“Many organizations today are under the illusion of digitalization. Just because they have documents on a computer instead of in a binder doesn’t mean they know how to use them effectively. True digital transformation in the energy sector only begins when we start working with data continuously, are able to link it together, and turn it into a basis for predicting future trends,” says Jan Hanus, director of ORGREZ ECO.
At the same time, cities and municipalities are grappling with a number of challenges that share a common denominator: sustainable development, modernization, and the efficient allocation of financial resources. There are countless variables and sources of information—some data is held by building managers, some by technical departments, some by designers, some by energy specialists, and some is generated through audits or conceptual documents. While these documents must be updated regularly, the information they contain usually ends up simply filed away in a binder. In addition, there is information from network operators, economic investment plans, development documents, and materials for land-use planning. All of these are important inputs. However, they very often remain separate.
As a result, several parallel worlds exist within a single organization. One monitors the technical condition of buildings, another tracks energy performance, a third focuses on investment priorities, a fourth addresses land development, and a fifth handles mandatory documentation. Each has its own significance, but they are rarely interconnected in a way that creates a single, comprehensible basis for decision-making.
Concepts That Are Difficult to Implement
This is very evident in conceptual and development documents for municipalities and cities, particularly in “local energy plans,” which have received significant grant support. They are produced in various formats, according to different methodologies, and with varying levels of detail. They often contain high-quality analytical work and valuable recommendations. Nevertheless, in practice, their actual use tends to be limited. The document is completed, discussed, and filed away—and then exists more as a formal output than as an active management tool.
The reason is not a lack of expertise. The problem is that these outputs tend to be static, difficult to update, and only loosely connected to the day-to-day management of the territory and assets.
“We have data on buildings, but it’s trapped in isolated silos. Until we break it out of this fragmentation, it will remain nothing more than a dead record of the past instead of serving as an active tool for savings and strategic investments,” explains Jan Hanus.
Mandatory documentation must be dynamic
Mandatory documentation—which municipalities, cities, and building managers must maintain over the long term—is a separate issue altogether. Building inventories, energy audits, energy performance certificates, and other technical documents are not one-time administrative tasks. They are intended to describe a reality that changes over time. Buildings are renovated; technologies, operating modes, energy consumption, and investment priorities all change.
However, regularly updating these documents involves a disjointed and endlessly repeated process of assessing reality. Imagine waking up every few years, having to examine the reality around you, recording it, and then falling back asleep for another few years. That is exactly how the updating of mandatory building documentation works in practice: retroactive documentation of projects for auditors, on-site inspections and measurements, and expert estimates. A great deal of effort that could be eliminated by gradually updating a single database.
A Single Platform for Buildings, Networks, and Development
This is precisely where there is a need for tools capable of integrating individual layers of information into a single platform. ORGREZIO Cities is built on this principle. It is not just another database or record-keeping system. Its value lies in the fact that it brings together information about buildings—including their technical and energy status, required documentation, development plans, and related infrastructure—all in one place.
“The ORGREZIO Cities platform functions as an integration hub that unifies previously fragmented data flows. The goal was to create an environment where users don’t work with fragments, but see the city and its energy system as a single, interconnected organism,” explains Jan Huml, director of ORGREZ DATA, the company that developed the ORGREZIO Cities system.
This creates an environment where data can actually be worked with, rather than merely stored.
The very essence of ORGREZIO Cities lies in the long-term planning of larger municipal and urban areas. Converting tables into a graphical environment, evaluating impacts directly on a 3D city map, and continuously updating data whenever a change occurs. All of this provides the city with a comprehensive tool it can use in its planning efforts, allowing energy specialists to directly update data when preparing Energy Performance Certificates (PENB), building inventories, or audits, and to generate clear reports for communicating project details to the public.
However, building management cannot function without supporting infrastructure: heat and electricity supplies, charging stations for electric vehicles, water supply, and sewer systems. In the real world, everything is interconnected in a hidden interplay that serves everyone daily without being noticed. However, to plan this infrastructure, it is important to understand the context, objectives, and development. ORGREZIO Cities can bring all of this together in a single environment.
Implementing ORGREZIO Cities doesn’t involve a lot of manual work.
“In the first phase, we extract as much data as possible from existing databases, statistics, and recorded information. We create an initial live model of the city, which is then updated and supplemented with every renovation, audit, or other document,” explains Jan Huml.
This is precisely where the fundamental shift in the approach to city and building management lies. It is no longer about creating additional standalone documents, records, or one-off analyses. The real value lies in an environment where data is continuously interconnected, updated, and naturally integrated into day-to-day decision-making. Energy concepts, property inventories, audits, and investment plans do not solve problems on their own. They are merely individual layers of information about the same area. However, if they remain separate, the city repeatedly analyzes the same reality—only each time in a different document, for a different grant program, or for a different decision.
Modern city management, therefore, does not rely on the volume of processed data, but on the ability to create a single, dynamically evolving model of the territory. A model that integrates buildings, energy, infrastructure, and planned development into a single functional whole. Because only when data begins to function within a broader context can decisions be made that make economic, energy, and strategic sense—not just today, but also in ten or twenty years.
The article appeared in the June issue of the magazine Energetika 03/2026.
You can find more information about data collection and reporting here.