10 Must-have FSM Software Features for Successful Solar Installations

The solar installation business is booming, with an estimated 246 GWdc worth of  deployments between 2025 and 2030 in the USA. But despite the favorable environment, many solar businesses find a tough going. This is mainly due to their inability to address challenges and pain points that surround the industry.

Field service management software helps solar installation businesses ease pain points. The solar business software simplifies job scheduling and route optimization. It centralizes data collection and offers easy access to this data through mobile apps. The mobile apps also digitize the workflow to eliminate paperwork. Tracking capabilities enable managers to monitor progress and intervene to nip issues in the bud. The entire process becomes efficient and transparent.

Top Field Service Management Essential Features for Successful Solar Installations

Not all solar installation software is equal. Benefiting from the investment depends on how the software caters to your field operations, boosting ease and efficiency. Here are the top features your FSM software must have to enable successful solar installations.

1. Quotes and Estimates

Most solar businesses struggle to deliver professional estimates on time. Potential customers engage with customer support, who face delays gathering information. Also, even a slight change in any variable can render big changes to the estimates, necessitating rework.

Solar installation software with self-service capabilities allows customers to input their requirements. The system makes it easy for support executives to gather the necessary inputs and generate instant quotes. The estimates can even be dynamic. The screen can show varying estimates depending on the customer making different inputs.

2. Scheduling

Often, solar installation businesses struggle to dispatch the right technician at the right time. Schedulers often operate in the dark, without access to reliable information. They also struggle to juggle match the various permutations and combinations when assigning jobs. They have to consider the job location, technician skills, and customer preferences. 

Field service management software streamlines the process. 

Built-in calendars display work assigned to contractors on different days and times. Schedulers can see the jobs assigned to each technician and who is available. They can access these views drilled down to the day, week, or month. Also get a single view of each job based on the status and priority. They can, for instance, view all open jobs, sorted by low, medium, and high priority. 

A big scheduling challenge is making changes as the situation evolves. Emergency calls, customer reschedule requests, and employees calling in sick are all commonplace. Often, schedulers struggle to adjust schedules in response to such evolving situations. 

The integrated drag-and-drop interfaces enable schedulers to assign and reassign jobs without friction. Schedulers can drag and drop job schedules on the calendar. They can also add tasks, edit jobs, and mark employee leaves easily. The ability to assign multiple jobs with just a few clicks makes the process fast and easy. 

Push notifications to the contractor’s smartphone keep them in the loop. They receive immediate alerts for new job assignments and schedule changes. 

Technicians can service more customers per shift, while avoiding burnout and scheduling-related conflicts. Employee turnover reduces, and their satisfaction increases.  A spin-off benefit is the ability to offer customers accurate estimates and updates. Customer satisfaction gets a big boost.

3. Dispatching

Most solar installation businesses struggle to optimize their field technician movement. Technicians often use less optimal routes or backtrack to attend to the next client. Such instances waste fuel, increase equipment idle time, and reduce productivity.

Route optimization capabilities enable field technicians to reach client locations faster. For instance, maps integration guides technicians through the fastest route, avoiding traffic jams.

4. Inventory Management

Lack of visibility into inventory may lead to delays in attending to a service call. The technician may remain idle this time, causing revenue loss. In other situations, lack of coordination or information sharing may force revisits. For instance, the technician may not have ladders or a safety harness to do the job. Or they need more screws than they have in the service van. Rescheduled appointments are a big waste of time and shoot up overhead costs.

Integrated inventory ensures technicians carry the correct tools and spares. First-time fix rates improve. The system assigns specific inventory for each job, depending on the exact requirements. The system to track the return of excess inventory after work completion makes the process much more efficient.

5. Effective Data Management

The effectiveness of field service depends on easy access to reliable and accurate data. This is not as easy as it seems. For instance, technicians may not have complete access to the service history. Or they cannot access the changes requested by the customer since they initiated the work order request. Such instances degrade the customer experience

Solar business software enables centralized data collection. It establishes a single source of truth, with no contradictory information or version conflicts. Information repositories and integrated CRM store work orders and service history. The service technician can access such information through their mobile apps.

6. Mobile Field Service App

Often, field work gets held up due to a lack of ready access to correct information or tools to perform field activities. Mobile apps offer a world of convenience to contractors and technicians.

These apps provide technicians with ready access to relevant data. They can also use the mobile apps to run checklists, collect electronic data, file reports, and generate automated invoices.

Many field technicians spend time on unproductive paperwork when they could be attending to other clients. Mobile apps free employees from such wasteful activities and allow them to focus on their core tasks. These apps also offer a handy way to connect with the office and remote experts, ensuring seamless communications.

7. Customizable Digital Forms and Checklists

A big challenge in field service is ensuring standardized work processes. Also, it becomes difficult for service managers to control the technicians and ensure they work as expected.

Top solar installation software offers predefined forms covering critical installation tasks. Businesses can also upload customizable forms for different tasks. For instance, they can upload a safety form mandating safety instructions before starting work. Another form could detail troubleshooting steps. Such checklists enable standardized work processes and improve efficiency big-time.

8. Tracking

A big pain point in the solar business is the lack of real-time supervisory control. The field service management software makes it easier to track and receive real-time job updates. 

Service managers can leverage GPS-based tracking and built-in progress bars to monitor progress. They can track the service van on a map and compare progress with benchmark standards. If they notice any lag or delay, they can intervene to resolve the issue without delay.

Geofencing capabilities ensure technicians remain within the specific boundaries of their work site. The total travel time and total work time indicators offer an objective productivity tracker.

Service managers can also update waiting clients with an accurate ETA. The technician’s current location and the status of the work serve as a reliable indicator on when they can reach their next work site.

9. Invoicing

Invoicing is yet another pain point for solar installation businesses. Manual invoices are error-prone and involve delays. 

With solar business software, the technician can auto-generate invoices on work completion. The system calculates inventory used and hours worked. The technician can collect digital payment before leaving the premises.  All in all, the process becomes accurate and instant, with a professional touch.

10. Third Party Integrations

Field service efficiency depends on seamless interoperability. Often, data transfers occur in manual mode, which is inefficient and error-prone.

The solution is integrating field service software with other business software via an open API.
OpenAPI enables easy, fast, and error-free data synchronization across disparate enterprise applications.  

The benefits are multifold. Users get a single source of truth, and data silos get eliminated. Integrating workflows becomes easier, operational visibility improves, and automation becomes viable. It also becomes easier to scale operations. 

Integrating a module’s API endpoints enables access to the module from other software. 

For instance, consider integrating the field service customer API endpoints into the CRM. Users can access field service customer data from the CRM. Likewise, integrating the ticket module API with the CRM allows accessing field service tickets from the CRM. With such integrations, executives can get up-to-date field service details for the customer. Integrating QuickBooks and Xero with the field service software eliminates accounting paperwork. 

A token-based authentication system addresses security concerns and ensures data integrity. For instance, ReachOut’s REST API server allows account managers or admins to generate a secret token or unique key. Only users who have this unique key can access the selected modules or data. 

User experience, efficiency, and employee productivity all improve. Operational costs reduce. 

Why ReachOut?

There are several field service management software available in the market. So which one should solar contractors use? One ideal option, suiting small and big businesses alike, is ReachOut.

ReachOut is a cloud-based offering with a user-friendly front-end, a robust backend, and easy scalability. The suite packs in all the basic features to streamline operations. 

Users can also co-opt advanced features and functionality. ReachOut’s OpenAPI for third-party integrations comes with the added advantage of freedom from any vendor lock in. The Open RESTful API in use for integrations is very easy to implement and use, compared to other APIs.

Businesses using ReachOut improve first-time fix rates. They also make faster resolutions, improve productivity, and lower overheads. Their customer satisfaction rankings also improve.

Try ReachOut yourself. Streamline scheduling and dispatching, speed up job tracking, enable field technicians to work smarter with mobility, and drive paperless and effective field service management cost-effectively. Sign Up for free today!