PLANNER

The SolarGrade Planner feature is a work order management system designed to provide easy to use and at-a-glance visibility of all your on-site activity and progress. You can use this tool for scheduling future fieldwork, setting technician's’ schedules, managing budgets, and much more.

Essentially, the Planner helps management make more informed decisions by providing at-a-glance clarity for on-site operations across all projects and teams – all without leaving SolarGrade.

SolarGrade Planner functions similarly to any other CMMS software. However, it is geared specifically to managing the non-metered work that is already performed on-site within SolarGrade.  

Another key difference? Simplicity. 

Planner is divided into two main parts: work orders and tasks. Use the buttons at the top right of the page to see a quick overview of the work orders and tasks assigned to you.

A Work Order (WO) is a group of tasks to be performed and completed for a client as part of a contract or specific scope of work. Within WOs are work order tasks, which are the specific workflows associated with that contract.

Like much of SolarGrade, how you choose to use work orders is still customizable. You can do them for each individual task/site visit, each contract and invoice, or for an entire scope of work spanning a calendar year.  

As mentioned above, Tasks are the line items within each work order. There are three types of tasks.  

• Site visits 
  • These are the standard site visits that you can create in SolarGrade under each project and using a template within your account. With the Planner feature, you can link existing site visits to Work Orders or create new ones through the feature.  
• Punchlists 
  • Punchlists are a type of site visit where remedial work is performed. If the existing work is in SolarGrade, you can choose from open issues in that project and build your own task.  
• Custom 
  • This is a text field where you can input items that need to be completed that are not related to a site visit. For example, you could create a task titled “Book travel and accommodations” and assign it to your teammate heading to site.  

Once you have work orders and tasks created, you can track the progress of both the tasks within a work order and the work order itself. You can view this data on the Planner page by using the table view or the Gantt view (toggle at the top left). Together, they provide managers with project management visibility and tracking.

This article will walk you through the step-by-step process of creating and/or maintaining a work order (WO).

• Select the Planner tab in the top menu of your account
• Select the + ADD WORK ORDER button in the top right corner of the page
  • This generates a WO tile where you can enter information
• To enter a new title, erase the "Work Order #" text from the name field
• Above the work order title are a few dropdown menus
  • Choose the status for the WO
    • Created
    • Contracted
    • Scheduled
    • Completed
    • Delivered
    • Invoiced
    • Archived
      • Note: selecting the status as Archived automatically archives the WO
  • Select the date(s) of the WO
  • Add a budget associated with the WO
    • The actual budget field is the sum of all the WO's task budgets
  • Add a scope to the WO
    • If you are adding a new scope, select the + ADD SCOPE button at the bottom of the dropdown. Then, input the name of the scope, as well as the abbreviation or acronym for the scope to be displayed in the table
  • Enter the projected hours for the WO
• Select a client from the dropdown menu
  • If you are adding a new client, select the + ADD CLIENT button at the bottom of the list
• Select a project from the dropdown menu
  • If you are adding a new project, select the + ADD PROJECT button at the bottom of the list
• Select the team members you want associated with this WO
  • Only team members associated with the project will appear as an option
• Enter any additional information in the notes field

To edit an existing WO, all you need to do is expand the work order tile. All of the dropdown menus and text fields become editable. 

You can also edit the dates of a WO in the Gantt diagram by dragging the dates too.

• Navigate to the Planner tab
• Select the Work Order you wish to add a task to
• Select the task toggle
• Select the + ADD TASK button
  • This creates a task tile within the WO
• To enter a new title, erase the "Work Order Task #" text from the name field
• Above the work order title are a few dropdown menus
  • • Created
    • Scheduled
    • In progress
    • Under review
    • Approved
    • Delivered
    • Invoiced
    • Closed
    • Stuck/delayed
  • Select the date(s) of the work order task
• To associate a site visit to a work order task, select the appropriate site visit from the dropdown menu
  • "Link existing site visit" allows you to attach an existing site visit for that project as a Task for this Work Order. When you select this button, you will be prompted to choose a Site Visit from the list of available Site Visits in that project.
  • "Create new site visit" allows you to create a new site visit as a Task. When you select this button, choose the template you want to use for this Site Visit
• Select team members from the team dropdown menu 
• In the description column, add any additional information that describes the scope of work for this task
• The work order task automatically saves

• Navigate to the Planner tab
• Select the Work Order you wish to add a task to
• Select the task toggle
• Select ^ icon on the right side of the + ADD TASK button
• Select + Punchlist & Task
• Use the filters on the table to choose which issues to include in the punchlist
• Select Continue
• Enter a name for the work order task
• Select team members from the dropdown menu
• Select site visit date(s)
• If applicable, select the template you wish merge the issues within
• Select Save & Add Task

• Navigate to the Planner tab
• Select the Work Order you wish to add a task to
• Select the task toggle
• Select the + ADD TASK button
  • This creates a task tile within the WO
• To enter a new title, erase the "Work Order Task #" text from the name field
• Above the work order title are a few dropdown menus
  • • Created
    • Scheduled
    • In progress
    • Under review
    • Approved
    • Delivered
    • Invoiced
    • Closed
    • Stuck/delayed
  • Select the date(s) of the work order task
• To create a custom task, do not link a site visit from the site visit dropdown
• Select team members from the team dropdown menu 
• In the description column, add any additional information that describes the scope of work for this task
• The work order task automatically saves
•  

To edit an existing work order task, all you need to do is:

• Expand the work order tile
• Select the tasks toggle
• Click the task you want to edit
  • All of the dropdown menus and text fields become editable. 

You can also edit the dates of a work order task in the Gantt diagram by dragging the dates too.

All admin and managers will receive an email when the status of a work order is changed. This allows teams to track the progress of a particular scope of work and ensure deadlines are met.

You can now copy a WO and its tasks. This will duplicate the framework; however, it will not duplicate the site visits within any tasks. That will need to be done manually. You will also need to reassign team members. To do this:

• Click the 3 vertical dots in the top right corner of the WO card
• Select duplicate

Each work order now has a historical log. This is where you can see every change to that work order, and its tasks, throughout time.  

To view the history:

• Click the 3 vertical dots on the far right side of the WO card
• Select History

The percentage completion figure displays the progress of a work order based on completed tasks only. This helps teams track milestones and ensure work is progressing as expected

WOs now have a budget and hours field, as well as an actual budget and actual hours field. What's the difference? 

The budget and hours field are manual entry fields. These are the values you enter when you first create the WO. They are based on the scope of work and what you intend to bill the client for. 

The actual budget field is a sum of the completed task budget fields within that WO.

Similarly, the actual hours field is a sum of all the completed task hours fields within that WO. 

Why the difference? 

The aim is to give you better insight into whether you are within your budget or total hours for that work while the WO is underway. It's a way to gain better insights into your team and the way it performs.