Methods allow you to pre-define how activity data will get pre-processed and mapped to emission factors when it gets imported to Avarni. The benefits of Methods over the original Avarni Import Wizard include:
Reducing repetition: A Method acts like a pre-defined import wizard. Set it up once, and the same kind of import will take much less time.
Ensuring consistency: Methods ensure that any year-on-year imports of the same category of data will have exactly the same import rules applied to them.
Greater flexibility & time savings: Apply multiple factor databases for the same file, estimate travel modes based on distances, exclude categories that are covered by other data sources to avoid double counting - Methods can help you save time on many tasks that you otherwise would have had to previously perform on the Review screen, reducing the risk of errors and saving time!
Creating a method
When you first go to the Methods tab on the Import Data page, you will see 5 template methods already waiting for you to use and edit. Feel free to dive right in and modify these to fit your own processes.
Otherwise, if you'd like to create a blank slate, click Create New Method on the top right of the screen:
Give your method a name (you can edit this later), and finish creating it. You will now see the newly created method at the top of the list - click to open it.
You may want to also give your method a description, so you can easily identify its purpose and what it does on the list view. You can edit the description after you've opened the method by clicking on the title. This is where you can also edit the title after creation:
Setting the Calculation Type
When you open the method, you will see two sub-tabs:
Calculation Type
Factor Assignment
Let's begin with Calculation Type. Here, we see an interface nearly identical to the first step of the Avarni Import Wizard. This is where we choose:
Scope: This will be applied to all records imported through this method.
Category: This will be applied to all records imported through this method, unless overridden on a row basis using a GHG Category column in the import.
Unit Type: The type of activity data that this method will accept for import. Eg. Currency, Volume, Distance, etc.
Allowed Date Range: Using this, we can define the range of dates that the method will accept when importing activity data. Any records whose dates fall outside the allowed date range will show an error during import.
Creating Branches and Rules
On the Factor Assignment sub-tab, we can begin to create the rules that will govern different actions that will be applied to our data.
Our new method will have only a Fallback branch at first, which by default, is the branch that all rows will match with if they don't match with any before it - or, if there are no other branches.
Let's click the full-screen button to give ourselves a little more working room:
Then, we will click the Add Branch button to add our first branch, where we will define a set of rules for some of our rows to match to.
Groups & Criteria: The building blocks
In this example, let's assume we want to create a set of rules for a method that accepts spend data, that use a different emission factor database depending on the currency of the row imported. Our first branch will catch rows that have a currency of USD. We will:
Name the branch "USD Spend"
Change Field to Input Unit
Set the operator to Equal
Search for & set USD on the Input Unit dropdown
What if we wanted this branch to also catch another currency, such as CAD? To do that, we can either click Add Group, and go through the same process as above, or click the Clone button on the original group and simply change the Input Unit to CAD:
This creates a logical OR operator - and means that any row where the Input Unit is USD or CAD will match this branch.
What if we want to create a logical AND operator within a branch? Eg. Match any rows where Input Unit = USD AND Country = US? All we have to do is click the Add Criteria button within the group we want to create the operator in:
These are the basic building blocks of branches and rules in Methods. With them, you can create any number of combinations of rules to achieve exactly what you need for each type of data import.
Managing branches
There are two more important functions available on branches:
Cloning: This allows you to copy an entire branch. This is useful if you have two branches that are very similar apart from a couple of rules. You can find this button right next to the input for the branch name.
Reordering: The order of branches matters - a row could match the rules of multiple branches, however, only the first matching branch will be applied. To re-order branches, simply hover anywhere over the branch, and click-to-drag the branch up or down the list.
Applying Actions
Currently, there are two types of actions that you can apply to each branch:
Set Factor and Status
Map Factors with AI
Set Factor and Status
This action allows you to specify exactly which emission factor to set to all rows that match the branch, as well as exactly which status is applied. Some use cases for this action include:
Setting a factor based on a set of rules, such as estimating a travel mode based on distance, or setting an LPG factor based on the presence of keywords such as "LPG"
Excluding rows based on keywords present in it's fields, such as "Tax"
Flagging rows that may sit outside a certain expected range
Map Factors with AI
This action allows you to specify an emission factor database which will be used by Avarni's AI to map emission factors to any rows that match the branch. Much of the functionality here is shared with steps 4 & 5 of the Avarni Import Wizard.
Factor source allows you to choose the emission factor database that factors will be sourced from for matching. This will only show databases which contain factors whose input unit type match the Unit Type selected on the Calculation Type tab.
The Select AI matching fields section allows you to control which fields in the import will be used by the AI to match an emission factor. By default, supplier is turned off - we recommend keeping it off unless the quality of your data categories are very poor, since including it can add significant complexity to the subsequent review process.
Use saved mappings allows you to control whether data imported using this method will bypass the AI if saved mappings are already present. If you want to know in which cases this will happen, read the window that pops up when you click "Cases where AI matching will not be used".
Below this, you will be able to pre-define how the years & countries in your imported data will map to the years & regions in the selected emission factors. If the Allowed Date Range on the Calculation Type spans more than one calendar year, you will see multiple rows in this section.
There are two options for the Country to factor region matching algorithm:
Exact Match Else Fallback: if a region in the factor database exactly matches or contains the country in the input row, it will be used. Otherwise, the factors in the specified Fallback region will be used
Fallback Only: Only factors in the Fallback region will be used. Countries will not be auto-matched to regions.
Note: If there is only one region in the factor database, such as in the EEIO spend databases from EPA (United States), then both these options will have the same outcome.
Cloning and Deleting Methods
To clone or delete a Method, simply use the buttons on the list item of the method to do so:
Using a Method for an Import
Finally, to import data using a Method, simply click the Import button on the list item of the method. This will open up a dialog where you can drop in/browse to find your spreadsheet file. Similar to the Import Wizard, this will take you through the process of:
Uploading your file
Mapping the columns in your file to Avarni's columns/your custom fields
Fixing up any import errors prior to completion
Once complete, your imported file will appear in a Processing state on the Imports tab. You will receive a notification upon completion, and the import will be ready for you to review (see the reviewing guide).
