In this document
We will introduce you to the Analyst’s quality control tools and show you how to work with their common controls.
Dataset quality control
Accurate and reliable datasets are the foundation of solar energy analysis. Unvalidated or low‑quality data may introduce biases, underestimations, or overestimations that directly affect project performance evaluation and investment decisions.
Analyst quality control checks ensure that datasets are consistent, complete, and free from anomalies. By identifying and flagging erroneous or inconsistent measurements, they help maintain the integrity of your solar and weather data, making it suitable for future applications.
Note: Apart from time reference checks, quality control checks do not remove any data from your dataset - we only introduce flags to mark the inconsistent values to help you identify them.
Quality control tools list
The Analyst application provides several quality check (QC) tools to ensure your dataset is reliable and ready for use. These include:
Time reference checks: The first step verifies that the data do not contain any time shifts and existing ones are removed. This is essential to ensure the accuracy of subsequent quality control checks.
Solar radiation data checks: Solar radiation values are validated and cross-referenced to confirm they are physically consistent and usable. Any anomalies are flagged with the appropriate flag markers.
Meteorological data checks: Similar to solar radiation data, these checks validate the accuracy and consistency of meteorological parameters. Suspicious or inconsistent values are highlighted for review.
Interactive data checks: Beyond automated checks, datasets can be examined interactively to manually identify and flag any remaining inconsistencies.
Post-filtering checks: The final step ensures data continuity by identifying gaps or irregularities that may reduce dataset usability.
Accessing the QC tools
You can access quality control tools from the main menu via the Quality section or open a particular quality control check using the quick access icons below the main menu.
Toolbar controls for your workflow
The quality control tools are equipped with various controls to help you work with the charts more effectively. Most of them are available for all QC tools, while there are some provided for a particular QC tool only. They are at your disposal at the top left in every QC tool, and all are listed in the table below.
Toolbar icon | Usage |
|---|---|
| Reset original view - use to reset the charts to the default view. |
| Axes panning - use to move axes up/down (left mouse button) and left/right (right mouse button). |
| Zoom to rectangle - use to select a rectangle in the chart to zoom to the selection. Selected height is also considered. |
| Move between previous/next view. |
| Various data selection tools to select data to flag manually (Interactive QC checks) |
| Import flags from another database. |
| Create a new time shift range by selecting an area in the time series chart. The selected time range will be added to the time shifts window. |
| Set the chart’s plot padding in the interface to a custom size. |
| Customize the charts by setting font size or labels. |
| Save charts as an image. The whole chart area will be saved as a PNG file. |
Applying changes to visualizations
To view the impact of your QC edits and parameter changes in particular QC tools, a manual refresh of the charts is required. You can do this by clicking the “Redraw” button (if available). The button turns blue when there are changes that have not yet been applied to the visualizations.
Note: This action does not save the dataset, it only redraws the charts for reference.
Saving the dataset
Analyst application offers several saving options aimed at different use cases:
Save: Make periodic saves whenever you need to save your progress.
Final save: Perform a final save that will attach a time reference QC status label to the dataset.
Save as: You can save your dataset as a new one.
