2017 Release Notes

2017-11-28 Release Notes

• New depreciation schedules for 2018 and 2019. To support the gradual phase out of 1st year bonus depreciation, added new depreciation options called "MACRS, Half-Year, 40% 1st Yr bonus" for projects sold in 2018 and "MACRS, Half-Year, 30% 1st Yr bonus" for projects sold in 2019.
   
• Confirm finance option when generating contract. Added the ability to confirm/change the selected finance option when generating a contract with a payment schedule. Payment schedules are based on the contract amount in the primary finance option, so it's important to make sure the correct finance option is selected as the primary option before generating a contract. This update makes it easy for users to confirm and update the primary finance option in the process of generating the contract.
   
• New solution_scope template variable. This variable can be used to display a solution's scope values in a document, for example to show the list of items included in a contract.
   
• New ee_measures template variable. This variable can be used to display the details for each efficiency measure in a solution, including name, description and annual energy savings.
   
• Transfer user responsibilities. Added features to make it easier to transfer a user's project responsibilities to another user, especially in order to deactivate a user and transfer all of their responsibilities to a newly added user.
  
  Previously, if you didn't transfer a user's responsibilities when deactivating them, there was no way to easily transfer those responsibilities to a new user later on. Now, there's a new Transfer icon next to each user on the Admin > Users page that allows you to transfer all of that user's responsibilities to another user at any time. So if you want to add a new user to your account to take over for a departing employee, you can first deactivate the old user while leaving their responsibilities "unchanged", invite the new user, then once the new user signs up, click the Transfer icon to transfer the old user's responsibilities to the new user.
  
  Additionally, to help you make sure you don't have any lingering active projects assigned to inactive users, you can now easily see all of a user's project responsibilities right from their user profile page, and SolarNexus will send a weekly reminder email to account admins listing the inactive users who still have project responsibilities.
   
• Bug fixes and improvements:
  • Added support for posting the IEP object in the Create Project API as raw XML rather than in URL-encoded format.
  • Added a warning when trying to email PDF documents over 6MB, since documents that large can be slow to download for some customers.
  • Fixed issue with sending too many milestone assignment notifications for Proposed and Sold milestones when there are multiple solutions.
  • Fixed issue when trying to uncomplete the Sold milestone for a project with a revision.
  • Fixed issue with Tasks screen filter selections not persisting across views.
  • Fixed issue with scheduler not showing any users in grid view when opening the scheduler more than once on the same project page.
  • Fixed issue with scheduling all day events in the scheduler and calendar views.

 

2017-11-08 Release Notes

• Bifacial modules. Added a new "bifacial" attribute to modules in the public catalog and added an option for specifying the bifacial boost % for a system. When a system uses bifacial modules, you can enter the estimated boost to yield on the PV Output Modeling dialog, available from the Systems screen. If you enter a boost of 10%, for example, the annual PV output and PV offset % will be increased by 10%, and this will be reflected in the financial analysis. SolarNexus doesn't currently offer an automated way to calculate the boost from bifacial panels; this is something you'll need to esimate using a formula or tool provided by the manufacturer, typically as a function of the panel orientation and pitch and the mounting surface albedo.
   
• Proposed and sold milestones. Made several enhancements to streamline the use of these milestones:
  • If you have several solutions for a project, SolarNexus will now only show a single "Propose to Customer" milestone in the Next Steps section of the project screen and on the Tasks screen, rather than a separate "Propose to Customer" milestone for each solution. You specify the proposed solution as part of completing the milestone.
  • If the first proposed solution is not already the primary solution, it becomes the primary solution when you propose it. If you propose an additional solution, you can optionally make it the primary solution at that time. The primary solution is the one shown by default on the project screen and the one used to calculate proposal metrics in reports.
  • After proposing a solution, if there are additional solutions in the project, you'll see only a single "Propose to Customer (Additional Solution)" milestone.
  • Similarly, if you have multiple proposed solutions, you'll see only a single "Complete Final Sale" or "Close Sale" milestone, which will let you specified the sold solution when you complete it.
     
• Multiple project scopes. Added support for specifying multiple scope values for a project. For example, a project involving only PV might have the scope "Grid-Tie PV" while a project involving both PV and energy efficiency might have the scopes "Grid-Tie PV" and "EE". This way, you can filter on the Sales screen and in reports for "Grid-Tie PV" and see all PV projects whether they are PV-only or PV+EE. Also, you can trigger milestone inclusion rules based on individual scope values. Previously, you would have needed to define a single scope called e.g. "Grid-Tie PV + EE", which made filtering difficult.
   
• Solution scope. Added the ability to specify the scope of an individual solution. While the Project Scope field is intended to capture the prospective scope of a new project, you might define multiple solutions with different scopes. The Solution Scope field allows you to capture the actual scope of a solution and use it to filter sold projects on the Installs screen and trigger solution scope-specific milestone inclusion rules. You can specify the Solution Scope when creating a new solution and update it later by editing the solution meta-data. By default, a solution uses the default scope specified in the the solution template, if any, otherwise it inherits the project scope.
   
• Bug fixes and improvements:
  • Fixed a problem with adding optimizers to a solution template.
  • Removed a restriction preventing iPad and iPhone users from editing documents and document templates in the WYSIWYG editor.
  • Added Roof Surface Type as an available report column.

 

2017-10-27 Release Notes

• Calender sync. BETA feature: Added the ability for you to sync your SolarNexus scheduled events to your Google or Microsoft calendar. To sync your calendar, go to your user profile and click "Connect SolarNexus to My Calendar". You'll be asked to authorize access to your calendar, and, if you have more than one calendar in your Google or Microsoft account, to select the calendar to connect. Once your calendar is connected, all of your assigned scheduled milestones will sync to your calendar. The sync'd calendar entries will include the customer name and contact info in the description for easy access on the go. And the sync is two-way. If you reschedule a SolarNexus event from your external calendar, the event time and duration will get updated in SolarNexus. Also, when using the SolarNexus scheduler to schedule appointment times, you and your team members will be able to see your busy/free times from your calendar. Your team members won't be able to see what your non-SolarNexus-managed appointments on your calendar are, but they will see those times blocked off in the scheduler. Users who have connected their calendars are denoted in the scheduler grid view with a "sync" icon next to their names. You can disconnect your calendar from SolarNexus at any time, but just keep in mind that when you do, all SolarNexus-managed events will be removed from your calendar.
   
• Provisionally scheduled events. Added an option to allow scheduled event-type milestones to be scheduled in advance of when they show up as next steps. For example, some companies like to estimate the installation date right after the sale to help them in prioritizing jobs. To accomplish this, you can define an Estimate Install Date milestone following Sold that allows the user to enter the estimated date for the Start Work milestone upon completion. Start Work will show up as an Upcoming Event on the Project screen, showing the estimated installation date. At this point, Start Work has been "provisionally" scheduled. Then, after the permit is issued, user completes the Schedule Installation milestone to enter the confirmed date for Start Work, and at that point, Start Work moves from the Upcoming Events section to the Next Steps section. To enable users to provisionally schedule an event upon completing a milestone, edit the milestone definition in Admin > Project Milestones, check "Results in a Scheduled Event" and select the milestone to be provisionally scheduled. If you select "MUST enter date", users will be required to enter a date when completing the milestone. If you select "MAY enter a date", users will have the option to enter a date when completing the milestone, but may also leave the event unscheduled.
   
• Viewing completed events on the calendar. Added an option for showing completed scheduled events in the calendar view of the Tasks screen. Completed events are displayed with a lighter background and gray text.
   
• HOA Role. Added a new project participant role for Home Owners Associations.
   
• Best time of day to reach. Added an info icon next to the phone number in the project summary and customer information sections that displays the best time of day to reach, if that field has been populated.
   
• Mailing address vs. site address. When the customer mailing address is different than the site address, the mailing address is displayed in the customer contact section on the Project screen. This gives you a visual cue not to accidentally send materials to the construction site if the customer doesn't live there.
   
• Scheduled event variables. Added new template variables for displaying the date and time of scheduled events. These can be used, for example, to include the appointment time in the customer email triggered after completing a Schedule Sales Appointment milestone. Write e.g. "Your appointment is on {{sales_appointment.start_at.full_date}} at {{sales_appointment.start_at.time}}".
   
• Bug fixes and improvements:
  • To reduce clutter, inactive users are now hidden by default on the Admin > Users page.
  • @mention notification emails now show the project number in the project link for easier lookup.
  • Fixed an issue with the system annual offset % not getting updated correctly after removing an array from a system.

 

2017-10-12 Release Notes

• Scheduled milestones. We turned "scheduled events" into milestones that can have defined start/end times, be assigned to users, sync'd with external calendars, associated with other objects, etc. "Results in a Scheduled Event" option is removed. New option called "Milestone is a Scheduled Event" is displayed for a Milestone definition. Click here to learn more about administering Scheduled Milestones.
   
• Calendar view for My Tasks screen and My Tasks module on Home screen. Now you can toggle between list view and calendar view on Tasks screen and My tasks pane of the Home screen. The new Calendar view shows all milestones shown in list view that have a scheduled time or a deadline. Single-clicking on a calendar event shows milestone details in a popover (similar to Google Calendar). Clicking "Complete" from the event popover brings up the usual Complete Milestone dialog. Dragging and dropping an event on the calendar updates the event date (scheduled date if it's a scheduled milestone or due date if it's a milestone deadline). Each milestone can have its own color for calendar events, defined on the milestone definition screen.  Click here to learn more about Calendar Views.
   
• Scheduler Widget. When scheduling an event, a new scheduling widget is available to easily see available timeframes for selected users and to place new events onto their calendar. It can also be used to edit existing events. Click here to learn more about Scheduling.
   
• Scheduled Start date on Installs screen shows date scheduled for Start Work milestone. Work Started is now a scheduled milestone which has replaced the "planned install date" scheduled event.
   
• Post-Project Completion Milestones. Now your processes can include a scheduled milestone that occurs after archiving, cancelling, or completing a project. This supports implementing and tracking regular periodic followups as part of your standard process, such as a "Two Month Checkup" after completion of a project. You simply make a milestone as a scheduled event, and check the box to allow completion after project is completed/archived/cancelled. After completing the "Project Complete" milestone, you will now be able to see and complete any post project milestones in the project's Status panel. These milestones will also show up as relevant tasks in the My Tasks module on home page and the Tasks screen even after project is closed.
   
• Auto-assign project role based on rules. When a milestone is completed, the system can automatically assign users or groups to role(s) on a project. Now, you can make the assignment event more targeted using rules. This feature allows you to automatically get projects into the hands of the right specialists on your team based on project attributes. For example: upon completion of sale, assign Engineer/Designer to User A if it's a residential job or User B if it's a commercial job.
   
• Admin or Global Sales Mgr can bulk archive sales opportunities. Aging sales opportunities are sometimes allowed to pile up on the Sales screen. Many of these cases need to be archived, but going back and archiving one by one can be time consuming. Now you can select groups of opportunities from the Sales screen and archive them with a selected reason in a single operation. This can help to keep your current list of Sales opportunities actionable.
   
• Utility tariffs available for bill analyses in Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Now SolarNexus customers working in Canada, Mexico, and Australia can get utility bill analyses without having to manually enter rates.
   
• Permission for regular user to assign responsibilities and milestones. This is a new permission that allows a regular user to assign project responsibilities and milestones and to manage schedules of other selected uesrs. The administrator can specify who the user is allowed to assign to: either all users, or only users in one or more workgroups. This permission is good for an office admin person who makes calls and sets appts for the sales team. This regular user needs to be able to make an assignment of sales owner AND set a scheduled milestone. Similarly, companies may want to allow project managers to assign post-sale responsibilities and schedule appointments for the projects they manage.
   
• Additional Report Output Column- Annual Electricity Usage. Added an additional Report Output Column for the customer's annual electricity usage. It is the same as the document variable {{usage_elec_annual_no_proj}}.

 

2017-08-01 Release Notes

• @mentions in project log. When adding a project log entry from the project page or the full project log viewer, you can now alert a teammate to your comment or question by tagging them in your comment using their @username. Anyone you @mention in a comment will get an email with the contents of your log entry along with a link to open the project in SolarNexus. To tag a teammate, just start typing the @ symbol followed by their display name in all lowercase, no spaces. You'll see a list of matching usernames pop up and you can select the user you want. Note: if you tag someone who doesn't have access to view the project, they'll get the email, but won't be able to click through to the project. Also, tagging someone only notifies them about that particular comment. They won't get added to the project and won't receive notifications about subsequent comments in the log unless they are @mentioned again.
   
• My Tasks module on dashboard. Renamed the My Assigned Milestones module on the home page / dashboard to My Tasks, made it a full-width module, and extended it to include additional projects and milestones needing attention beyond a user's assignment milestones. For a sales owner, the My Tasks module will now additionally include a list of the unassigned sales milestones (Qualify Lead, Propose, etc.) on the sales owner's opportunities -- these milestones are assumed to be implicitly assigned to the sales owner -- and a list of the overdue sales milestones assigned to other users on the sales owner's opportunities -- these are milestones the sales owner should follow up on to keep the sales process on track. For a project manager, the My Tasks module will similarly include a list of the unassigned and overdue implementation milestones on projects owned by the project manager to help the project manager make sure milestones aren't falling through the cracks. Finally, the My Tasks module will also show all of a user's deferred sales opportunities needing attention (i.e. where the date set for review has passed).
   
• Load balancing using Workgroups. Added a new automatic assignment mode for Workgroups. When a Workgroup has the auto-assignment mode enabled and the Workgroup is assigned to a project role, SolarNexus automatically reassigns the project role to the "least busy" member of the Workgroup. "Least busy" is defined as the member who has the fewest current project assignments for that role. This features allows you to automatically balance project assignments across your team.
   
• Optimizer syncing. When a solution contains DC optimizers, the number of DC optimizers is now automatically updated to stay in sync whenever the number of modules is changed.
   
• Spellcheck in project log and doc templates. When adding a project log entry in the full project log viewer, or when editing a document template, potentially misspelled words will now be underlined in red. You can right-click on the underlined word to see a list of spelling suggestions.
   
• New rebate option. Added an option in the Incentives section on the Analysis screen to treat a rebate as collected by the installer but NOT deducted from the contract price. This allows the contractor to show that they are getting paid by the incentive authority but to treat the incentive as a payment rather than a price deduction. The contractor will still owe tax on the incentive revenue, but this option allows the Federal ITC to be calculated on the gross amount / contract price.
   
• Auto-assignment of roles upon project completion. Added the ability for admins to set default project role assignments upon completion of the Lead Created milestone. This is useful e.g. to automatically set the sales owner for all new leads to a particular user or workgroup. If the user creating the lead is a manager and explicitly sets the sales owner when submitting the lead, that assignment will override any default defined in the Lead Created milestone. If the user creating the lead is a non-manager and there's a default sales owner defined for the Lead Created milestone, the lead will always get assigned to the default sales owner and the user submitting the new lead will be assigned as Sales Assistant.
   
• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed issue where when changing an inclusion rule for a milestone on the Administration > Project Milestones page, milestones for affected projects would not automatically get refreshed. Now, if a change to a rule would cause a milestone to apply to a project it hadn't previously applied to, the milestone will automatically get added to the project as appropriate.
  • Fixed issue where many finance option-specific document template variables were not appearing in the list of available variables on the document template editing screen. Improved the documentation to explain how to reference particular finance options from the analysis when using finance option-specific variables in a template.
  • Fixed issue where inactive finance options were displayed in the finance option list on the Analysis screen.

 

2017-07-14 Release Notes

• Tasks screen. Added a new Tasks screen under the Operations menu where you can view all pending project milestones in one place. You can filter milestones by type and owner, and reassign or complete milestones in bulk. Over the next few releases, we'll be enhancing the Tasks screen to include other types of assigned work, such as scheduled events, and adding a calendar mode, so you can see appointments and milestone deadlines on a calendar.
• Larger array areas. Increased the maximum size for a single array area to 50,000 sq. ft.
• Row spacing for arrays. Previously, the row spacing for ballasted tilt and ground mount arrays was always automatically set to the amount of space required to avoid shadows from adjacent rows in a given month. Since most commercial roof ballasted tilt racking systems have set spacing, we now allow the user to manually enter the spacing in inches when defining an array.
• Changed the name of the Opportunity Lost milestone to Archived. There are a number of reasons why you might dispose of a lead/opportunity before or after qualifying it or proposing it to the customer, so we have renamed the Opportunity Lost milestone to the more general "Archived" to reflect the fact this milestone is used when disposing of the lead for any reason before a sale. We already used the term Archived in other places, so this makes the terminology used in the app more consistent.
• Manual latitude/longitude entry. Added the ability to manually enter the latitude/longitude for a site when the address can't be found in our geo-location database. This is useful in certain rural areas or certain countries outside the US where address coverage in our database may be incomplete.
• Report on past scheduled events. You can now specify a relative date range in the past when running a report on scheduled events.
• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed issue where changing the name of a sales doc in the Documents module on the project screen would not change the name of the document on the Docs tab.

 

2017-06-23 Release Notes

• Larger array areas. Increased the maximum size for a single array area from 9,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft. After ensuring that this doesn't negatively impact the performance of the module layout service, we'll continue to increase the maximum size over the coming month.
• Docusign drafts. Added an option when sending a document for e-signature to only upload the document to Docusign (as a draft) but to not send the document for signature. Added an option to the Docusign settings screen for whether users should never be able to directly send documents for e-signature from SolarNexus. If selected, users will only be able to upload drafts to Docusign.
• Easier reactivation for deferred projects. Added a Reactivate button in the Status module for deferred projects.
• Project imports. When importing leads or completed projects via CSV, you can now specify the name of the application the lead was originally created in and the original lead ID in that application. That information will be displayed in the Third Party Integration section at the bottom of project screens for future reference.
• Site image inconsistencies. Some users have encountered inconsistencies between the map view shown on the Site tab and the site image shown in proposals. In some cases, the arrays are offset from their proper position in the site image in the proposal. Similarly, some users have encountered an issue where when going back to an older project, arrays look displaced on the map from their proper position. Both of these issues are due to our map provider making period updates to their aerial imagery. On occasion, the coordinates for an area get shifted slightly in the underlying aerial imagery in a way that causes arrays to appear displaced. We have made a couple of changes to how we deal with site imagery to mitigate this issue. The site image shown in proposals should now no longer be out of sync with the image shown in the map on the Site tab. And if we detect that our map provider has made an update to the aerial imagery for a site, we now provide an option at the bottom of the map on the Site tab and System tab (when editing areas/arrays) to allow you to revert to the original imagery in case the new imagery has caused the array areas to be displaced.
• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed inconsistencies with the behavior of moving array areas in the array area widget.
  • Fixed issue with showing a stale contract price in the Detailed Price Breakdown popup if the solution had been changed since the last analysis.
  • Fixed issue with Feed In Tariff option not being available on Analysis Screen when using a manually entered rate.

 

2017-06-07 Release Notes

• Permitting contact. Added a new Permitting Contact participant role for use in populating permit form templates.
• Default participants. Added the notion of a default participant for an account, defined on the Company Information screen, which can be used for populating contact info on form templates. For example, if a solar company always uses the same engineer, they can add the engineer as a default participant in their account and that contact info will be used to populate the engineering contact fields on permitting form templates.
• Empty lead source. Added ability to filter Sales screen to projects with no lead source.
• Lead source required. Lead source is now required when entering a new lead. There is a new "unknown" option that can be selected if the source is unknown.
• Last Completed Milestone At field. Added this field as an available column in Detail Reports. Displays the date when the last completed milestone was completed.
• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed issue where cloned solutions were inheriting the payment schedule from the solution being cloned.
  • Fixed issue with special characters like "&" getting escaped (e.g. &) in the project log.
  • Fixed issue where documents generated from "raw HTML" templates could not be edited in the WYSIWYG editor prior to PDF generation.

 

2017-05-25 Release Notes

• Indirect costs. Added support for specifying different indirect costs for different cost item groups.

• Color-coding module type. Monocrystalline modules are now shown in black in the array layout editor and in the site image for proposals. (Polycrystalline modules are still shown in blue.)

• Easier mapping. Added a link to map the customer address in the Project Summary section on top of all project screens.

• PDF form enhancements. Added license holder name and license expiration date fields to Company Info screen for use in populating PDF forms.

• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Added fix to remove all current milestone ownership assignments when a project is cancelled.
  • Fixed issue downloading CSV file for a summary report with no row-based dimensions.
  • Fixed issue downloading CSV file for a summary report with no row-based dimensions.
  • Fixed issue when moving a vertex shared by two areas in the array area design tool.

 

 

2017-05-02 Release Notes

• Bundling docs for e-signature. You can now send two or more documents for e-signature as a bundle. On the Docs tab, select all the documents you want to include in the bundle and then select "Send for e-signature" from the Bulk action button. Customers will receive a single email with a link to sign all the selected documents in a single Docusign package.

• Milestone owners. Added the default milestone owner to the table on the Milestones page.

• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed issue with document not getting removed from Documents panel when associated sales doc is deleted on Docs screen.
  • Fixed issue with Federal Tax Credit getting duplicated when resetting to default incentives on Analysis screen.

 

 

2017-04-19 Release Notes

• Pre-filled PDF forms. Added support for generating pre-filled PDF forms from SolarNexus project data. By automatically filling out your utility, incentive, permit and other forms, and allowing you to send these to the customer for e-signature through DocuSign, SolarNexus helps you save time doing manual paperwork. To use this feature, an account administrator needs to first select the set of publicly available PDF form templates to enable in your account (Administration > Form Templates). Then on the Docs tab, you can generate a pre-filled form for a project just like you generate a proposal or contract: select Create Form, choose the form template, give it a name, and go. After the pre-filled PDF form is generated, you can download and email/print, or if there are additional elements on the form you need to manually complete, you can download it into Adobe Reader or Preview (Mac) to complete, upload back to SolarNexus, and email it or send it for e-signature through DocuSign.

• Net Savings section on Analysis screen. Split the Measures of Value section of the Cost & Benefit table into "Net Savings" and "Other Measures of Value". Instead of just showing "Lifetime Project Savings", we now show the "Lifetime Cost without Solution" and "Lifetime Cost with Solution" so you can more clearly see the customer's long-term cost of doing nothing vs. doing the project.

• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  - Layout tool now allows you to manually input azimuth after editing a flat roof or ground mount area
  - Fixed issue where two projects could end up with the same project number in rare cases
  - Fixed issue where two solutions could end up with the same solution letter in rare cases
  - Fixed issue with not displaying the azimuth for a flat roof or ground mount area on Site tab

 

2017-04-10 Release Notes

• Docs tab. Simplified the UI for the Docs tab, reducing the number of buttons at the top and adding per-document action icons in the table. There is now a single button for creating a document and another "Bulk Action" button for performing actions on multiple selected documents at once. If you want to email, send for e-sig, regenerate or delete a single document, you can do so simply by clicking the action icon next to that document.
• Contract documents. Added a new type of document for Contracts. Previously on the Docs tab, you could create either a Proposal or an "Other" type of document. Because contracts are such a common document, we split them into their own type and now you can select to create a Contract. This should make it easier to view and manage your generated documents and document templates. NOTE: your contract templates now need to be specially classified as Contract-type templates. We have automatically converted most custom contract templates from "Other Document"-type to "Contract"-type, so for most companies there should be nothing you need to do. But in case we missed your contract template(s) and it is still classified as "Other Document", your account administrator will need to edit the template (Administration > Document Templates) and update the type to Contract.
• Payment schedules. Simplified the workflow for defining the payment schedule for a solution. When creating a new document from a template that includes a payment schedule, you'll now be prompted to select the payment schedule template (if your account has more than one) on the document creation screen and the schedule will be populated automatically in the generated document. You no longer need to first click the Define Payment Schedule button before creating the contract. You can optionally click to view/edit the payment schedule when creating the contract, or use the Payment Schedule button on the Docs screen to adjust the schedule afterward and regenerate.
• Using coordinates for site location. Added support for entering the location of sites that have no street address. When adding a new lead for a project with no street address, uncheck the "Use mailing address for site address" box and then check the "Site has no street address" box below the site address. You will be prompted to enter the latitude/longitude of the site, which you should enter with as much precision as possible. The site's state/province and ZIP/postal code will populate automatically based on the given coordinates after saving the new lead.
• Monthly peak demand. For any utility tariff with demand rates, if you have customer utility bills showing monthly peak demand, you can now enter the monthly demand under the Tariff Rate Criteria section on the Energy Use screen. Since demand charges can comprise a large portion of the monthly bill, entering actual peak demand is important in accurately projecting the customer's bill. If you don't manually enter demand, the system will use defaults based on the consumption levels and assumed load profile. At this time, SolarNexus does not automatically calculate the post-solar demand levels, but you can manually enter estimated post-solar demand under the Tariff Rate Criteria section on the Analysis screen.
• Azimuth arrows. Removed azimuth arrows from array areas. In order to make it easier to define obstructions / restricted areas and to add/remove modules, the arrows are now only displayed when specifying where the baseline is on array areas, no longer on the final areas in the Site area design tool or the array layout tool.
• Adding products to catalog. Removed cost input screen when adding product from the public catalog. This streamlines the process of adding products to your company catalog and removes an unnecessary step for companies who only use the Gross Input method for pricing. To specify your company cost for newly added products, edit the products after adding them to your company catalog.
• Module count on array edit screen. When editing an array, the module count is now displayed with the other array info. It dynamically updates as you click on the array to add/remove modules so you can see in real time how many modules the array has.
• fin_opt1_* variables. All fin_opt1_* document template variables now refer to the preferred finance option rather than the first finance option. (By default, the preferred finance option is the first option, but you can select a different preferred option by clicking the checkmark above the finance option tab or when marking the solution as Sold.) This only affects a relatively small number of document templates.

 

2017-03-23 Release Notes

• Annual consumption method. Added a new "Average Annual Use" option on the Energy Use screen to specify a customer's energy consumption as a single annual total. The effect is the same as entering one-twelfth of the total as the average monthly use, but is more convenient if you only have the annual total.
• Split loan fees. Added support for loan programs that have both a percentage-based and fixed fee. For example, if a loan provider charges both a 3% origination fee and $500 in other fixed loan fees, you can specify both amounts when defining a custom finance program for the loan provider.
• PACE annual fees. Added support for specifying the annual administrative fee for PACE finance programs. If an annual fee is specified, it will be included in the annual payments shown on the cash flows, and the effective monthly portion of the fee will be included in the monthly payment. Added the new variable fin_opt.annual_fee for use in proposals.
• Prepayment penalties. Added support specifying whether a finance program has a prepayment penalty. The document template variable fin_opt.has_prepayment_penalty will be true for a selected finance option if the finance program is configured as having a prepayment penalty.
• Specifying meter IDs. You can now enter one or more meter ID's in the Utility Account Info section on the Energy Use screen. Each meter you add will also show up in the Electrical Equipment / Revenue Meters section of the Site tab, where your team can capture additional information about the meter as necessary during site surveys.
• Bug fixes and maintenance:
  • Fixed issue with array areas getting displaced if editing drawing and arrays in two different tabs.
  • When moving an array area in the Array Area Design tool, any existing modules in the area will be properly moved with the area.
  • Upgraded to the latest supported versions for several of the backend components behind SolarNexus.
  • Other fixes and stability enhancements.

 

2017-03-08 Release Notes

• Old analysis screen has been retired. We've made several fixes and improvements to the new "side-by-side" analysis screen and have now turned it on permanently for all users. The old UI is officially retired.
• Reactivating archived leads. Added a "Reactivate" link in the Status panel of archived leads to simplify reactivation.
• Max amount for incentives. Added support for specifying the max $ amount for capacity-based and investment-based incentives with a %-based amount.
• Cost category columns in reports. You can now generate reports showing the cost breakdown of each project based on your defined cost categories. The new columns are available in the Primary Solution Cost Breakdown section of the Output Columns selector on the report definition page.
• Improvements to milestone ownership assignment. SolarNexus allows administrators to set the default owner for new project milestones. The default owner can either be a specific user or the name of a role, such as Engineer, in which case the milestone is assigned to the designated Engineer (or other specified role) for the project at the time the milestone is created. But if a milestone is configured to be assigned to, say, the project Engineer, what happens if the milestone is created before the project Engineer is set? In the past, the milestone would remain unassigned. Now, the milestone will automatically get assigned to the Engineer even if the Engineer is set after the milestone is created. This works for all project roles.

As another example, if the Lead Qualified milestone is set to be assigned to the Sales Onwer by default, but the lead is created without a Sales Owner, the Lead Qualified milestone will initially be unassigned. Then, when the Sales Owner is set later on, the Lead Qualified milestone, if not already assigned, will now automatically get assigned to the Sales Owner.

Users will get notified when they are added or removed as milestone owners, and there is a new option on the user profile page for opting in to receiving these alerts by email in addition to the SolarNexus dashboard.

• Option to move all array areas at once. On the Site Array Area Design page, we've added a checkbox beneath the map to enable you to easily move all array areas and restrictions at once. When this option is selected, if you click on the edge of any area and drag it to a new location, the other areas and restrictions will be moved along with it. If you already have array layouts defined for these areas in one or more solutions, the array layouts will be moved along with the areas.

The impetus for this feature is that we've found on occasion that Google (our map provider) updates its satellite imagery for certain locations such that previously drawn roof areas become displaced from the roofs they are supposed to be on, from anywhere between a few inches to a few feet. While we work on a long-term solution to this problem, you can use the "move all at once" option to quickly "fix" the area designs for affected projects.

• Bug fixes:
  • Fixed issue with site measured value overwriting original "estimated" tilt
  • Improved error detection for collinear points in array areas
  • Fixed issue with rotated modules on flat roofs
  • Fixed issue with subtotal_adjusted_price_per_w_stc template variable including the loan fee

 

2017-02-23 Release Notes

• Support Input of Time of Use (TOU) based Consumption - On the Energy Use screen we have added a new consumption input method called "Billing Periods with TOU" containing rows for On-Peak, Part-Peak, and Off-Peak consumption. Note that this method is only available when customer's current tariff has time of use periods. The inputs will affect the load model for the customer.
• Sales Assistant Project Role - Projects now have an additional "Sales Assistant" role which can be assigned to individual users or workgroups. We've heard from multiple customers that they want a read-only user to be able to access a broad swath of old stale leads to cold call in attempts to revive the leads. Other requirements include keeping the original sales owner and not giving the lead caller sales management permissions. SolarNexus existing features can be leveraged along with the new Sales Assistant role. Here's how:

First, give your desired lead callers basic user permissions and if desired, limit them to being read-only. Then create a workgroup for your lead callers (for example, "Lead Prospectors"). Add the users to this workgroup. For existing leads, go to the Sales screen, filter as desired to show leads you'd like the lead prospectors to have access to, and multi-select them. Then click the "Change Roles" button, and bulk-assign the workgroup to the Sales Assistant role. If you'd like to keep adding this workgroup to all new leads as Sales Assistant, you can edit the Lead Created milestone to auto-assign the Sales Assistant responsibility to the Prospectors workgroup, thereby giving this workgroup access to all leads. But manager can always remove/change the Sales Assistant responsibility on case-by-case basis to have finer control over the queue. a sales assistant - someone who can work on project but is not sales owner. User can filter Sales screen to see only the projects they (or a workgroup they belong to) are assigned to as Sales Assistant (via My Role filter). User can define a report to filter by Sales Assistant. User can view/edit Sales Assistant assignment in the Responsibilities management panel.

• Installs Screen "Pending" Filter - Added a filter on the Installs screen to filter by current pending value.
• "My Role" Filter Includes Workgroups You Belong To - Now on the Sales Screen, when you use the My Role filter to show projects where you play the specified role, the returned projects will include any projects where the role is played by a workgroup that you belong to.
• Enhancements and fixes to new Analysis UI - After making new analysis UI available in previous release we received great feedback and were able to update several aspects on the new UI. Note the old UI will be retired in next release.
• Support Select International Countries - We added support for companies and site addresses in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Jamaica, South Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines. PV output estimates use PVWatts International. Economic analysis depends on user defined electric rates.
• Bug Fixes - Fixes include: auto-assign user to project when auto-assigned to a milestone on that project, disallow solution revision from being approved without first being analyzed, disallow duplicate points in array/area editor, warn user to re-analyze when EE measure changes, and others.

 

2017-02-08 Release Notes

• Refactored Analysis Screen - We have re-implemented the Analysis screen to increase usability with respect to the our previously introduced full analysis results for up to 3 finance options side by side. To get a tour, go to the Show Me How widget and click on the "Analyze a Solution" walk-thru.
• Completed the PACEfunding integration (California only) - SolarNexus completed its integration with its first finance company partner, PACEfunding. If you install in California, please consider adding PACEfunding's offers to your customers. The entire finance workflow is managed from within your SolarNexus project, significantly streamlining steps and reducing inputs. You can begin by visiting Administration > Finance Programs > SolarNexus defined programs.  
• Centrally Administer DocuSign Credentials - Before this update, each user who wanted to use a single DocuSign account had to input the DocuSign account holder's credentials. Since most SolarNexus accounts are using a single DocuSign account, a user with administrative permissions can input and update a single set of DocuSign credentials from the DocuSign page in Project Settings. All users enabled for use of DocuSign can send documents using the input credentials (individual user does not have to input credentials). If your company currently uses DocuSign, go to Administration > Project Settings > DocuSign and update your credentials.
• Systems screen displays total energy offset from Energy Efficiency Measures - When incorporating PV with EE measures, its convenient to be able to see current EE offsets to more easily know how large the PV system needs to be.
• Restrict Users from editing / deleting existing project log entries - You can now restrict all users in your account from changing any Project Log entries through edits or deletions. To make this change, go to Project Settings > Other Options, and uncheck the "Allow Editing Project Log Entries" checkbox.
• Infrastructure Upgrade, additional web server - To increase performance and resilience as we grow.
• Bug fixes - Key examples include fixing array layout shifts from pan/zoom and allowing document names to contain underscores and dashes.