Benchmarking best practices

For best results, we recommend the following best practices when entering data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager:

• Make sure that your building’s address, postal code and floor area are entered correctly.
• If your building is a fictional building, used for testing or training, use the “Test Building” feature to mark it as such so that its data won’t skew overall data analysis.
• When setting up your building, use as few property use types as possible to accurately reflect the operation of your building.
• If you’d like your building or organization to be searchable, so other users can connect with you or share building data, use recognized names and avoid abbreviations.
• Make sure you have access to the most up-to-date metrics by entering your utility data regularly — ideally, at least quarterly.
• Check all your building data periodically — especially details that may fluctuate, such as occupancy, number of employees, etc. — to ensure that it’s up to date and that there are no errors or anomalies. Portfolio Manager’s Data Quality Checker (available from within the tool) can help with this process.
• Use estimated, temporary or default values if you have to, but try to replace them with actual data as soon as possible. Note that the use of some of these values may prevent you from receiving a score or other metrics.
• Make sure you’re reporting area and utility data in the correct units.

Benchmarking itself is one of the key energy management best practices for existing buildings. To learn about the others, visit Energy management best practices for existing buildings.