Energy Service Center
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Management tool for solar panel installation businesses.
We re-designed and developed software that enables companies in the solar panel business to automate all of their business and sales processes, easily determine the best places for installation, calculate the amount of solar energy that will be generated on the specific rooftop and monitor all the steps regarding budgeting, invoicing and reporting on sales.
We are responsible for
Scope:
Dedicated agile team
Team:
10 people
Duration:
24 months – ongoing
Challenge
The demand for solar panel installation services has grown rapidly over the past years. However, there is no software the solar panel installation businesses can use to manage their projects end-to-end. Companies find it hard to track, store and analyze all project-related information and materials. This often leads to failed or poorly executed projects.
Solution
We designed and developed Energy Service Center – software which enables companies to set up their project, input all the related information about the client and the solar panel installation site, get to the right configuration of solar panels by estimating power generation for each site, quote their clients and generate reports on each project all through a single platform.
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Set Up Your Project
Through the dashboard, the users have an easy view of all the projects – past and ongoing and have the ability to create a new one.
Each project consists of several subsections and contains all the information about the client, their contact information, the type of the project (private or business), etc.
Users can also use the Quotation feature to create a quotation for the client and share it with them from the platform. Clients are then able to double project information and sign the quote.
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Input Panel Specifications
When setting up projects, users can also input all the specifications that are important for getting to the right solar panel configuration for each specific case.
These include reports about the roof’s condition, dimensions, and extra details. Users can also modify the roof surface by changing its inclination, orientation, and elevation.
The feature also allows users to use satellite images and indicate the properties of the panel, such as kWp, and PV modules.
The software automatically provides estimates for power generation including kWh/year, kWh/kWp per year, and shading power generation loss for a specific rooftop.
Additionally, users can get an estimate for the amount of solar energy generated on a specific rooftop by uploading an image of the roof surface.
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Monitor Project Progress
At the end of each project, users can use the delivery section of the project to document and monitor the delivery of all materials, products, and services to the user by uploading pictures of the completed project and sharing them with the client for their signature. This feature allows the user to double-check that all the tasks and materials outlined in the original quotation have been delivered and completed.
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Reporting
Reporting feature offers users reporting on both their financials and materials stocks. Financial reporting allows users to filter their data according to date, specific salesperson, or per project and see cumulative and broken-down revenue analyses.
On the other hand, material reports allow users to see what materials were delivered for a specific project. This information is provided in a data table and can be filtered by material, brand, and type. Users can also easily search through the data table to easily find the exact material they need information on.
Involvement & Process
Design Audit
At first, we met with our clients and performed extensive interviews to find out more about the industry, their specific products, and their end clients. These interviews gave us valuable insights about our customers, product users, key stakeholders, and niche necessities of the industry. Next, we workshopped the product itself and analyzed it with our client on each functionality. At the same time, our designer conducted a design audit where she studied the design of the existing product, highlighted the UI/UX challenges, and outlined potential solutions to these problems.
UI/UX & Prototyping
We started with the sketching workshops which was followed by creating user flow diagrams. After that, we moved to wireframing and created a prototype in Figma. We tested the prototype with users, got feedback and iterated over the UX design.
After that, we designed the UI and built a UI prototype in Figma. We tested it with users, got feedback on design and copy, and did iterations.
Web Development
For scalability and easier usability, we based our architecture on REST principles.
The development process was based on the Scrum Framework.
Front-end was developed in ReactJS, and we used AntDesign for ready-to-use React Components. In addition, we customized ANTs’ basic component styles to match our Design guidelines.
We decided to choose Laravel for our backend technology since it has a massive community and all the use cases are mainly already created and exported as reusable packages. This also made sense for security and maintainability since most functionalities are modular and easily replaceable.
Devops & Production
Our team set up CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions. We had separate environments for development, staging, and production. The infrastructure is in cloud and is based on AWS.
Tech Stacks
Meet the authors
We are a 200+ people agency and provide product design, software development, and creative growth marketing services to companies ranging from fresh startups to established enterprises. Our work has earned us 100+ international awards, partnerships with Laravel, Vue, Meta, and Google, and the title of Georgia’s agency of the year in 2019 and 2021.
