ID386 - Import eAgent Meters Overview & Sample:

eAgent can send out requests for meter readings, this process can read responses to those requests and enter the meter reading in eAutomate.

This process will check your mailbox for new emails, parse them, insert meter readings in eAuto, mark the emails as “read”, and move them to a destination folder. Any email that cannot be processed (body doesn’t match the format expected, serial number can’t be found, etc.) will remain in the inbox, so someone should take a look at it periodically to handle the exceptions.

The alert looks at the standard email response format issued by the eAgent auto send meter task:

We recommend you create a new Meter Source in eAutomate called ID386 (default) so you can separate the source from other meter entry types. Variable1 gives you option to have alert automatically consider the meter(s) valid for billing. *IF any meter is listed as virtual in eAuto, then our alert will not pick it up and insert into eAuto.*

Before subscribing to this alert, please review these STRICT REQUIREMENTS/PREREQUISITES for this alert:

1. The email box collecting these meter reading responses will need to ONLY be for those emails. We can't access an email box with varying types of emails in it. If needed, please create a rule in your general email box moving/redirecting these eAgent meter reading responses to its own unique mailbox. That unique mailbox will be what our alert will go to per your variable settings.
2. The setup of this alert process will need to involve IT department and your meter reading department for this process to work for such things as email mailbox access, passwords, review, etc.
3. An important aspect to this alert process is there is always still requirement of staff to watch the email mailbox daily, human oversight is still required. Staff will need to monitor the email box daily to catch errors and unread emails daily (perhaps at end of day). The alert process ONLY considers unread emails.
4. Since the customer is reporting the meter reading(s), it is not CEO Juice responsibility to ensure these meter readings are correct. CEO Juice is not held liable for any meters reported through this process that are incorrectly reported to you. It is imperative your staff review meter readings and ensure your meter reading validation set up in eAuto is in place to meet your meter billing requirements.
5. If your customer doesn’t enter the reported meter reading in Current Reading box exactly, the alert will not import the meter reading. The email response will remain as unread in the In Box and will need to be manually entered in eAuto. Once entered manually, please make sure the email stays marked as ‘read’ so the alert doesn’t continue to try to process it. The alert process ONLY considers ‘unread’ emails.
6. Meter types set as virtual cannot be handled by this alert process
7. Please note, this alert process is not like automated meter capture software (i.e. FM Audit, PrintFleet) as there is NO direct link between the machine and our alert process. We are just picking up emails and the content within that email.

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This alert requires information from your IT Department, so please consult with them to update your variable settings.

Every variable for this alert is required. We will need access to the email, so please either install the mail client on the juice box or make it browser accessible (and let us know).

Below are variables your IT Dept will need to provide info for:

VariableX: Mail Server Connection? ExchangeEWS OR ExchangeWebDAV OR Imap4 OR Pop3

Variable2: DNS Name or IP Address for your mail server (URL we need to access mailbox on the server we have access to)

Variable4: Port to be used when connecting to the mail server

Variable5: Use an encrypted connection to communicate with the mail server? 1 = yes, 0 = no

Variable6: Username for connecting to the mail server (this should correspond to the email address that eAgent uses to send meter request emails FROM, since that’s where responses will be sent)

Variable7: Password for connecting to the mail server

Variable9: Delete emails after successfully inserting a meter reading? 1 = yes, 0 = no

Variable10: Move emails after successfully inserting a meter reading? 1= yes, 0 = no

Variable11: If moving processed emails, to what folder?

VariableY: Move emails unable to process to folder specified in VariableZ, 1 = Yes, 0 = No

VariableZ: Name of email Failure Folder

**We highly recommend moving any emails our alert is unable to process as this will help a user quickly and easily identify what emails need to be manually entered and/or reviewed.**

Below are variables your eAuto administrator will need to provide info for:

Variable1: Validate for billing? 1 = yes, 0 = no (this will tell alert whether to automatically indicate the meter is valid for billing)

Variable3: The email address the meter will be sent to (This is the SAME email address emails sent to when your customer replies to your email meter request.)

Variable12: Meter Source (we recommend created ID386 in eAuto and listing in this variable) 

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When we first install, we will put alert in test mode so you can review and ensure all working as expected before we update anything in eAuto. While in test mode (only), the alert will send you email showing what it would have changed if it were running live. (No such emails generated once Live.)