DOE and NREL, with help from Big Ladder Software, recently launched user feedback portals for EnergyPlus and OpenStudio, ensuring that the development team focuses on features and improvements that users want and need.
August 25, 2015
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EnergyPlus and OpenStudio sites allow for easy user feedback through recently launched new portals.
Several months ago, energyplus.gov and openstudio.nrel.gov moved to energyplus.net and openstudio.net, respectively. The new sites have a simpler uniform look and feel and the .net domains imply that both projects—especially OpenStudio—enjoy support from organizations beyond DOE. This week, DOE and NREL, with help from Big Ladder Software, launched user feedback portals for these sites.
Based on the UserVoice platform, the EnergyPlus portal is accessible from energyplus.net via the Feedback link. An anonymous user can browse the site, and read posted suggestions for improvements and new features to EnergyPlus, as well as ensuing discussions. With an energyplus.net sign-in, the user can request new features or improvements, participate in discussions, vote on existing suggestions, and configure her account settings to allow her to track and participate in discussions via email. The EnergyPlus UserVoice portal complement the EnergyPlus GitHub Issues site for reporting and tracking bugs, and the UnmetHours support question site.
The OpenStudio portal is similarly accessible from openstudio.net. A user can access all four sites using her energyplus.net account. To simplify account management, NREL migrated all existing openstudio.net accounts to energyplus.net.
The EnergyPlus and OpenStudio development teams get regular feedback from third-party application developers. These new portals will allow them to get similar feedback from end-users and to ensure that team resources are spent on features and improvements that users want and need.
Dr. Amir Roth
Dr. Amir Roth is the technology manager for BTO’s Building Energy Modeling (BEM) subprogram and has served in that role since 2010. From 2001 to 2010 he was first an assistant and then an associate professor with tenure of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in physics from Yale University and holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin—Madison where he won a dissertation award in 2001. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA).
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