Import Reads from Badger Beacon

Importing reads from Badger Beacon can be broken into four steps:

1. Export the Route File from Current
2. Import the Route File to Beacon
3. Export the Read File from Beacon
4. Import the Read File to Current

Export the Route File from Current

Current is your system of record. All billing and meter changes are made there, including move-ins, move-outs, meter changeouts, and updates to register or endpoint IDs. Beacon does not automatically receive these updates.

The route file communicates those changes to Beacon. If you run reads in Beacon without first uploading the latest route file from Current, the systems will fall out of sync. Beacon may look for outdated meter or endpoint IDs, attach reads to the wrong account, or fail to read the intended routes.

Before running reads in Beacon, always upload the most recent route file generated by Current. To generate the route file in Current, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Billing. If you have already started your billing cycle, open it. Otherwise, create one by clicking Schedule a Billing Cycle.
2. The billing cycle should open to the Export Meter Data step. Make sure all the routes you want Beacon to read are checked.
3. At the bottom, make sure Meter Type is set to Beacon. If you find yourself having to update this every billing cycle, you can make it the default in Settings > Billing > Export Configuration.
4. Click Export data for meter reads. A compressed folder called all-routes.zip will download on to your computer.
5. Double-click all-routes.zip. It should open into a file called Beacon.csv. Save Beacon.csv somewhere you will be able to find it later, like your Desktop.

Import the Route File to Beacon

Once you have generated the route file in Current, upload it to Beacon. This triggers an update job in Beacon that syncs all changes made since the last read cycle, including new accounts, meter changeouts, and updated meter or endpoint IDs. To upload the route file to Beacon, follow these steps:

1. Go to https://beaconama.net. Log in with your Beacon credentials.
2. In the left nav bar, navigate to the System Sync section. Hover over it and click Data Exchange.
3. Click or drag Beacon.csv where indicated on the page. It will process, then tell you how many reads were accepted (hopefully all of them!). You may review the warnings or exceptions if you would like, otherwise, click Approve. Doing so will permanently update Beacon with the updates from Current's route file.
4. Wait for the update to finish processing. If this is your first time updating Beacon since onboarding to Current, the processing may take some time.

Export the Read File from Beacon

Once the route file has finished processing in Beacon, we can be sure that its list of routes, accounts, and meter IDs are in sync with Current. We are ready to export the reads from Beacon:

1. In the left nav bar, click Monitor.
2. In the top right, click Actions > New Export.
3. Choose Export Type Billing Reads, then enter your desired Billing Read Date and Tolerance.
4. Click Start Data Export.
5. Once the export is finished processing, download the file (probably named billing_reads-export) to a place you'll be able to find it later.

Import the Read File to Current

Once we have the read file exported from Beacon, it's straightforward to import it to Current:

1. Go back to your billing cycle.
2. At the top of the screen, click step 1, Import Data.
3. In the top right, click the left-pointing arrow to open the file browsing panel.
4. Click or drag billing_reads-export (or whatever Beacon named your read file).
5. Your reads should process and you should start seeing reads populate in Current with the same values they had in Current.