The Top 3 Digital Forms for Solar Energy Field Teams

Digital forms and data capture provide a large number of benefits and competitive advantages for solar energy teams.

Digital solar energy forms can be easily generated on mobile devices, like phones and tablets, or dispatched to teams in the field pre-populated with project information. These digital forms are fully functional offline, making it easy for teams to complete work in remote areas and upload their forms once a signal has been regained. Once submitted, digital solar energy forms can be instantly accessed by the back-office and automatically routed to supervisors, billing, and other departments – streamlining processing and improving communication. Forms and data can even be instantly uploaded to connected applications, like ServiceMax, Procore, Microsoft 365, and more, enriching the entirety of your operation with real-time field data. 

Leveraging ‘smart’ fields, like Database fields, users can make selections from Drop Down menus or scan Barcodes, and instantly populate corresponding fields with highly accurate project data – accelerating form completion, eliminating redundant data entry, and improving data accuracy. Digital solar energy forms can host new data types, like Images, Sketches, GPS, and Maps, making it easy for users to add context and improve visibility into field team activities. With Conditional Logic and Dynamic Field Properties, forms can help guide data capture and enforce data capture rules. For example, fields can be made dynamically Required based on a user’s Group membership or the selection of corresponding fields.  

In addition to the operational forms relied upon by a vast majority of field service teams (like timesheets, job proposals, and invoices) here are the top three digital forms used by solar energy field teams:

Daily Job Briefings

Digital daily Job Briefings prepare field teams with the information they need to safely and effectively complete job site projects. These digital briefings detail what specific work procedures are involved in the upcoming job, any important precautions or hazards, and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements. Digital forms can help your team communicate these key details faster and more effectively. Digital Job Briefings can be dispatched to field teams pre-populated with information, allowing them to simply note the completion of tasks (via fields like Checkboxes), add their location data, and electronically sign the form. Once completed, digital Job Briefings are instantly available for review in the back-office, can be automatically routed to supervisors, added to reports, or uploaded to connected systems of record. 

Equipment Inspection Form

Digital Equipment Inspection forms can significantly streamline the completion and communication of critical inspections. Utilizing Table fields customized with Checkboxes, Barcode Scanning, Drop Down menus, and Text fields, inspection tasks can be easily completed and organized within clear line items. Leveraging Dynamic Field Properties, the completion of a Checkbox or input data, additional fields can be made Visible or Required, ensuring critical data is input prior to form completion. Your digital Equipment Inspections can even be uploaded with equipment diagrams which can be easily annotated with Sketch fields, allowing field teams to highlight damaged or hazardous areas of equipment. With Barcode Scanning, equipment barcodes can be scanned and used to instantly populate corresponding fields with data (e.g. equipment service dates). 

Daily Service Reports

Digital Daily Service Reports can help your field teams efficiently communicate work completed while on the job site. When relying on paper forms to communicate service details, forms are often delivered late with illegible information or missing data. Digital forms allow service details to be communicated faster and more accurately. Using Image fields, service photos can be captured and input directly into Service Reports, and annotated with Sketch fields to highlight key details. With Text fields, field teams can thoroughly detail services completed. Finally, digital Service Reports can be electronically signed using Signature fields. 

To learn more about how digital forms can improve your field data capture and field-to-office workflows, check out our customer case studies or sign up for a free trial of GoFormz today.