Release Date: 09/18/2024
What's New?
Customizable starting value for incrementing readings
Incrementing readings are very common when recording utility consumption data, such as electricity or water use, thanks to their ability to deal with data dropouts. They typically start at zero and may be periodically reset after reaching a maximum value.
We were recently exposed to the interesting case of a metering device that uses a signed 32-bit integer: the counter goes from -2147483648 to 2147483647.
To deal with similar cases, EMIS now offers a new option, so that when users create a new automatic variable with an "Incrementing" data type, they can define the expected minimum and maximum values for the counter. This ensures correct consumption calculations even when the counter resets to non-zero values, preventing erroneous data interpretations.
Example Scenario:
- Previous counters: 102, 104, 105, -2147483640, -2147483630…
- Before the update: The system would calculate the consumption between 105 and -2147483640 incorrectly.
- Now: By setting the minimum and maximum values, EMIS can correctly calculate consumption, ensuring data integrity for all device types.
This enhancement will improve the reliability of consumption tracking, particularly for clients using legacy hardware.
More Informative Error Messages for Variable Deletion
When deleting a variable linked to other resources, users will now see a clear message with clickable links to those resources, directing them to the relevant pages.
Improved Alerting System for Missing Data
We fixed an issue where the alerting system incorrectly generated exceptions when target or variable data was missing. This modifies the way alerts are detected:
- For Target Data:
When target data is missing, the system will no longer treat it as 0. Instead, no data will be used, preventing unnecessary exceptions and alerts. - For Variable Data:
Similarly, when virtual variable data is missing, the system will not treat it as 0. No data will be used, and no exceptions will be generated.
Other improvements
- We improved the validation of the form field for Microsoft Teams webhook URL to prevent invalid URLs from being saved and help users configure their integration.