Understanding data completion and alerts

This article explains how Scaler's data quality system works — what Scaler Data Completion measures, how the three alert types interact with it, and what each alert type means for your data.

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Scaler Data Completion reflects whether all required and conditionally required fields for an asset are correctly populated and valid.

When an asset reaches 100% Scaler Data Completion:

Data completion is evaluated structurally — not based on whether consumption values have been entered.

Three things to understand before you start

1. You can reach 100% without any meters or consumption

You do not need to create meters or add consumption data to reach 100%. As long as all required asset-level fields are complete and valid, data completion can reach 100%.

2. Meters only affect completion if they exist and are incorrect

Once meters are created, Scaler evaluates them. If a meter triggers an Error or Missing data alert, that alert reduces completion. If no meters exist, meter rules do not apply.

3. Incorrect consumption can reduce completion — but consumption is never required

If consumption is added and it contains errors (overlapping dates, missing units, invalid ranges), those errors will reduce completion. You are never required to add consumption to reach 100%.

Scaler checks data completion at three structural levels.

Asset level

Checks whether all required and conditionally required asset fields are valid, including Asset name, Client ID, Asset unit system, Main property type, Main property subtype, Country, Owned since, Active in analytics, Active in reporting outputs, and 3 Gross floor area fields.

Meter level *(only applies once meters exist)*

Checks each meter for correct configuration: Subcategory, Source, Covered area, Monitoring method, valid meter version dates, and no overlapping consumption periods.

Portfolio level

Portfolio completion is the average completion score across all active assets. A single incomplete asset reduces the overall percentage.

Scaler generates three types of alerts when data doesn't meet required standards.

On the Alerts page these map to tabs: Errors and Missing data appear under Blocking Issues, rule-based warnings under Warnings, and consumption outliers under Outliers. Dismissed warnings are kept in a Dismissed tab.

Errors

Errors occur when entered data violates validation rules, input requirements, or reporting logic.

Common general errors:

Common report-specific errors (e.g. GRESB):

Missing data

Missing data alerts occur when a required or conditionally required field is empty.

For Scaler analytics, this typically includes missing Gross floor area, Common area, or Tenant area — these prevent calculation of coverage and intensities.

For reporting outputs, it includes fields required by specific frameworks (e.g. Percentage green missing under Meter Details for GRESB).

Warnings

Warnings flag situations that may need attention but do not block calculations and do not reduce Scaler Data Completion. A warning does not mean data is wrong — it means Scaler has detected something you may not have noticed and should verify.

There are two types of warnings.

Rule-based warnings

These flag logical inconsistencies or misalignments between related fields, meters, or records. Scaler handles the situation where possible but surfaces the warning so you can review it.

Examples:

Outliers

Outliers are shown in their own Outliers tab. They flag unusual year-over-year changes in consumption that exceed expected thresholds, and like other warnings they do not block completion.

By default, a warning is triggered if the result falls outside [-0.5, +0.5] for energy, or [-0.5, +1.0] for water and waste, aligned with GRESB methodology. Admins can override these bounds per resource type (minimum and maximum %) at four levels: company (Data Collection Portal → Company → Settings → Data collection → Warning Thresholds), portfolio (the same configuration in portfolio settings), asset (at the top of the asset's Meters & Consumption tab, per resource), and individual meter (a Warning thresholds section in the meter's edit view). The most specific configured level wins, and values left blank inherit from the level above (meter → asset → portfolio → company → Scaler default). Changed thresholds take effect from the next validation run automatically. If the change is expected (building closure, occupancy change, operational disruption), no action is required, but you may want to document the context.

How warnings and outliers appear on the Alerts page

The Alerts page has separate Warnings and Outliers tabs. Rule-based warnings live under Warnings, grouped by section (Meters & Consumption for Energy, Water, then Waste, then Certifications) and sorted by the number of affected assets. Consumption outliers live under Outliers. This split is a front-end change only: outliers are still “warnings” and still do not block completion.

On either tab you can export the list (all rows or a selected subset) using the Download action at the top right of the page, next to Upload.

Dismissing warnings

Warnings that don't apply to an asset or portfolio can be dismissed with a recorded reason, at asset level or across the entire portfolio. Dismissed warnings drop out of the warning count, are tracked in a Dismissed tab with the user, timestamp, and reason, and can be reversed at any time. Errors, blocking issues, and missing data cannot be dismissed.

For full guidance, see Dismissing warnings across assets and portfolios.

Alerts are visible throughout the Data Collection Portal: