Technically solar power projects are infrastructure projects executed in phases of Engineering, Procurement & Construction or Solar EPC. But they can be very different from the traditional infra EPC projects. Hence ERP or project management tools prevalent in traditional EPC may not perfectly serve Solar EPC projects. So we put up some guidelines to help you find the most suitable solar project management software and to get the best value from it.

Standardization of Work Practices

WorkPack is used by many EPC and engineering companies for managing different kinds of infrastructure projects. So we work with many project management teams from different verticals – oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding, rail, highways, power etc. Among them, solar EPC and particularly rooftop solar EPC projects stand out for having a wide range of project capacity.

Solar EPC projects can range from 1 kW capacity – for residential rooftop solar projects – to 1 GW projects – mammoth utility scale solar farms. But for all these projects with varied capacities, one thing remains the same – they are all very well standardized and executed on fast track schedules. This can be attributed to the moderate degree of complexity for solar EPC projects compared to other traditional EPC projects.

So why not use the lower degree of complexity to an advantage. Indeed most solar EPC companies find it easier to establish and follow standard work practices across projects.

Hence we recommend solar EPC companies to go for a project management software that facilitates or even leverages standardization for different project work practices. Standardization can be leveraged in a number of ways –

• Use standard project templates for different kinds of solar projects – residential rooftop, commercial rooftop, utility, off-grid, net metering etc.
• Configure standard workflows for different types of activities – engineering, procurement, logistics etc. – across multiple projects.

Go for a solar project management software that offers you a high degree of standardization. Because that will be a key factor in you want to meet the tight project delivery schedules typical of solar EPC projects.

Fast Track Project Schedules

Thanks to the standardized work practices, solar projects have been able to move at a brisk pace. This is also thanks to the stringent project delivery deadlines from customers who want to benefit from depreciation of their new solar power assets.

No matter the reason, fact remains that solar power projects are fast track projects, usually completed within months. This is in stark contrast with large-scale traditional EPC projects, where delays of more than 50% are very common.

As a solar project manager, you need to ensure timely completion and to do that you need a very effective solar project management software that will not only highlight delays but can forecast them in advance.

To forecast a delay, software should first know that the actual progress compared to planned timeline for a project. It is important that your project management tool should be able to track and measure the actual progress of Engineering, Procurement, Logistics, Installation etc.

So we suggest you look for following in a solar project management software –

• Creating a project schedule or Gantt chart
• Linking project schedules to actual execution
• Most importantly measuring actual progress and reporting it on Gantt chart

Document Based Tracking

On comparing different progress tracking tools, we realized many of them fail to capture and track the ground level project activities.

Most project management solutions available online as Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, are originally built for managing software development projects. If you look at the feature lists of such solutions and see ‘Issue Trackers’ or ‘Timesheets’ as key features, it becomes clear that those tools are meant for software companies to track and manage their projects, efforts and issues.

But solar EPC is very different where you don’t want to track manhours, bugs or issues. Instead, you need to track a lot of documents – engineering drawings, contracts, RFQs, proposals, Purchase Orders, Invoices.

Look for a project management solution which offers document management and tracking abilities. More specifically look for –

• Document management integrated with project schedule
• Workflows to track progress and approval of documents
• Collaboration with vendors, contractors and customers on different documents

Remote Project Sites

You may very well track engineering, procurement and logistics activities by document tracking. But to track construction progress, you need a reliable mobile app. And specifically in the case of solar projects, you need an app that also works when you don’t have the internet!

Solar power projects are executed on remote solar farms or rooftops of residential/commercial buildings. For most project sites, internet connectivity is average at best. So your solar project management app that will –

• Enable offline working mode to view drawings
• Allow uploading of documents/images
• Facilitate construction progress updates

Integrate with Sales and Maintenance

For solar EPC contractors, project execution is the bread and butter. But other activities such as sales and maintenance of completed solar projects, are also important and need to be managed. We always recommend managing all your critical business process on a single central platform. So your sales data can easily flow to project execution and from there, project data will flow to maintenance activities for all completed projects.

In order to achieve this integration, you will need a solar project management software that offers –

• Configurable workflows that can also be extended to sales & maintenance
• Consolidated reporting to piece together data from different stages
• Role based access control so sales data is only visible to sales execs.

Why not consider WorkPack

WorkPack platform is already trusted by some of the leading names in Solar EPC to manage their projects across – sales, design, procurement, logistics, installation and commissioning.

Following features have made WorkPack a perfect fit for Solar Project Management –

• Highly configurable workflows for – sales, design, procurement, construction
• Standard project templates
• Project scheduling
• Track actual progress against planned
• Forecast schedule
• Document Management and Tracking
• Email Integration
• Consolidated reporting
• Mobile Apps with offline mode
• Role based access rights
• Easy collaboration with project team, vendors, customers etc.

Do you think WorkPack can help your team as well? Find out by setting up a free account. Let us know if you need any help or would like to schedule an online demo of WorkPack.