Client business profile: General Services Administration's (GSA) Energy Center of Expertise (ECOE) reduces federal utility costs in the United States by promoting optimal energy use. ECOE has a nationwide program of monitoring progress towards energy reduction goals as they apply to federal buildings, as well as implementing energy conservation projects through traditional and innovative methods. The ECOE utilizes the Energy Usage Analysis System (EUAS), a custom application, to track energy usage in Federal facilities throughout the United States.

Business Challenge: ECOE had a major requirement to reengineer or port both the data entry and reporting application of EUAS to thin client architecture. Secondly, they wanted to eliminate the problem of redundant data entry by various users and also develop some functionality to keep track of the updates. Proper authentication was absent in the existing application. Business validations were also not implemented.

The application was not flexible enough to allow changes in the list of utilities being monitored. Due to budgetary and security restrictions it is not possible to install third party tools for reporting on all user machines. Hence the users faced difficulties in accessing the EUAS reports. ECOE wanted advanced reporting capabilities to be added to the EUAS application while keeping budgetary constraints in mind. Faced with these challenges ECOE approached SAI Systems.

SAI's Solution: SAI Systems conducted an extensive study of the existing EUAS system and produced a functional GAP analysis report with a set of cost effective recommendations and a business plan. Along with this, SAI Systems developed a prototype for ECOE based on the understanding of the client requirements to demonstrate the proof of concept. Based on all these inputs from the client, SAI Systems started the work of enhancement and changes in the EUAS application.

	EUAS now has a web based independent thin client/server architecture
	Authentication is required for all users (guest user to begin with)
	Improved graphical user interface (GUI)
	Data entry grids removed
	Tracks domestic water/potable water as utility in addition to existing coal, gas, water, oil electricity and steam
	Advanced reporting capability now available in the EUAS.
	Tracks renewable energy types in utilities being tracked
	Facility for printing reports
	Tracks domestic water/potable water as utility in addition to existing coal, gas, water, oil electricity and steam
	Facility to export data from reports (html format) to MS Excel format
	Audit trail - Keeps track of who, when, what has changed in the application
SAI Systems has also implemented new functionalities like gathering of weather data from third party (weatherbank.com) in the EUAS application. Complete security has been incorporated in the EUAS application allowing restrictions in access based on user profile and data sensitivity. The redundant data entry problem has also been eliminated. Technology: Web Server: Microsoft ™ IIS ™, Middleware: COM, Web UI: Active Server Pages (ASP), Database: Microsoft™ SQL Server 2000 ™
Client's Benefits: SAI Systems has successfully completed the reengineering needs related to the EUAS application for ECOE. ECOE is very happy with the performance and they have initiated Phase two of the project to build a data warehouse of EUAS application and GSA intends to use Phase one EUAS application to market it as a product to other Federal agencies.
Industry Relevance: Many large government departments like ECOE use applications like EUAS. With time it becomes essential that these applications are enhanced and relevant changes are made in them so that they can cope with the growing information needs of the modern days. SAI Systems has 17+ years of experience in providing cost-effective custom IT solutions to the industry. SAI Systems is working as a partner with ECOE to provide them with effective solutions for their problems.