Exporting data from SolarNexus

There are a few ways of extracting data from SolarNexus, but because of the complexity of the relationships between the different types of data we store, there is no way to extract the entire database in one operation. Here are some options to consider:

1) Export selected project data to a comma separated value (CSV) file using custom Reports. This is very easy to accomplish, and it creates a file that can be easily opened in any spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. The only drawback of this method is that the available data is somewhat limited. To do this, choose "Reports" from the Operations menu. Click Add Report, and specify the desired selection criteria fields as well as the output fields. When you save and run the report, you can click the "download CSV" link to create the external file.

2) Export a copy of a project's entire data into an XML (extensible markup language) file. This has the advantage of providing almost all project-related data in a format that conforms to an industry standard called IEP Model (www.iepmodel.net) that SolarNexus helped to develop. This includes the full project description, all systems specified, cost items, and even financial aspects of the project. You can open and read these files in any browser. The primary drawbacks are that you have to do this for each project individually, and it may be a challenge to transform this data into a spreadsheet format without custom software development.

3) Integrate an external application with SolarNexus. Enterprise customers have access to the SolarNexus API, which enables a separate software application to systematically extract the data from all projects in XML and transform or store it as desired. It can also fetch the related files attached to a project.