Billing Data File Name Conventions
All billing data files transferred to Oracle Utilities must follow a standard naming convention. The naming convention is shown below, and is followed by concrete examples. It is strongly recommended that you also send the Fileset Transfer Manifest so that Oracle Utilities can validate that all expected files have been received intact.
File name components enclosed in angle brackets (<>) must be populated. File name components enclosed in square brackets ([]) are optional and can be included or left out. Any components without brackets must be part of the file name and should not be changed.
opwr_<utility>_<specification version number>_<billing data type>_<yyyyMMddHHmmss>.<gz or zip>
This naming convention is made up of the following components:
- Prefix: The opwr prefix, which is the standard abbreviation for Oracle Utilities Opower.
- Utility Identifier: A three- or four-character code that identifies the utility sending the file. Your Delivery Team will work with you to choose the utility code early in the implementation process. The code needs to be a unique identifier for the utility in the Oracle Utilities Opower system. For example, “The Great Energy Company” might have an identifier of gec.
- Specification Version Number: A three-digit version number of the data transfer specification. Each digit must be separated by a hyphen (-) and not a period or an underscore.
- Billing Data Type: The file name must indicate the type of billing data being sent in the file. Use one of the following designations depending on which file you are sending.
- billing_bill: Indicates that the file contains data related to the bill fields entity.
- billing_billsegment: Indicates that the file contains data related to the bill segments entity.
- billing_lineitem: Indicates that the file contains data related to the line items entity.
- billing_servicequantity: Indicates that the file contains data related to service quantity entity.
- billing: Indicates that the file contains all bill-related data in a single file. Note: This name should only be used if you are sending your billing data in a single as opposed to four separate files. This approach is not recommended. Contact your Delivery Team if you need to discuss this approach.
- Date: The date that the file was generated, in the format yyyyMMddHHmmss.
- File Extension: All files should be gzipped and should end with .gz, or be zipped and end with .zip. If you choose to PGP encrypt your files, then the .pgp extension should be used. In the case of PGP encryption, compression is not required since the encryption process includes file compression. Files can be up to one gigabyte compressed, or up to four gigabytes uncompressed.
File Naming Examples
Suppose the specification version number of the document is v2-0-0 and your utility is named "The Great Energy Company.” Examples of your billing file names are shown below.
Utility Sending Separate Files (Default)
-
File with bill fields:
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_bill_20210316131415.gz -
File with bill segment fields:
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_billsegment_20210316131415.gz -
File with line item fields:
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_lineitem_20210316131415.gz -
File with service quantity fields:
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_servicequantity_20210316131415.gz
Utility Sending Single File (Not Recommended)
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_20210316131415.gz
Utility Using PGP Encryption
If your utility is using PGP-encrypted files, then an example of your utility's file name for the Bill Fields entity would be as follows:
opwr_gec_v2-0-0_billing_bill_20210316131415.pgp
Additional Notes
The filename must not exceed 183 characters and must not contain a period (.) unless the period comes right before the file extension. The Oracle Utilities Opower file reception system considers the first period in the file name to be the beginning of a file extension. For example, the following file name is invalid and cannot be processed:
opwr.gec.v2.0.0.billing.20210316131415.gz