How to track rooftop solar projects from enquiry to subsidy
The usual stages of a rooftop solar job, what to record at each one, payment wording for the quote, and a weekly review that shows which file is stuck.
A rooftop solar job is not one sale. It is a chain of steps across your team, the customer, the DISCOM and the government portal. When a customer calls to ask "where has my subsidy reached?", the answer is spread over three phones and a file.
Why solar projects are hard to track
- Each step waits on someone different: the customer, the surveyor, the DISCOM, the installation team, the portal.
- The waiting steps have no alarm. An application can sit unnoticed until the customer asks.
- Application numbers, photos and documents live in personal WhatsApp chats.
Solar project stages, and what to record at each
The steps below are the usual ones, in general terms. The exact steps, documents and names differ by state and by DISCOM, and they change. Check the current process on the official portal and with your DISCOM before you fix your own list.
| Stage | What to record | Waiting on |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry | Name as on the electricity bill, consumer number, phone, address, DISCOM, sanctioned load, roof type, source | Sales |
| Site survey | Date, surveyor, roof photos, shadow notes, proposed size in kW | Survey team |
| Quote | System size, makes of panel and inverter, price, date sent, valid till | Sales |
| Order | Order date, advance received, the electricity bill and the other papers the portal asks for | Customer |
| Portal application | Application number, date applied, current status | Portal and DISCOM |
| Approval | Date approved, remarks | DISCOM |
| Installation | Material delivered, installation date, team, serial numbers, photos | Your team |
| Inspection and net meter | Date applied, inspection date, date the meter was fitted | DISCOM |
| Subsidy claim | Date claimed, current status, date credited | Portal |
| Handover | Warranty papers given, monitoring app set up, first service date | Your team |
Add the payments to the same row: each part, the stage it is due at and the date it came.
Four rules for the tracker
- One row per project, with a project number. Use the number in every chat and on every document.
- One current stage, and the date it started. A "days in this stage" column is today minus that date.
- One person from your team against every stage, even when the ball is with the DISCOM. Someone must open the portal and look.
- Numbers go in the row. Application numbers, meter numbers and serial numbers are typed in, not left in a photo on someone's phone.
Where the money gets stuck
- Between quote and advance. A quote without a follow-up date goes cold. See how and when to follow up a quotation.
- Between installation and the balance. The last part of the payment is often tied to a step you do not control. Write the payment stages into the quote in plain words.
- At the subsidy step. The customer calls you, not the portal. A name or bank detail that does not match the documents can hold an application up, so check the papers at the order stage.
Payment wording to adapt for the quote:
Payment: the advance with the order, the second part when the material reaches your site, and the balance within seven days of installation. The net meter and the subsidy depend on the DISCOM and the portal. We will follow them up for you every week.
A weekly review
- Sort the tracker by days in the current stage. Stuck projects come to the top.
- For each project waiting on the portal or the DISCOM, open the portal and note the status and the date you checked.
- For each project waiting on the customer, make one call.
- List the installations planned for the next two weeks. Is the material booked?
- List the payments that fell due this week.
- Send every open customer a two-line status on WhatsApp.
Namaste Mr Arora. Your 5 kW system was installed on 3 October. The net meter application went in on 5 October and we are waiting for the inspection date. We check every Monday and will update you.
Sheet or system?
A shared sheet with one row per project is enough for an installer with a small number of open projects and one coordinator who runs the Monday review. It strains when open projects run into dozens, site teams send photos from the roof, and customers ask for status every day. For that stage we set up a Solar Project Tracker with your own stages.
See also the page for rooftop solar installers.
Want to see this on your own data?
Share last month of your data. We come back with a working demo. No payment for the demo.
