Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report

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Use the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report to help you to uncover gaps and overlapping data in your utility account records.

Access the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report from the main Report menu. When you run the report, you can choose to display it on screen, or output the report to an Excel file and have it emailed to you, which you can opt to schedule for later.

In the report, the DataSheet tab includes the underlying data shown in the main pivot table. You can use the underlying data for further analysis as needed.

I want to analyze records for a reporting period

Run the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report and, in the dialog, select a period. You can also select a group, location and data type.

I want to analyze records for a data file that has been recently uploaded

Run the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report. In the dialog, select a file from the Filter by #2 list, which includes the 20 most recently uploaded files sorted chronologically. If a data file is selected, the period selection is ignored.

I want to analyze records based on account reference rather than account number

By default the report will aggregate and analyze data by account number. However, in the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report dialog, you can select the option from Filter by #3 to run the analysis based on account reference. This is useful when the account reference reflects the meter number and the account number has changed over time.

Consider a retailer change impacting 200 electricity accounts. The user wants to check that bills do not overlap or are missing between the old and the new retailer. If the account reference is the same for the old and new accounts, then this selection runs a continual analysis across the two accounts and flags exceptions.

I want to analyze missing records

In the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report grid, you can filter by the Missing issue type to focus only on missing records. In the analysis, consider the following points:
  • The Cost of Issue Threshold is used to highlight issues that exceed an estimated cost amount. The cost amount is calculated based on the cost per day from the previous bill applied to the number of days identified as missing. There is no firm rule to the most appropriate value to use for the threshold. This will be learned by the user over time and may vary based on the data type being analyzed, the amount of data in the report, the time available to run the analysis, and many other factors.
  • Consumption of Issue is included for reference purposes.
  • If the report is run for a reporting period, then missing data exceptions will be flagged only for that period. Other missing data in the accounts will not appear in the report.
  • If the report is run for a data file, then missing data is checked for the periods immediately adjacent to the records in the report. Missing data for other time periods will not appear in the report. For example, a data file is selected that contains a record for 1-Mar-18 to 31-Mar-18. The report will check for a record to be present up until 28-Feb-18 and starting from 1-Apr-18. If the record is found, then no data is flagged as missing in the report.

I want to analyze overlapping records

In the Bill Checking: Missing and Overlapping report grid, you can filter the Overlap issue type to focus only on overlapping records. In the analysis, consider the following points:
  • The Cost of Issue Threshold is used to highlight issues that exceed an estimated cost amount. The cost amount is calculated based on the cost per day from the previous bill applied to the number of days identified as overlapping. There is no firm rule to the most appropriate value to use for the threshold. This will be learned by the user over time and may vary based on the data type being analyzed, the amount of data in the report, the time available to run the analysis, and many other factors.
  • Consumption of Issue is included for reference purposes.
  • If the report is run for a reporting period, then overlapping data exceptions will be flagged for that period only. Other overlapping data in the accounts will not appear in the report.
  • If the report is run for a data file then overlapping data is checked for the periods immediately adjacent to the records in the report. Overlapping data for other time periods will not appear in the report. For example, a data file is selected that contains a record for 1-Mar-18 to 31-Mar-18. The month of March is analyzed for overlapping records. If nothing is found then no data is flagged as overlapping in the report, even if there is overlapping data in Feb-18.

Analyzing exceptions

To analyze exceptions that you identify in the report, navigate back to IBM® ESG Suite, search for the account, and analyze the records.