The Backpack Site Visit is a critical part of verifying onsite equipment, collecting building information and updating those details each year.
General Site Visit Information
The initial site visit typically occurs within a week or two of kickoff. There is also an annual site visit included in the Backpack subscription to update information - more about that below
The initial site visit is coordinated with the customer contact & your assigned Backpack Onboarding Coordinator.
Estimated duration:
- Roughly 30 Minutes for Property Interviews
- 1 to 4 hours for site walk-through to collect equipment information & other details depending on the size of the property (add an additional 45 minutes for a gateway install)
Who is involved in the scheduling & visit:
- A building representative who can answer questions about about tenants, occupancy, utilities, etc., this is usually the property manager.
- A building engineer or facilities manager who can answer technical questions about the building and provide and escort to mechanical areas.
Tools for a successful site visit:
- Provide base building plans in advance of the visit - this reduces the amount of time the technician will be onsite. Base building MEP (Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing) plans are ideal for this request.
- Access to the people in #1 & #2 above. You are also welcome to have someone else escort the technician after the initial interview questions are answered.
- Obtain approval from Tenant(s) If any areas included in the site visit require tenant approval, escorts, waivers, etc. and coordinate with your Onboarding Coordinator before the visit.
- If installing a gateway, determine the location before the visit.
Site visits include:
- An initial interview including questions about the building(s), operations, tenants, occupancy, mechanical systems, etc.
- A walkthrough of mechanical spaces (chiller, AHU's, RTU's, etc.) including taking photos of equipment and QR Code install (where applicable)
- A review of an area of the building with standard or representative common area light fixtures
- A review of the building(s) main utility meters (Electric, gas, water) including taking photos of the meters
- Review of the buildings waste services area (trash & recycling) for photos
- If elected as part of the contract, the technician will also install the Backpack Gateway device which allows our software to read data from your Building Automation System (BAS/BMS/EMS). More details on the gateway & gateway install can be found here. If your site visit does include a gateway install, your Onboarding Coordinator will help you navigate this process before the field technician is dispatched to the property.
Site Walkthrough Details
- A technician will interview the property manager or building engineer to obtain answers on a variety of questions regarding the energy usage and building operation with special consideration made for any Energy Star / Compliance related data.
- The field tech will need to be escorted to the location of the building’s electrical, gas and water meters. Here, they will document the location and configuration of the building's utility meters that are paid for by your building’s ownership. In this step, your field technician will be taking photos of the meters as well as documenting their numbers. Any sub-meters paid for by tenants will not require documentation. If you would like to document sub-meters please speak to your Onboarding Coordinator.
- The technician will then need to survey the building for typical lighting types including any building standard lighting for common areas and Tenant areas. The engineer will need to escort the technician to areas where this lighting is present and provide basic information about the lighting (fixture type, bulb information, etc.). All of this information will be entered into an online form by the technician.
- The field tech will also visit the central plant and/or representative equipment in the building like a chiller, rooftop units, pumps, boilers, etc.
- Finally, the field tech will need to visit mechanical rooms for major HVAC equipment elsewhere in the building. While capturing this information, the field tech will complete the following:
- Photograph nameplates of all major HVAC equipment
- Photograph a general view of equipment from at least 3-4 different vantage points
- Photograph maintenance logs associated with the equipment (if applicable)
Occasionally, we will need to enter tenant spaces . Please, notify us if there are any tenants whose spaces are restricted & coordinate access in advance. The Onboarding Coordinator can help provide details including personnel names for the site visit.
After the Site Visit
After the final site visit, the Backpack team will process all pictures & equipment data for import into your Backpack. Once the basic equipment data is loaded our system enhances the information to include:
- Calculation of age of the equipment
- Assigned remaining usable life & replacement schedule graphic
- Association of replacement cost (where age is identified)
- Additional equipment details like horsepower, fan speed, etc.
Typical processing time for equipment is 1 week. Your onboarding coordinator will let you know when the list is populated. Check out our Backpack trainings for more information on how to use the equipment data in your daily work! Here's some quick tips on budgeting with Backpack to get you started!
Questions?
Contact our support team at support@backpacknewworks.com.
What is a Gateway?
The Gateway is a read-only physical device that allows data to flow from the building’s BAS into the Backpack software. The gateway requires:
1. An ethernet port on a switch or router connected to the BAS network
2. An electrical outlet
During the site visit, our field technician will plug the Gateway into an ethernet port on a switch or router that is connected to the BAS network.
The field tech will take care of the physical installation of the Gateway. In anticipation of the install, the property manager or building engineer should be prepared to guide our field tech to the ethernet port on the switch or router. This may be in the same area as the BAS or another part of the building.
Once installed, the Backpack Software will begin reading and integrating your BAS data into the Backpack. This process may take some time depending on how many points on the BAS the gateway is reading. If you have questions about the gateway, install process or data please talk to your Onboarding Coordinator.
Please identify the location of the ethernet port or router PRIOR to the first site visit.