2019 Release Notes

2019-11-27 Release Notes

• Updated Project Header / Summary - Incorporated user feedback from other recent UI updates, including:
  • Placed the new Solution Summary at top of existing project screen rather than in separate browser instance - Solution Summary auto-removed from Sold projects where "Solution of Record" takes its place.
  • Added sold contract price, PV system rating, and finance mechanism to the "Solution of Record" section.
  • Added Sales Owner icon in Project header.
  • Added Project Site Address to all screens where being able to see customer name and site address can be helpful to user while editing data (e.g. Energy Use, Array Area Editor).
  • Removed newer Project Participants section from Project screen.
• Removed Requirement for Most Default Post-Sale Project Milestones from Being Included in Process. The following milestones can now be made optional (included by rule) or  even deleted from your project process definition: Permit App Submitted, Permit Issued, Install Scheduled, Work Completed, AHJ Approved. All projects must still include the following milestones: "Sold," "Work Started," "Project Completed." NOTE: This update precedes our plan to introduce the ability to define multiple project processes, including the ability to have work orders that are not required to go through a formal sales process.
• Update Process for Keeping Milestone Instances as "Upcoming" - Process definition changes can cause changes to current processing of existing projects. SolarNexus needs to know how to make changes based on the type of changes made to the process definition.
  • Previously when a process definition changes in a way that removes a milestone from being a "scheduled event", SolarNexus would keep any milestone instance that already had a date-time scheduled. Now when this occurs, the administrator is given the opportunity to tell SolarNexus whether it should keep any milestone instances where the milestone already has a date-time scheduled or to remove them. If the milestone has a scheduled date that is automatically populated from the milestone's definition, those instances are automatically removed.
  • If a milestone process change results in an instance of a current, incomplete milestone no longer having an immediately completed predecessor, SolarNexus will remove that instance from the project unless it has a custom subtask defined, or any completed subtasks.
  • SolarNexus will move any log notes associated with a milestone instance that is to be removed into the project log with the association to that milestone removed.
• Restrict Milestone Naming - To reduce chances for confusion of milestone naming, prevent milestone "before completion" names to be identical with the "completed name" of another milestone, and vice versa.
• When Emailing Large Docs, Provide Link to Document Rather Than Sending as Attachment - To reduce potential for email sending failures because of overly large attachments, system will automatically insert a link into the email that allows customer to download the document rather than receive it as an attachment to the email. System will send as attachment if it's under 7 MB (will be 10MB after the base64-encoding).
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed display issue of Last Completed milestone for some project instances.
  • Fixed bug in cleaning up milestones during "uncomplete" operations.
  • Updated criteria for which milestone(s) are shown as "Upcoming" when "Uncomplete" operations are done (
  • Company Documents screen includes all pre-defined tags, like "proposal" "contract" "PDF" "As-Built" etc so that admin users do not create duplicate tags.
  • Fixed error when viewing Price of a project revision.
  • Fixed issue with array builder when changing PV module in a cloned solution.
  • Fixed error when cloning solution with a very long name.
  • Fixed unintended cloning of layout requests.
  • Fixed Project Log leaving text of a submitted entry in the next entry box.
  • Improved doc generation error messages caused by Liquid errors by including the Liquid error information so that its easier to troubleshoot.
  • Fixed IRR display issue.
  • Fixed issue preventing display of form templates when both contract and proposal were already created.
  • Fixed Email account issue with info@solarhub.com, now allowing SolarHub users to send email to SolarNexus via this address.

2019-11-11 Release Notes

• Array Layouts for Solar Thermal Panels. Now when you can add a service offering using thermal panels, you can layout the arrays of panels on your drawn array areas. Features work same as for PV module arrays. Key thing to know is that AN ARRAY AREA MAY ONLY HAVE ONE ARRAY, PV or thermal panels.
• New Customer and Job Site section at top of Project Workspace. Made it simpler to always see and edit customer and job site address from single section pinned at top of project workspace. Takes place of customer info within the Project Summary which is no longer available. Removed Customer and Site address from the Project screen.
• Removed the Project Summary - Simplified the project heading, used icons to access same features:
  • We've made the Solution Summary its own pop-up window and added more information.
  • Customer info available from new and expandable Customer and Job Site section.
• Finance program payment factors can have 4 decimal places - We've increased the precision from 3 to 4 decimal places when using payment factors to calculate monthly customer payments to make estimates a bit closer to actuals.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed apparent reporting inconsistencies by requiring time periods to be defined for all date range filters.
  • Fixed duplicate "As-Built" tag if account already had that tag existing as a custom value.

2019-10-29 Release Notes

• Enhanced Post-Sale Project Data for Customer Support. Added a series of features to provide your team with easy access to key data about the sold and eventually implemented solution to enable your team to support the project and customer in the future. These features include:
  • As-Built Solution Summary Section for Sold and Operating Projects -
  • As-Built Energy Monitoring Details - At any time after a project is sold, user can input details about the Energy monitoring system that gets installed for use in later customer support.
  • As-Built Photos - Added pre-defined "As-Built" photo tag. Provide link to pre-filtered as-built photos from
  • As-Built, store equipment serial numbers -
  • User can search for equipment serial numbers - User can access a quick summary of the sold solution's energy projections. -
  • Simplified Customer and Participants section -
• Generic finance options can be named for each solution - When using "unsecured loan", "secured loan", "lease", or "PPA", on the Analysis screen rather than a predefined option, the user can optionally type in a one time name for the finance program and the name will appear in the analysis results and document template outputs.
• Set labels on projects using the API - The API now allows inclusion of a <labels> element to be populated on a project when creating it using the API. The labels must be pre-defined values defined on the Lead and Project Data screen else the label will be ignored. Also, the <labels> element will be output with the IEP project data when reading the project.
• Non-Functional Upgrades:
  • Upgraded to Rails 5.2 version.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed periodic lockup of analysis due to incentive links breakages. If user deletes a service that is linked to an incentive, the incentive gets orphaned. Fixed by clearing links on incentives and prompting user to manually reset the incentive's scope of services to which it applies.
  • Fixed error listing finance programs.
  • Fixed issue with generating array layout image in proposal.
  • Fixed issue with summary report as a result of recent Sidekiq upgrade.
  • Upgraded incentive amount validation logic.
  • Fixed minor report issue with counts.
  • Fixed array area tile image problem when user draws two areas very far apart. Now there is a max limit of 0.5km between areas.

2019-10-03 Release Notes

• Predefined checklist items on milestones. Admin can pre-define subtasks on a milestone without those subtasks appearing on any user's task list. This avoids too much detail on task lists, but still ensures that users check off each subtask BEFORE he can complete the milestone.
• Append solution name to solution-specific sub tasks. Clarifies the scope/context of the task.
• Non-Functional Upgrades:
  • Moved all remaining resque jobs to Sidekiq.
  • Upgraded operations icons throughout (FontAwesome).
  • Upgraded Rails version.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed issue with reporting incorrect number of "unassigned" milestones.
  • Fixed issue with user being assigned as a Sales Owner to a project AND being assigned as a Project Associate on the same project.
  • Fixed issue with cancelled/operating projects showing more than one solution with sold status.
  • Fixed issue with PDF generator jobs not being processed.
  • Fixed address auto-complete when user inputs non-existent address.
  • Fix problem showing solution if user fails to specify value for energy storage_unit_quantity.
  • Fixed issue with user's having multiple expired browser tabs open and submitting excessive requests resulting in IP ban of user.

2019-09-14 Release Notes

• Enhance sales owner assignment when new lead is created. On creation of a new lead, can now use rules to assign a sales owner ONLY if the lead does not already have an assigned sales owner.
• Append solution name to solution-specific sub tasks. Clarifies the scope/context of the task.
• Non-Functional Upgrades:
  • Move additional non-synchronous processes to new technology. Moved resque_urgent_tasks jobs to Sidekiq, and created "heavy" Sidekiq queue with lower concurrency.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed Nearmap image downloads if user pans/zoom during process.
  • Fixed issue with milestone propagator creating pre-sale milestones for already sold projects.
  • Worked with vendor to get their service to properly convert DWG files to preview images.
  • Auto-transfer preview generation of large files to third party service.

2019-08-13 Release Notes

• Place Equipment Locations on Map Image. Using the Site tab, you can now place pins that represent main service panel, inverter, and other key equipment locations.
• Predefined Sub-Tasks. Admin user can create pre-defined sub-tasks on milestones. When a milestone is instantiated on a project, it can have subtasks already created and can be pre-assigned too.
• Enhance Nearmap Integration. Try next/previous surveys when Nearmap fails to return survey imagery.
• Module Quantity in each Array. Added module quantity as a property of the pv_array object for output to documents.
• Non-Functional:
  • Upgrade technology used for processing non-synchronous jobs (Sidekiq replaces Resque for subset of jobs). Related updates to app initialization to support Sidekiq.
  • Refactor analysis processing for performance improvements, cutting wait time by almost 50%.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Implemented new incentive amount validations to prevent user from inputting amounts/rates that can break the analysis.
  • Added user message to wait for map imagery to finish loading prior to generating sales doc.
  • Auto-credit account when Nearmap imagery fails to be available.
  • When a new critical path milestone preceeds "Qualify Lead," update user messaging in pre-solution project bar to include next critical path milestone instead of "Qualify Lead."
  • Fixed issue with variable annual incentive rates missing last year of term.
  • Fixed issue with milestone propagation/instance removal when creating a new milestone that has the same name as a previously deleted milestone.
  • Fixed issue with site widget showing original location after user changes project site address.
  • Fixed issue with analysis graphs being unavailable after project is completed.
  • Fixed problem filtering project list by sector and sorting by current milestones.

2019-07-24 Release Notes

• Read-Only User can upload and read project files. User with Read-Only with Milestone edit permissions can upload files to a project and download but cannot delete files.
• Filter files on file type. Built in filters on file types.
• Add "Proposed Tariffs." Enables access to currently proposed and approved utility tariffs that are not yet active. Allows you to provide analysis results assuming project will be completed after new tariffs are in effect.
• Output images with equipment locations. Equipment locations defined on the Site tab can be output into array layout images or equipment only images.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed report output counts for combinations of service types.
  • Handle Docusign errors.
  • Fix product cost update when product tied to 
  • Fix error when user uploads duplicate site photo.
  • Fix mislocation of tags.
  • Fix error rendering Nearmap images in Sales docs.

2019-06-24 Release Notes

• Tentative and Confirmed Status of Scheduled Events. All scheduled event milestones now include standard status values of "Tentative" and "Confirmed." When a scheduled event's status is set to "Tentative," it appears on the Calendar with "[T]" prefixed to its name, and the tone of its color is slightly lighter than when "Confirmed" (or any other status). This feature is targeted at helping to visually distinguish between tentatively scheduled "Start Work" milestones and confirmed "Start Work" milestones. This is very helpful when adding newly sold projects onto your team's install queue, and managing the near term installation schedule changes that are necessary.
• "Pinned" Column Headers. The column headers on the Sales, Installs, and Tasks screens now pin themselves to the top of your screen when scrolling down a long list. This helps ensure that you don't lose what each column's data is representing. Pinned column headers are also applied to all reports.
• Catalogs View/Search All. Added a "View All" category to the Company and Public Catalogs. Now can apply search across all categories at once, making it easier to locate products where you're not sure of its Category. This feature is also available when adding products to a service offering, or an ad-hoc addition of a product to a solution's line item price.
• Filter Project Files by type of file. You can also use the type of file as a filtering mechanism in the Project Files section. This can help when you want to see all PDFs that you've generated without limiting to contracts or proposals, for example.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Fixed photo rotation of thumbnail getting out of sync with photo in photo browser.
  • Fixed issue with preview docs showing pages in wrong order.
  • Fixed populating SolarNexus doc type (contracts, proposals) on the Project Files screen.
  • Fixed roof areas getting tagged with "ground areas".
  • When PV System is added to a solution via a legacy solution template, ensure current PV System account derates rather than template system derates.

2019-06-18 Release Notes

• Consolidate all project files onto a single 'Project Files' screen. Now all files associated with the project can be accessed from the Project Files section of the Management Panel, or the Full View of the Project Files section. This adds photos from the Site tab to the already included generated Solution Docs and other files uploaded into Project Files.
• Add site photos from Project Files section. Now you can upload site photos from the Project Files section and have them show up on the Site screen in the correct section just by tagging the photos with the desired section (for example, "Main Service Panel", "Roof Areas", etc).
• File Tagging Enhancements:
  • Proposals and Contracts are auto-tagged when generated
  • Photos uploaded to a section within Site tab are auto-tagged with "Photos" and a tag for the section where its uploaded (for example, "Roof Areas" or "Main Service Panel")
  • [Not Tagged] filter added
  • Tags listed alphabetically, and selected via drop-down on Project Files section.
• Photo Browser works from the Project Files section.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • API fix to populate additional email addresses for Participants when posting a new project.
  • Fix to allow re-creation of an array area having same name as a previously deleted area.
  • Fix incorrect direction of movement of an array area when a shared vertex for two areas is moved.

2019-05-13 Release Notes

• Restoring deleted project docs. In order to help prevent accidental data loss, when uploaded project documents are deleted, they are now moved into the special Trash folder rather than being permanently deleted, and you can restore recently deleted documents from the Trash for up to 90 days. The Trash folder is accessible from the Full Document View in the project workspace.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Added new template variables: ahj, warranty_penetration, pv_arrays
  • When changing the name of an array in any solution, the corresponding arrays in all solutions are renamed as well.
  • For scheduling milestones, like Schedule Sales Appointment, the milestone completion notification now includes the appointment date and time.

2019-04-26 Release Notes

• Nearmap integration. SolarNexus now offers access to premium, high-resolution aerial imagery for site assessment and remote design through our partner Nearmap. Nearmap provides frequently updated, sub-3" GSD imagery for 70%+ of the US population, with multiple historic surveys available in many areas.
• Improved UI for managing document templates. On the Admin > Document Templates screen, you can now more easily select which templates to make available to users in your account by using the toggle icon to activate/deactivate old templates. You can also more easily select which SolarNexus-defined templates to make available in your account by simply checking them off on the SolarNexus-Defined Templates tab.
• Know when sales docs are out of sync. The Docs tab now warns you if any of the generated proposals or contracts are out of sync with changes made to the solution or analysis, and gives you an easy way to regenerate them if so.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Added Distance from Office as an available output column for reports.
  • Added Past 14 Days as an option for date range report filters.
  • Fixed a problem with the "Load Shifting - Time of Use Optimization" storage dispatch schedule for certain tariffs with more than three time of use periods, such as SCE TOU-D-PRIME.

2019-03-27 Release Notes

• Hide built-in finance options. Added ability to hide the generic finance programs like Unsecured Loan, PPA, etc. when selecting a finance option on the Analysis screen. On the Administration > Finance Programs screen, go to the Generic Programs tab and unselect the options to hide from the list.
• Detailed utility bill charges. Added the ability to view a detailed breakdown of all unbundled pre- and post-project monthly charges on the Utility Bill tab on the Analysis screen. To view detailed charges, select the "Generate Detailed Bill Breakdown" option in the Electric Tariff section of the Analysis Parameters before analyzing.
• Auto-linking URLs in custom fields. If you include a URL in a custom field on the project screen, such as a link to a Google Drive folder, the link will be clickable on the project screen.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • When first analyzing a solution, the post-project tariff selector will no longer default to the pre-project tariff if the solution includes a PV system and solar customers are required to switch to a different tariff. For example, if the pre-project tariff is not a time-of-use tariff but the utility requires solar customers to be on a time-of-use tariff, the pre-project tariff will not be auto-selected and will not even be an option to select for the post-project tariff.
  • Upcoming (but not current) scheduled milestones will now appear on the Tasks screen (list and calendar view) and will be synced to users' external calendars. Previously, scheduled milestones would only appear on the Tasks screen and get synced if they were a *current* milestone.
  • When a user assigns a milestone or project role to themselves, they will no longer receive email notifications about the change since these notifications are redundant.
  • Fixed an issue with long solution descriptions wrapping in the solution drop down in the project navigation bar.
  • Fixed an issue with Sold projects sometimes appearing on the Sales screen and unsold project sometimes appearing on the Installs screen.

2019-03-08 Release Notes

• Visual overview of energy impact. Added a graphical display of the annual load offset and self consumption in the Energy Impact section on the Services tab. Clicking on the self consumption bar brings up a more detailed view of the annual self consumption and energy flow, with additional tabs for viewing the hourly energy flow for a typical day in each season.
• Storage sizing estimator. Added a link to a new storage sizing estimator on the battery selection screen when adding a storage system. The storage sizing estimator suggests a storage capacity that will maximize typical daily load shifting throughout the year given the customer's hourly load profile, projected hourly PV output and utility time-of-use schedule, if applicable.
• Improved support for PV trackers. When defining a flat roof or ground mount PV array, you can now indicate if the array is using PV trackers. SolarNexus supports single-axis, single-axis backtracking and double-axis tracking modes. SolarNexus will generate the appropriate module layout and production estimate based on the tracking type. (Auto-layout not supported for double-axis tracking mode.)
• Levelized cost of storage system. For solar+storage solutions, added a new "LCOE - Storage" row in the Cost & Benefit table on the Analysis screen. "LCOE - Storage" is calculated as the discounted lifetime cost of the storage system divided by the discounted lifetime throughput, and represents the average cost to charge and discharge a single kWh through the battery. (Lifetime storage cost includes the cost of the initial battery less any applicable incentives, plus the lifetime replacement costs as defined on the analysis screen.) The levelized cost of storage (LCOE) can be compared against the levelized avoided cost of storage (LACE) to understand whether the storage system is ROI-positive in terms of its bill savings impact.
• Default sales doc templates and names. To streamline the process of creating sales docs, added the ability for administrators to specify the default document template and default naming pattern for proposals and contracts. The default options are found in Administration > Project Settings > Sales Docs.
• Better display of non-bypassable charges. For projects in California IOU territory, the Utility Bill tab on the Analysis screen now indicates when the effective minimum annual bill is higher due to non-bypassable charges. If the net annual energy cost for the post-solar case is below the standard minimum bill, but the non-bypassable charges exceed the minimum bill, the non-bypassable charges constitute the effective annual minimum.
• Better display of utility bill details for non-net-metered tariffs. For projects using non-net-metered tariffs with differential import/export rates, the Utility Bills tab on the Analysis screen now breaks out the import costs and export credits for each month.
• Click to call. Customer contact phone numbers are now hyperlinked to make it easier to click to call from desktop or mobile devices.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
  • Added a new "LCOE - Solar" row in the Cost & Benefit table on the Analysis screen when the solution includes at least one other service besides PV. In this case, the "LCOE - Solution" metric shows the levelized cost of the entire solution while "LCOE - Solar" shows the levelized cost of just the PV system. This is helpful for understand the unit cost of the PV system in isolation when quoting multiple services. You can compare "LCOE - Solar" to "LACE - Solar" (lifetime avoided cost) to understand if the unit value (bill savings) of the PV system exceeds the unit cost.
  • After uploading a Green Button XML file, the Energy Use screen will now show the number and type of intervals present in the file. For example, if a full year of hourly intervals were present, it will show that it found 8760 hourly intervals. If a full year of monthly intervals were present, it will show that it found 12 monthly intervals.
  • Error message is displayed if an uploaded Green Button XML file uses the wrong XML format. Previously, it would quietly fail with no explanation.
  • Added an info rollover next to each sales doc on the Docs tab showing the name of the user who created the doc, the doc template used and the creation date.
  • After you edit an existing array area, e.g. to move one or more vertices, SolarNexus allows you to keep the previously-specified baseline for the area without having to re-specify it.