The Pricing page displays the list of components and their prices that have been selected as part of the system design.
Based on the previously provided information in the business settings or in the other tabs in the Pricing section, SolarPlus creates a quote based on the prices of the components listed in the SolarPlus inventory and Product library.
In certain cases, if the prices are not available, in the quotation page, then the user might take the opportunity to add default prices for the components by, updating the pricing columns for the product in the library.
The Manage inventory options available in the Settings dropdown, allows the user to create, modify, and group items (modules, inverters, DC cables, isolators, optimisers, mounting systems, wiring systems etc) that might be essential as part of a particular system design.
Once all the relevant pricing details have been updated for all the necessary components of a particular system, the same will be automatically updated in the 'View Quote' page of SolarPlus.
The page also houses special features that help the customers sign and approve a particular proposal for installation and commissioning.
Quote Number - Adding a prefix / Set next quote number
You can now set your quote to have a prefix, you can see it on the Business Settings page
From your dashboard, do the following:
Unfold your User Menus
Go to the Business Settings page
Click the Quote section
Set Quote Prefix or Next Quote Number
Click Save button
Edit Quote Number of an individual quote
If you want to set the quote number on the fly, you can do it on the Pricing page. Just click the edit/pencil icon next to the quote number.
Quote Intro
The quote intro text area is pre-populated with the text added under Business 'System Settings'. The user can override this text while finalising the quote. This text will appear at the top of an email version of the quote.
The quote conditions are is available to populate while finalising the quote.
An additional 'Terms and Conditions' text is also entered under Business 'System Settings' and applies to all quotes. This will appear on email and PDF quote versions.
Edit quote
Grouping Line items
Each row in the quote edit page has items, either from the system design or added via the inventory item select lists to the right.
After selecting and analysing various components in the quotation page, the user can also group certain components together like the inverters, modules, DC Cables etc to identify them to be a part of a system package.
In SolarPlus, the user can group different items together by clicking on the checkboxes in the group items tabular column in the Edit Quote Window.
Checkboxes in the 'Group Items' column to group together these lines into one description and price.
The user can also add or update the description for grouped items to be included as part of the system proposal.
In the Grouped Items description window, the user can provide a suitable description of the system package that is to be included in the system proposal. In between the texts, the user can click and select certain key placeholder variables to assist them in developing a suitable system description.
Once the group items description has been set up, with placeholder variables, the user can save the changes by clicking on the blue ‘Save changes’ icon situated in the bottom right of the window.
The quotation would then display the different components in the group to be a single item, with a single price for the system package.
Dynamic Quote Description / Grouped Items
When editing the grouped items description, you can add placeholder variables in order to dynamically populate information about a system component or a system specification such as the PV size or battery capacity.
These dynamic descriptions are particularly powerful when saving system templates as they then allow you to edit the system while the quote description dynamically updates to keep track of your system design.
Example grouped description with dynamic tags to pull in system details:
Design and installation of a [[max_sys_power]] solar and [[battery_nameplate_cap]] kWh battery system including:
[[total_panels]] x [[si_first_module_name]] solar panels rated at [[max_sys_power]] DC output
[[inverter_grouped_quantity]] x [[si_in_name_with_brand]] solar inverter rated at [[total_pmax_ackw]] kW AC output
[[battery_qty]] x [[battery_brand]] [[battery_model]] operating at [[battery_discharge_cap]] kWh cycling capacity
[[battery_inverter_qty]] x [[battery_inverter_brand]] [[battery_inverter_model]] battery inverter with an output of [[battery_inverter_power]] AC
Price Override
To use these, the ‘Apply custom price’ must be selected:
Discount price: By using this option, and clicking ‘Save’, the 'custom price' entered takes effect on the quote at the desired price location and displays the amount of discount applied compared to the expected price from the inventory set up for the quote items.
Price override: Using this option and hitting ‘Save’, overrides the expected price from the inventory set up for the quote and directly sets the custom price at the desired location.
Price locations
Retail ex-GST: This is the price of the system before applying GST and considering the government rebates (STCs).
Retail inc GST: This is the price of the system applied after considering GST and before the government rebates (STCs).
Final price: This is the final price of the system which includes both GST and STCs.
Quote add-ons and upsell extras
To set up the items as add-ons or optional extras, check the link below:
Inventory pricebook management
Once an item is set up as an add-on or optional extra, it will appear in the list at the bottom of the edit quote page. To add the item to the quote, simply check the box in the line, set the quantity and price, and then hit the ‘Refresh quote pricing’ button to update the quote.
Finance Options
SolarPlus offers numerous finance options:
· Cash
· Loan
· Lease
· Power Purchase Agreements (PPA)
· Mortgage
· Cash plus finance (eg. VIC solar loan, uncheck ‘Show Cash Option’)
You can select a finance option from the drop-down list at the bottom of the View Quote tab (Marker 1 & 2).
You can also create a new financing option by clicking on the ‘+’ icon as seen from the image below (Marker 3).
Please note that if you haven’t done so already, you will need to add the finance company as a Supplier. You can do this by selecting Manage Suppliers in the drop-down menu under your Username.
Also, please note that the annual fee will be applied to repayments and to overall finance costs over the term of the load, no matter what the payment frequency of the finance plan.
Smart Ease (formerly Energy Ease) integration
Check the setup process here:Smart Ease Integration
Previewing Pricing and Sending Quote
Please see this page: https://solarplus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/V5HC/pages/2296053810/Proposal+Presentation+and+Reports#Send-quote-workflow
Financials
The Financials page of the Pricing window helps the user specify key economic parameters, that help determine the cost-benefit analysis of the proposal in SolarPlus.
Considering various parameters like:
Lifecycle years
Tariff escalation
Reinvestments
Annual Operation and Maintenance costs
Discount rates
Module degradation
Yearly Depreciation rates
SolarPlus, automatically determines key economic parameters like Return on Investment, Payback period, to help customers evaluate the financial feasibility of the system
Tax depreciation
Note: If you cannot see these options, check whether you have set the quote type as commercial.
Depreciation defaults to the Australian simple depreciation method. The asset value is the system cost less STC/LGCs. In year one the asset is depreciated by 15% and in subsequent years by 30% with a nominal tax rate of 30%. No depreciation is applied after year 20.
Depreciation can be customized for any commercial quote on the Pricing > Financials page. You can enter the first-year value as either a percentage or a dollar amount, add a subsequent year depreciation rate, and add a tax rate.
For straight-line depreciation, the tax saving is calculated as, tax saving = asset value (ex-GST, ex-STC [for AU]) * depreciation rate * tax rate
STCs and LGCs(Australia)
See STCs and LGCs
Net investment
Consider the image below (in this case, the custom price was set as $95,500):
The Excel file attached below explains how the net investment amount is calculated. If you’re using custom price override, the Excel file will show how the amounts are back-calculated. The order of back-calculation is as follows:
Final price > Price inc GST and excluding STCs and GST on STCs > Price ex GST and excluding STCs and GST on STCs
Conditions
You can add conditions that are specific to a particular quote in the Conditions tab. These are conditions which are in addition to your standard Terms and Conditions.
Invoice
Once a quote has been marked as ‘Approved’ on the View Quote tab, an invoice can be generated.
Click the ‘Create Order/Invoice’ button at the top of the Pricing page
The Invoice page will load.
Click ‘Send Invoice’ button at the top of the page.
To update the invoice for a received payment, just fill in the relevant details under ‘Receive a payment’ and hit the ‘Add Payment’ button.
You can then send the updated invoice by hitting the ‘Send Invoice’ button at the top of the page again.
Sync invoices to Xero
Refer to: Xero
Updating due dates on the invoice
Go to the invoice tab
Scroll down to the payment schedule
Click the blue pen icon
Set the due date manually as required (the due event is not necessary)
Save changes
Viewing all invoices
To view all invoices/orders, click on the “Orders/Invoices” tab. Then, set the desired payment status to filter the invoices:
Payment statuses:
Unpaid - Due date is in the future, and nothing has been paid
Paid - All payments have been made and the due amount is $0
Payment due - Due date has passed and nothing has been paid
The “Status” filter corresponds to the invoice status as seen on the invoice tab.