Introducing Nearmap on Open Solar
This module is ideal for:
Nearmap on OpenSolar Admins and Team Members
At the end of this module you will:
- Understand the relationship between Nearmap on OpenSolar and OpenSolar.
- Know how to log in and navigate around the Zones.
- Understand the very basics of an OpenSolar project.
Instructions
Congratulations — you’ve just equipped your team with a powerful solar design and proposal tool that will help you win more customers and streamline costs.
This is the first module in a series aimed to get you up and running on Nearmap on OpenSolar.
In this first module we’ll answer questions such as: “What is OpenSolar?” and “What is Nearmap on OpenSolar?” You’ll find out how to log in and get a quick tour of the OpenSolar interface, so you can get yourself oriented before you dive deeper in the modules that follow.
What is Nearmap on OpenSolar?
OpenSolar has partnered with Nearmap to bring you Nearmap on OpenSolar. OpenSolar is a web-based application that provides an end-to-end solution to solar professionals like yourself. From setting up your brand, automatically laying out panels, and stringing, generating interactive proposals, managing your workflow and customer payments. And you have access to OpenSolar’s rich database of solar components and plenty of scope to customize to add anything you need.
While OpenSolar is primarily a residential tool, you can use it to design systems of up to 3000 solar panels.
Combined with Nearmap’s high coverage, high resolution, and regularly updated Vertical, Oblique and Digital Surface Model (3D) content, you’re able to take OpenSolar to the next level to accurately place components, analyze shading and provide your customers with the confidence of more than just a top-down view of their solar systems.
Accessing NMOS
Have you logged into your new Nearmap on OpenSolar account?
Whether you are new to OpenSolar or you already have an OpenSolar account, logging into Nearmap on OpenSolar only takes a few minutes.
Before you do this, you must have a Nearmap on OpenSolar subscription. And you need to be a Nearmap administrator.
You can log in from OpenSolar’s website or from Nearmap’s website, it doesn’t matter. But the first time you log into Nearmap on OpenSolar, start from Nearmap.
- Go to Nearmap.com
- Log in
- Click the orange Go to OpenSolar button.
You end up on OpenSolar’s Control Zone landing page.
Quick overview
There’s so much you can do with Nearmap on OpenSolar, so now that you’re logged in, it’s a good time to take a quick tour so you can get to know what’s where.
Control Zone
After you log in, you’re in the Control Zone. Here you can take advantage of extensive options to configure OpenSolar to suit your business: from company info to pricing and payment, through to the customer’s purchase experience and hardware settings.
Projects Zone
Now click on Projects to take you to the Projects Zone, OpenSolar’s mini CRM (customer relationship management system). Think of it as the business end of OpenSolar, where you manage contacts, track your projects, contact customers with just a click, and update electricity usage.
(When you first start using OpenSolar, there’ll be no projects. To give you the feel of a system that’s already up and running these screen shots will show some pre-populated projects.)
Creating a project is your main aim. It pulls together all the information you need to prepare a proposal for a particular address.
Once in the Projects Zone, and you have some projects in there, you will be able to see that each line is a project.
Note that you can start a project to highlight it for whatever reason.
Your project contact is usually the customer. You can call, chat and email your customer directly from this page.
At a glance you can see what stage your project is in, as well as its priority.
From here, you can go straight to the Studio Zone to work on the design, or to the interactive proposal. And you can directly delete any projects.
There are several ways to view your solar projects:
There’s a filter at the top right. Click on this and select how you want to narrow down the projects you see, for example by project characteristics - sold, priority, stage, sold date…
And at the top left you have a higher-level filter which you can use to filter projects, files, calendar, contacts (because once you add them into a project, it saves into the OpenSolar CRM), and any transactions that have occurred against any of your projects.
You’ve seen the Control Zone and Projects Zone, now let’s have a quick look at the other two OpenSolar zones.
Meet Studio Zone
The Studio Zone is where the fun happens. Size up your customer’s roof and create a professional design in minutes using Nearmap’s Vertical, Oblique or 3D content.
Meet MyEnergy Zone
In the MyEnergy Zone you can beautifully showcase your design in a digital proposal with multiple configuration and hardware options. And include Nearmap’s gorgeous imagery. Send the proposal to your customer either as a pdf or as an interactive link which they can sign online.
Closing
Even in that brief overview, you can see there’s a lot to the OpenSolar interface. That’s why this series of modules will take step-by-step through all you need to know to get up and running with Nearmap on OpenSolar: from setting up the system for your business, to creating your proposal template, designing your solar systems and finally sending off the proposal and managing payment.
