This help page describes the M&R ‘data flags’ functionality for schools, which is accessible from the left hand menu in the M&R system.
SEAI recommends that you review all active data flags and take appropriate action to resolve any underlying data anomalies before the final reporting deadline as this helps maintain data quality and improves the robustness of performance results published for your school.
Data flags are provided to help you identify potential data quality issues.
Data flags highlight potential anomalies with the data you have reported. They are generated automatically by analysing trends in your reported data, e.g. a data flag could be triggered by a significant increase or decrease in energy consumption reported for consecutive years.
It is possible for a data flag to be triggered by valid and robust data, e.g. your school may have dramatically reduced its consumption because it implemented energy-saving measures or because it added classrooms.
It is also possible for a school to have serious data errors that do not trigger data flags.
SEAI recommends that you review all active data flags, investigate the underlying data and take action, if appropriate.
However, there is no obligation to take action on foot of a data flag.
Having an active data flag does not, in itself, affect your school's reporting status.
Data flags are triggered by calculation rules that are based on the data you report.
A yellow flag indicates that a certain threshold has been exceeded, whereas an orange flag indicates that a higher threshold has been exceeded.
The rules are summarised in the table below.
Remember that a data flag does not necessarily mean that your data is incorrect, i.e. a flag can be triggered by a data trend that is fundamentally correct.
Data flag rule
Yellow
Orange
Total energy consumption reported
N/a
>5,000,000 kWh
Ratio of thermal to electricity consumption in year
If the source of an anomaly is immediately obvious to you from the data flag, the easiest way to confirm this may be to go directly to the energy use screen and check the values reported.
Very often, the underlying reason for a data flag may be less apparent. In these circumstances, the best way to investigate is to review your data reports, by clicking on 'review performance':
The energy & GHG breakdown report is often the best place to start because it presents a breakdown of your reported consumption in graphical and tabular formats.
You should focus your investigation on the data presented in the final energy consumption tab in this report. (This is because the data flag rules are triggered by values reported for final energy consumption. The values shown in the other tabs in this report (weather-adjusted consumption, primary energy and CO2 emissions) are all calculated values that can be affected by changes in various conversion and emission factors over time.)
If an anomaly relates to an electricity meter then:
Remember that you can download all of the above reports in spreadsheet format for more detailed analysis.
Note that the key indicators and other scorecard-type reports are often less useful for diagnosing data anomalies because these reports show calculated results that can be affected by significant changes in conversion and emission factors over time. However, the energy & GHG targets - key indicators is useful for seeing the impact of the data you have reported (whether correct or anomalous) on the overall performance indicators calculated for your school.
You have three options with respect to an active data flag.
¶ Correct any anomalies by editing the underling data
If you have investigated the data flag and believe that there is an error in the reported data, you should correct the data at the next available opportunity, via the relevant data input screen.
Depending on the scale of edits made, this may or may not result in the system removing the active data flag.
Note that the calculation of data flags is updated every 10 minutes, so any data edits you make will not be carried forward to the data flags screen immediately. The time of the last calculation update is shown toward the bottom of the data flags screen.
If you have investigated the data flag and believe that the underlying data is correct, you can manually clear the flag by clicking the ‘clear flag’ button in the table.
This will change the status of the flag to cleared and it will be shown in a separate table.
Note that you also have the option to restore a cleared flag if you believe that a flag has been cleared in error.