Project management

Project management keeps all the data of a project together: master data, climate region, demand and plant data, the simulation configuration, the saved result and the costs. A wizard leads through creating a new project and only shows the building blocks the project actually contains. Every piece of work therefore begins with the decision which trades are to be considered – everything else follows from it.

This page describes how projects are handled in the program. Where this step sits in the overall sequence is shown by the Program workflow overview; a compact introduction for the first few minutes is given by the Quick start guide.

The project database

All projects are held in one common database, together with the master data catalogues. A project comprises the master data, the selected climate region, all demand and plant data, the simulation configuration, the most recently saved simulation result and the cost data. There is no separate project file per scheme that you would have to store and carry with you – catalogues and projects live in the same data set.

The project opened last is remembered and can be called up again directly. Work on a running project can therefore be continued straight after the program start.

Creating a project

The wizard is started via Projects › New or the “New project” tile on the start page. It asks for the entries in the order in which they are needed: first the scope of the project, then the master data, then the individual building blocks.

Building blocks of the project

On the first page you tick which building blocks the project comprises – building, external heat demand, process heat, electricity consumers, electrical load profile, heat pump, boiler, CHP, solar thermal, photovoltaics and battery storage. This selection controls the further sequence: building blocks that are not ticked are skipped and do not appear in the simulation configuration later either. The selection is therefore not a formality; it determines which inputs and which generators are offered to you at all in the rest of the sequence.

Project data and climate region

On the following page you enter project name, person in charge, client and description and select the climate region. Project name and climate region are mandatory, everything else can be added later. The wizard then leads only through the building blocks actually activated; “Save” writes the project and all assignments to the database. Where the climate data sets come from and how they are created is described by the fundamentals page Climate data.

Opening and editing a project

Existing projects are opened via Projects › Open; the list shows name and description. The project edited last can be called up again directly with a single click. On opening, all lists of the main window are filled: heat pumps, CHP modules, boilers, storage, buildings, demand data and generators.

Projects › Edit opens the same project again in the wizard, for instance to add a component afterwards. The selection of building blocks can be changed at any time in this way – a project that initially contained only a building and a boiler can later be extended by photovoltaics and battery storage without having to enter the data already recorded again.

Deleting a project

Deleting a project removes all associated data – demand and plant data, simulation configuration, saved result and costs – and is therefore protected by a confirmation prompt.

Project-specific copies

Assigning a catalogue component always creates a project-specific copy. Changes to a heat pump in project A therefore affect neither the catalogue nor project B. What you change in the project never affects the catalogue – you can adapt catalogue values to the specific task without altering the supplied data set or influencing other schemes.

Conversely this means that a subsequent change in the catalogue no longer reaches a project that has already been equipped. If you correct a catalogue entry, assign it to the affected projects again.

Start page and project progress

The start page shows a tile for every building block, marked in colour as soon as data are available for it. It is thus visible at any time what is still missing, and you can switch between the areas in any order. The order of the program workflow remains a recommendation: it is not enforced, but every stage uses the results of the previous one, which is why working backwards usually means rework.

Notes for practice

At the outset tick the building blocks you actually want to consider, and not all of them as a precaution: every activated building block appears in the wizard, on the start page and in the simulation configuration. The selection can be extended at any time via Projects › Edit.

Give projects meaningful names and use the description – both appear in the list when opening and decide how quickly you find a scheme again after months. Person in charge and client are not mandatory, but they belong to the master data of the project and can be added at any time.

Use the coloured tiles as a progress indicator before you start the simulation: a building block without data contributes nothing to the result either. Check in particular whether the climate region is the right one – it applies to the whole project and affects demand as well as yields.

Because assigning always creates a project-specific copy, you may safely adapt catalogue values in the project to the actual plant. Delete a project, by contrast, only if you no longer need the result: the confirmation prompt is the last point at which the operation can be cancelled.

How things continue after the project has been created is shown by the Program workflow overview; the next steps are described by the subpages Heat demand calculation and Electricity demand calculation. The engineering background is collected under Fundamentals, worked cases under Examples.