Coming on the heels of last month’s big sync update for SolarGrade, we’ve introduced a lot of new features designed to help you work smarter — not harder.  

To make this update more exciting (at least for us), all of these brilliant new features were requested by users who are taking the app out into the field or managing their teams from the office.  

So… Please don’t hesitate to reach out with feedback! Your feature requests are how we make the SolarGrade app better and better each month.  

For those of you who aren’t familiar with our app: SolarGrade is a cloud-based fieldwork management platform for renewable energy assets. Sign up for a free 30-day trial to learn more: https://solargrade.io/demo-trial/ 

Template Organization System 

The perfect solution for big spaces. Whether you’re dealing with many client-specific templates or have many templates for the same site, this feature is about to make your life a lot easier. We’ve reorganized the whole section in alphabetical order. If you need to find a template in a pinch, enter a keyword into the search bar and it will filter through all the options.  

This feature also works when you’re adding a new inspection from the project page. Start typing the template into the search bar, and your library will filter accordingly.  

New Informational Item: Progress Bar 

We have added a new type of informational item — a progress bar. This new informational item is a handy way for field workers to input the progress on-site. To set this up, you need to title the informational item and set the parameters of the bar (labeled as “options”). From there, your team on-site can slide over the bar to indicate the level of progress they have completed.  

For example, if you were installing 25 modules on the day of the inspection, you might have the highest value 25, the lowest at 1. Then, the team on-site will slide the bar over to indicate how many modules were installed using the progress bar. 

Hyperlink Text in Informational Items 

We have improved our text Informational Items to accommodate hyperlinks, so you can add external links to inspections.  

For example, say you have additional photos, videos, or media that you would like to link to a particular inspection — you can create a text Informational Item for “Additional Media” and then paste a URL for Sharepoint, Dropbox, or whatever storage system you choose. Then, when you generate the report, that URL transforms to a hyperlink so that the viewer can jump over and see the additional information.  

PS— Make sure to include the prefix “https://” with every URL for the hyperlink to be recognized! 

Country Code Option 

When adding new team members, there is now a drop-down menu that allows you to choose the country code based on your team member’s residence. Solar power is global, and our teams are too! 

Multiple Choice Checkboxes Include All Options 

On checkbox Informational Items, now all the options will be included. This feature is designed to give the report viewer a full perspective of the work completed on-site, listing both checked and unchecked items — similar to the way items marked as Not Found are still included in the report. 

TIPS & TRICKS 

PDF Download Size 

We’ve separated PDF downloads between low- and high-resolution images. Below is a breakdown of what those new buttons mean. 

“Download PDF” — 

This is the same PDF version we have always generated. It has a lower resolution, but all the images can still be clicked into for a higher resolution. 

“Download Hi-Res PDF” — 

This button generates a high-resolution PDF with clearer images, so the report viewer can feast their eyes on all those on-site pixels. 

Drop us a line if you have any questions!

SolarGrade Team