Contents

Dashboard Documentation

The Solar Forecast Arbiter Dashboard is a web interface for managing solar observation and forecast data and for evaluating solar forecast accuracy. This documentation provides step-by-step examples of how to perform common activities on the Solar Forecast Arbiter dashboard. The Content menu can be used to navigate between each activity. Each section includes instructions and screenshots.

Be sure to read the Getting Started section for instructions on how to access the current version of the dashboard. Please see the data model documentation for more details on how the Solar Forecast Arbiter organizes metadata (Sites, Observations, and Forecasts) and time series data. Tutorial materials are available in our 2019 Denver Workshop repository.

Getting Started

The alpha release of the Solar Forecast Arbiter dashboard does not yet support automatic signup. In the meantime, you may use any of the credentials below to log in and explore the dashboard. You will be prompted to log in on the front page of the dashboard at dashboard.solarforecastarbiter.org

Email Password
testing@solarforecastarbiter.org Thepassword123!
utilityx@solarforecastarbiter.org Utilitypassword!
forecastera@solarforecastarbiter.org Forecasterpassword!
forecasterb@solarforecastarbiter.org Forecasterpassword!

In a later release, users will be able to signup and join existing organizations with approval of that organization’s administrators.

Create New Site

  1. Navigate to sites listing page using ‘Sites’ link in the left sidebar. At the top of the Site listing click ‘Create new Site’.

  2. Enter the metadata for your Site. Selecting a site type of ‘Power Plant’ will prompt you for additional fields.

    • Weather station site creation form

    • Power plant site creation form

  3. After submission, you will be redirected to a Site page which displays the new Site’s metadata and allows you to create associated Observations and Forecasts (see Create New Observation or Forecast).

    Power Plant Site Page

Create New Observation or Forecast

To create an Observation or Forecast, an associated site must already exist (see Create New Site).

Create New Observation

  1. Navigate to the Site listing page using the ‘Sites’ link in the left sidebar. Select the site for which you are adding an Observation.

  2. Click the “Create new Observation” button on the Site page.

  3. Enter metadata for your Observation. On submission, you will be redirected to an Observation page which displays the new Observation metadata and a link to add Observation data (see Upload Data).

    • Observation form
    • Created Observation page

Create New Forecast

  1. Navigate to the Site listing page using the ‘Sites’ link in the left sidebar. Select the site for which you are adding a Forecast.

  2. Click the “Create new Forecast” button on the Site page.

  3. Enter metadata for your Forecast. On submission, you will be redirected to a Forecast page which displays the new Forecast metadata and a link to add Forecast data (see Upload Data).

    • Forecast form
    • Created Forecast page

Upload data

To upload data, an associated Site and Observation or Forecast object must already exist (see Create New Site or Create New Observation or Forecast). The instructions here will describe the process of uploading data using the dashboard. Uploading data may be automated using the API, see https://api.solarforecastarbiter.org/ for detailed documentation.

Upload Observation Data

  1. From Sites listing page, click on a site.

  2. Click ‘Observations’ to find the Observations listing for that site.

  3. Select an Observation. Click ‘Upload Data’ on the Observation page.

  4. Select the file type, this will display an example of the expected file format. Click ‘Choose File’ and select the data file to upload.

    • CSV format
    • JSON format

Upload Forecast Data

  1. From Sites listing page, click on a site.

  2. Click ‘Forecast’ to find the Forecasts listing for that site.

  3. Select a Forecast. Click ‘Upload Data’ on the Forecast page.

  4. Select the file type, this will display an example of the expected file format. Click ‘Choose File’ and select the data file to upload.

    • CSV format
    • JSON format

Download Data

The instructions here will describe the process of downloading data using the dashboard. Users may also utilize the API to download data. See the API documentation for details.

Download Observation data

  1. From Sites listing page, click on a site.

  2. Click ‘Observations’ to find the Observations listing for that site.

  3. Select an Observation. Click ‘Download Data’ on the Observation page.

  4. Specify a date range, timezone and format, and click download.

Download Forecast data

  1. From Sites listing page, click on a site.

  2. Click ‘Forecasts’ to find the Observations listing for that site.

  3. Select a Forecast. Click ‘Download Data’ on the Forecast page.

  4. Specify a date range, timezone and format, and click download.

Create New Report

  1. Use the ‘Reports’ link on the left sidebar to view the reports listing page. Click the ‘Create new Report’ link.

  2. Enter the report name and a start and end for the period to analyze. Add pairs of Observations and Forecasts to compare by clicking the ‘Add Forecast, Observation pair’ button. Check the boxes for metrics to calculate in the report.

    After clicking submit, you will be returned to the report listing page where you will see the newly created report with a status of ‘pending’. The Arbiter will process the report and then set its status to ‘complete’. You may then view the web version of the report.

Permission/Role management

User, permission and role administation can be accessed by clicking the ‘User Administration’ link in the Account menu in the top right corner of the site.

Note that these menus are meant to assist organization administrators in viewing and managing permissions, and users without admin privileges may not see anything on these pages.

Users

  • The Users tab will list the Users you have access to administer or view.

  • Clicking on an individual user will list information about the user and their roles.

Roles

  • The Roles tab will list all of the Roles you have access to administer or view.

  • Clicking on an individual Role will list information about it and the permissions associated with it.

Permissions

  • The Permissions tab will list all of the Permissions you have access to administer or view.

  • Clicking on an individual Permission will list information about it and the objects it applies to.