Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for solar installers.
A checklist built from how solar installers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Site survey and sizing
- Proposal in kW
- Approval and subsidy tracker
- Installation job card
- Warranty register
- Payment milestones
- Service and cleaning schedule
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For the sales and survey team
- For installation crews
- For the office and accounts
- For service technicians
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Enquiries, surveys and proposals by stage
- Jobs in progress by installation stage
- Net-metering and subsidy files pending, by stage and office
- Material in stock and shortfall against open jobs
- Payments received and due by job
- Service visits and AMC renewals due
- Warranty dates by supplier and serial number
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Mobile wallet and payment gateway
- Accounting package export (quoted separately)
- Inverter monitoring portals, where the make allows it
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this a solar CRM, or does it sit beside one?
- Does it track subsidy and net-metering applications?
- What happens when the utility returns a file or asks for a second inspection?
- Can proposals show different system sizes, generation and payback?
- Can it keep serial numbers for each customer?
- Can crews update jobs from site?
- Can it track annual maintenance contracts?
- Is our accounting package connected?
- Does it read inverter data?
- Who owns the customer data?
- How long before surveys and quotations are done in it?
- What should an installer gather before starting?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The file is stuck somewhere
- Subsidy papers are missing
- Module serials are not recorded
- Service calls land on personal phones
Prefer to talk it through? See the solar installers page.