as fuel delivery schedules are continuously updated in the 90 Day Order
Queue. Increase average fuel drop size and reduce fuel delivery costs.
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Forecast Accuracy Controls
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The most automated and flexible methods available for accurate
forecasting of customer fuel usage. Supports multiple
fuel delivery scheduling methods
including:
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Fuel delivery forecast methods can be combined for a
specific account or type of account. The fuel usage forecast is based on historical
fuel delivery data, tank monitor data and weather forecasting. Depending on the data available, statistical
forecast parameters are determined for each week, season or year.
See what forecast methods are being used &
the methods available. Select or delete scheduling methods as needed. For new accounts, use standard usage
forecast parameters or select forecast parameters from a similar
account with known usage patterns.
e-Fuel provides a graphical representation of customer fuel usage
over the last 30 days.
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Weather Forecasting
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Detailed
fuel usage and temperature data from
tank monitors are integrated with real time weather data and
forecasts from NWS. Each customers usage is indexed to local
temperature differentials & the NWS feed. Historical data every
30 minutes, 5 and 10 day forecasts 4 times per day, and 30 year
averages for each location.
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Provides a much more accurate relationship
between customer fuel usage and weather, allowing for a timely response
to changes in customer fuel usage patterns and local weather conditions. Forecast and
delivery schedules are
automatically updated simultaneously in response to new weather
data.
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Key Feature Manage Forecast Charts
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Use the e-Fuel Manage Forecast Charts to
see as far as 90 days into the future and to interactively refine
and lock in the best forecast and schedule for each tank as well as
for your total operation. Quickly view historical, current and
future forecast and scheduling information for your customers:
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See prior usage rates and 90 Day usage
rate forecast.
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See prior weather data and 90 Day
weather forecast.
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See prior float level including tank
monitor data, if available, and 90 day forecasted float level.
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See delivery history and future
schedules.
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Put in date ranges to refine search
results and compare forecast and deliveries for different
periods. e-Fuel pops up a new chart while still keeping the old
chart for comparison.
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See results immediately when interactively
adjusting forecasts and schedules using:
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Load Profiles-Adjust for non-heat,
unusual usage patterns and periods with no usage.
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Impersonations-For new account setup
and custom statistics.
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Forecast Preferences-Adjust how e-Fuel
applies automatic forecast methods.
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Observed Tank Level-Adjust the current
tank level.
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Automatic Scheduling Method-Choose
from 5 different automatic scheduling methods.
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The Delivery Set Chart-to see the
overall impact on the number of gallons delivered and the number
of deliveries per day over the next 90 days.
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New Features
to Manage Forecasts
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A new reforecast
button has been added
to the Manage Forecast chart page. The reforecast button pops up a page with a new forecast using the latest settings. Adjust the settings that affect the
forecast for a tank and see the results immediately on the active
forecast. Interactively refine the usage forecast
to maximize delivery drop size and get added control to
continuously improve delivery operations.
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Example: A recent customer delivery was 20% off
ideal. Further investigation revealed the customer recently added a
spa. Adjust the forecast to account for the new spa load using load
profiles and interactively reforecast to hit the ideal delivery day.
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A new
reschedule button
has been added
to the Manage Forecast chart page. Users can immediately
reschedule deliveries after making forecast changes. The changes
affect the actual delivery schedule immediately. Combined with
the reforecast feature
schedule deliveries for the maximum drop size. Get added control and
continuously improve delivery operations.
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Example: Continuing from the above example, the
forecast has provided the ideal delivery day; use the reschedule button
to apply the PowerMax automated scheduling control to arrive at the
best delivery day.
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A new Load Profile button
has been added to the Manage Forecast chart page. Now Load Profiles
and Forecast Preferences can remain on the screen while
reforecasting and rescheduling. Easily capture and adjust future
usage forecast based on new information about customer loads.
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Example: While making a
delivery, the driver notices that the homeowner is installing a spa.
Using e-Fuel Mobile he creates a customer service case, to inform
the office. Customer Service creates a load profile record for the
new spa at an additional 5 gallons a day during the summer. The new
forecast adjusts the usage rate automatically using the load
profiles and the scheduling system reschedules automatically.
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A new Forecast Tab
was added to the Setup Menu in order to consolidate all forecast
related settings into the Setup Menu, allowing you to easily find all the
default settings affecting forecasting in one place.
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Tank Monitor Input and Impersonations
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Knowledge of local
fuel usage patterns can be
applied to non-monitored tanks using tank monitor impersonations.
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Using tank
monitor
impersonations.
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A non-monitored tank can be assigned
the statistical profile of a similar monitored tank.
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A group of
custom fuel usage profiles can be set up using existing monitored
tanks with solid statistics.
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Custom manual statistical profiles can
be created for special categories of tank monitor impersonations.
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NEW Manual Usage
Statistics: Create a 'manual usage statistic" with an
average user rate.
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More flexibility to accurately
forecast and meet your customers propane needs. A great benefit of
the Manual Usage
Statistics is that you can modify them for any season of the year. You can set the Winter, Spring, and
Fall forecasts to have the same reaction to weather changes, i.e.
temperature drops and usage increases accordingly. When summer
comes, the temperature will likely be too high to generate a
forecast using the same rates as the other seasons. With the Manual
Usage Statistics, you can choose an average usage rate (i.e. 1% per
day of a 1000 gallon tank>10 gallons per day) and have that be used
for the summer instead of attempting to forecast based on weather
changes.
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Recording tank level & inside/outside
temperature every half hour provides the daily fuel usage, local weather
and historical user habit data that enables highly accurate customer
fuel usage forecasts.
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Automates the use of historical data by
applying the fuel usage rate from the same period last year as a variable
to forecast this year. Smoothly handle new accounts, rentals, and
home sales.
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Planning Tools;
Will Call and Shoulder Season Management
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Improve operating efficiency
during seasonal transitions and high activity periods and easily fit
will call customers into your fuel delivery schedule. Fuel delivery
forecast details are displayed sequentially based on the Data View
selected in 'My e-Fuel', the fuel delivery date and fuel delivery
zone. Search tools
easily find
forecasted customer information.
Select one or more filtering criteria to create customized
search results to save time.
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Will Call Management
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Forecast and schedule
will call customers
just like automatic fill customers. Review a list of
will call customers
estimated to need a fill in the next 90 days at any time. Proactively call customers and fit them
efficiently into your regular fuel delivery schedule. Supports preferred
fuel delivery days that a customer may have
or a tank may require.
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Shoulder Season Management
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Better management of
fuel deliveries during
seasonal transitions based on the relationship between historical usage
patterns, professional weather forecasts and user behavior.
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Benefits
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Improves
the ability to negotiate bulk fuel
purchasing requirements, take advantage of special pricing programs,
and load up available fuel storage to better manage preseason fuel purchasing
programs.
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Data Integrity / Statistical Profiles
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Automating forecasting and fuel delivery depends
on data integrity and consistency to and from anywhere in the
organization. Data entry and validation methods of the past are no
longer sufficient.
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Integration with remote services reduces
costs and improves fuel delivery service and communications. This requires trading
critical data between multiple locations and servers.
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Data is imported from your existing accounting system and combined
into one database.
Data cleansing focuses on keeping imported
data clean for generating accurate fuel usage forecasts and fuel delivery
schedules. The e-Fuel automated system checks each item
affecting fuel delivery planning and the message system allows you to act early
on any data inconsistencies.
Easy to
use tools to review and cleanup data.
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Advanced Statistical Profiling
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Creates a statistical usage model for each
active tank. Uses forecasting parameters that relate temperature to
fuel usage as determined by a customers historical inside/ outside
temperature, historical fuel delivery and tank monitor data.
Identifies fuel usage patterns for the last 8 rolling seasons.
Fuel delivery statistics updated daily from tank monitor data.
Up to 18 statistical records generated for each tank.
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Forecasted Results Summary provides
statistical data on the system performance.
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Benefits
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e-Fuel
ensures consistency and validity of data as it enters and exits the
system, meeting the rigid standards required to run fuel delivery automated
systems that reduce costs and improve delivery service. Continuously fine tune customer usage
patterns and forecasting accuracy as the system accumulates
historical data in each customers fuel usage profile.
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