Productization
HVAC

HVAC Setpoint Compliance

Percentage of time the active thermostat setpoint matched the corporate policy for that zone and schedule. Measures operational discipline — whether the system is being operated as agreed — not whether the space reached a particular temperature.

01 Metric Definition

What it measures and how it is calculated

What it measures

The percentage of time during the analysis period that the setpoint configured in the thermostat or controller matched the corporate setpoint policy defined for that specific equipment and zone. It measures operational discipline — whether the system is being operated as agreed — not whether the space reached a particular temperature.

An important distinction: Setpoint compliance is fundamentally different from temperature compliance. A unit can have perfect setpoint compliance but poor temperature compliance if the equipment is undersized. Conversely, a unit can have low setpoint compliance but acceptable space temperatures if the equipment overcompensates. Both metrics are needed to get a complete picture.

How it is calculated

The general approach is to compare the active setpoint reading reported by the thermostat at each interval against the corporate policy value expected for that equipment, zone, and time of day. Intervals where the active setpoint falls within the defined policy range are counted as compliant.

Setpoint compliance = compliant intervals / total intervals × 100

This requires that the corporate setpoint policy is clearly defined and stored in the system for each equipment-zone combination before the metric can be calculated.

Corporate setpoint policy — critical dependency

This metric only has meaning if a corporate setpoint policy has been defined and agreed upon with the client. The policy must specify, at minimum: the cooling setpoint range for daytime operation, the range for nighttime or reduced-load operation, the heating setpoint range where applicable, and the schedule that defines when each applies.

Setpoints vary by zone and schedule within a single client. Common examples: sales floor vs. back-of-house, zones with different operating hours, spaces with different thermal loads, and sites in different climate zones with regionally adjusted policies. Applying a uniform policy across all zones will produce misleading compliance readings.

Reference thresholds

Compliance levelClassificationTypical action
≥ 90%CompliantNo action required; include in MBR trend
75 – 90%Watch zoneFlag for monitoring; investigate if sustained over 2 months
< 75%Non-compliantDiagnose and escalate per action guide below

Reference thresholds only. Portfolio compliance target (default: 85% of sites compliant) to be agreed with each client.

02 Impact

How this metric moves the four customer value drivers

Setpoint Compliance is one of the four HVAC optimization metrics Keedian tracks. The table below shows how moving this metric impacts each of the four customer value drivers the product is designed to improve. These are the same four levers expressed on every HVAC product page as Expected Outcomes — the metric pages explain the mechanism; the product pages express the magnitude.

Value driver Impact strength How Setpoint Compliance moves this lever
Energy savings Direct, primary Every degree of unauthorized override — typically colder in summer or warmer in winter to satisfy local discomfort — costs energy. Setpoint Compliance is the cleanest measurement of override-driven waste and, alongside schedule discipline, one of the two largest controllable HVAC energy levers. Reverting overrides directly reduces kWh.
Avoided truck rolls Indirect Not a direct equipment-failure signal, but persistent override patterns often mask underlying capacity or DeltaT issues that would eventually drive a comfort dispatch. Investigating the reason for low compliance — not just reverting the setpoint — catches the root cause early.
Asset lifespan Indirect, modest Aggressive overrides force the system to run longer and harder than the design point, accelerating compressor wear and start-stop cycling. Restoring corporate setpoints removes that excess duty.
Customer experience Direct Corporate setpoints are calibrated to deliver the brand-standard comfort experience for shoppers and customers. Personal-preference overrides by store staff push the space away from that designed experience and typically make it less comfortable for the actual customer — a manager-on-duty who feels warm may drop to 68°F in summer, but shoppers in street clothes find it cold. Restoring compliance restores the intended CX. The genuine exception worth investigating: a site where the corporate setpoint is wrong because of local climate, layout, or occupancy — those cases warrant a setpoint policy update, not just a revert.
03 Detection

How it surfaces and when it is reviewed

How it surfaces

Alarm
Can be configured to trigger when setpoint deviates from policy for a sustained period or exceeds a defined number of override events per day.
Equipment
Setpoint compliance chip shown in amber or red in the Site Dashboard per-unit table, with the detected setpoint value displayed.
Site
Individual RTU or zone flagged in the HVAC Detail or Top/Worst Performers tab.
Portfolio
Compliance rate drops below agreed target in the Executive Summary dashboard.

Review cadence

Monthly
Reviewed during MBR using the portfolio trend chart.
Weekly
Operations team reviews worst performers list.
Real-time
Alert triggered for sustained setpoint deviations where configured.
04 Alarms

Principal alarms derived from this metric

The table below summarizes the principal alarms that fire directly from Setpoint Compliance. Each row links to the full operational detail (trigger, preconditions, action plan, human role, linked SOPs) in the SOPs catalog. These are single-metric alarms only — composite FDD that combines multiple metrics with control state and weather context will appear in a future release.

Alarm Description Severity Tier AI executes? Value drivers SOP
Setpoint out of corporate range Current setpoint is outside the tolerance range around the corporate setpoint policy for the zone and time of day. Medium Essential Yes Energy savings · Customer experience Open SOP →
More alarms in development

Roadmap: rolling site-compliance KPI (% of time in compliance over a daily/weekly window) — currently surfaced as a dashboard metric rather than an alarm. Composite alarms in development (multi-metric FDD): comfort masked by override (correlation with Temperature Compliance), capacity vs load mismatch.

05 Actions

What to do based on the alarm

The action plan for each alarm lives on its own SOP page in the SOPs catalog — with the diagnostic steps, human role, value drivers, and escalation criteria specific to that alarm. The list below maps each setpoint-derived alarm to its SOP; this page keeps only the cross-alarm items that don't belong to a single SOP (policy definition errors, systemic patterns).

Policy definition is incorrect or incomplete (metric-level — not a single alarm)

If the corporate setpoint policy itself is wrong (zone or schedule miscoded, daypart exception missing, holiday calendar stale), the entire compliance metric is unreliable. Correct the zone and schedule configuration in the system to reflect the actual agreed policy. Recalculate compliance for the affected period if possible and document the correction. Validate any policy change with the client before applying.

Responsible
Keedian operations team
Urgency
High — incorrect policy makes the entire metric unreliable
Client approval
Yes — any policy change must be validated with the client before being applied

Systemic pattern across many sites (metric-level)

If low compliance appears across a large number of sites simultaneously, the most likely cause is a policy definition error in the system rather than widespread per-site overrides. Escalate internally before communicating to the client — confirm the policy definition is current, then propose a coordinated correction. Do not treat as a fleet of independent SOP firings.

Responsible
Keedian technical and operations team
Urgency
High
Client approval
No for internal investigation — Yes before any correction is applied
06 Escalation

When and how to escalate

Per-alarm escalation criteria live in the Escalation block of each SOP in the SOPs catalog. The patterns below are metric-level — they are read from the portfolio view, not from any single alarm firing, and don't belong to a single SOP.

General note

Escalation criteria and communication protocols should be defined as part of the operational agreement with each client. The guidelines below are a general reference and should be adapted to the specific terms, SLAs, and relationship dynamics in place for each account.

Portfolio-level patterns — typically communicated in the MBR
  • Portfolio compliance below target for two or more consecutive months
  • Any zone type showing systematically lower compliance — may indicate a policy definition gap
  • Sites where setpoint deviations correlate with elevated runtime or energy consumption across the fleet
Cross-alarm urgency — typically requires out-of-cycle communication
  • Override behavior suggests the agreed setpoint policy may not be operationally viable — this is a commercial conversation, not just an operational one
  • Any finding that suggests the corporate policy has changed at the client level without being communicated to Keedian
  • Policy definition error suspected across the fleet — pause MBR reporting until the policy is reconciled
07 Prevention

Controls to avoid recurring issues

Configuration controls

  • Define and validate the complete setpoint policy for every zone type at every site before going live — including schedule, daytime setpoint, nighttime setpoint, and zone-specific exceptions
  • Document all zone-type and schedule variations at each client so the system reflects the actual operational reality
  • When a client updates their corporate policy, establish a process to reflect the change in the system promptly across all affected zones

Monitoring controls

  • Configure automated alerts for setpoint deviations sustained beyond a defined duration
  • Track override hours per zone monthly as an early indicator of operational discipline issues or policy viability problems
  • Flag any site where compliance dropped suddenly — sudden drops are almost always a configuration change, equipment replacement, or policy update, not gradual drift

Reporting controls

  • Include the setpoint compliance portfolio trend in every MBR
  • Report compliance by zone type where multiple zone types exist — this makes it easier to identify whether a compliance issue is isolated to a specific zone configuration
  • Maintain a log of all policy definition changes and the date they were applied so historical compliance data can be interpreted correctly
08 Product View Summary

Summary for use in product pages

Product View Summary · HVAC Setpoint Compliance

Percentage of time the active thermostat setpoint matched the agreed corporate policy for each zone and schedule. Measures operational discipline — not whether comfort was achieved. Requires a fully defined setpoint policy per zone to be meaningful. Low compliance typically indicates override activity, scheduling misconfiguration, or a policy definition gap. Reviewed monthly in MBR.

09 Linked SOPs

Standard operating procedures

SOPs linked to this metric will be documented here. Each SOP will describe the step-by-step operational procedure for a specific scenario identified in the Alarms and Actions sections above.