Field reporting for solar installers means recording four different visits, each with its own short record: the site survey before the quote, the installation visits while the system goes up, the commissioning visit when it is switched on, and later service visits. Photos and a few readings are the heart of each one, and most of the trouble comes from those living in a technician's gallery instead of on the job record.
One job, four records
| Visit | Who goes | The office needs |
|---|---|---|
| Site survey | Surveyor | Roof, shading, connection details, photos, recommended size. |
| Installation | Installation team | What was done today, what remains, material used, blockers. |
| Commissioning | Senior technician | Readings, whether it generates, faults, the customer's acknowledgement. |
| Service | Service technician | Fault, work done, parts, status, photo. |
Site survey: the columns
| Column | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and address | Ties every later record to one job. | Deshpande residence, Nashik |
| Roof type and usable area | Decides system size and mounting. | RCC flat, about 600 sq ft |
| Shading | The most common reason output disappoints. | Water tank shades east corner after 4 PM |
| Connection details | Sanctioned load and meter type shape the design. | Single phase, 5 kW sanctioned |
| Photos | Roof, panel, meter and cable route. | 4 photos |
| Recommended size | Feeds the quote. | 3 kW |
Installation and service: the columns
| Column | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date, site and team | Who was where, on which day. | 30-09-2026, Gaikwad Dairy, Team B |
| Activity | Installation, inspection, maintenance. A fixed choice. | Installation |
| Work done | What actually got finished. | Structure and 6 of 12 panels fixed |
| Headcount | Ties labour to progress. | 4 |
| Blockers | Waiting for inverter, rain, customer access. | Inverter not delivered |
| Safety observation | Working at height needs a record of what was noticed. | Harness used, one ladder replaced |
| Status | Done, partial or pending. | Partial |
| Photo and location | Proof of the work and where. | Photo of panel rows |
Commissioning: what to record
Commissioning is short, but it is the record customers and warranty questions come back to. Keep your own test procedure; this is what the job record should show alongside it:
- Date and time the system was first switched on.
- System size and equipment: panel count and rating, inverter make and rating, as installed.
- Readings: what the inverter display showed, in numbers, for example output in kW and the time of the reading.
- Result: generating, generating with a fault noted, or not generating, from a fixed list.
- Faults found and fixed on the day, and any left open.
- Photos: the inverter display, the earthing, the meter and the finished array.
- Customer acknowledgement: a photo of the signed handover sheet, or the customer's name and the time they were shown the system.
A filled-in example
| Site | Visit | Work done | Status | Blockers / next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deshpande residence | Survey | Roof measured, 3 kW recommended | Done | Send quote by 02-10-2026 |
| Gaikwad Dairy | Installation | Structure and 6 of 12 panels fixed | Partial | Inverter not delivered |
| Patil Cold Storage | Service | Cleaned panels, tightened DC connector | Done | Check output in a week |
Rules that keep solar job records useful
- Photograph in a fixed order. Roof, panel, meter, work in progress, finished array. Anyone can then find the picture they need.
- Record readings as numbers. "Working fine" cannot be compared with next month; "generating 2.1 kW at 11:30" can.
- Report partial days as partial. Say what remains, not only what was done.
- Write blockers down at once. A delay caused by a missing part is much easier to recover if it was logged on day one.
- One customer name, spelled once. Service history is only useful if it groups.
What to have on file at handover
When the customer takes over the plant, the job record should already hold what you will be asked for later. A short checklist works better than a long form:
- The survey record and the recommended size that was quoted.
- The installation days, with headcount, materials used and any blockers.
- A final set of photos: full array, inverter, earthing, wiring and the meter.
- The commissioning readings and the date the system first generated.
- The customer's name, phone and address, spelled the same way on every record.
Because each visit was recorded when it happened, this file assembles itself. Reconstructing it from technicians' phones months later, when a customer calls about low output, is far harder.
Common mistakes
- Photos on the technician's phone, named IMG_4021, with no customer attached.
- Commissioning notes on paper that the customer keeps and the office never sees.
- Survey details sent as a WhatsApp paragraph that the quote writer has to re-read three times.
- No record of a service visit that fixed nothing, so the same complaint is treated as new next time.
Related formats: installation report format, site inspection report format and field service and AMC reporting.
Doing this with vBol
vBol is a product of the Indian company Vritti. A technician saves one WhatsApp number as a contact and sends a voice note, photo or location when a visit ends, in their own language:
vBol transcribes it, extracts the fields and reads the record back in the technician's language with buttons to confirm or fix a field. Nothing is written until they confirm. The row lands in your Google Sheet, an Excel workbook on OneDrive or SharePoint, or the matching module in Ekatm ERP, with photos and GPS location attached. At 7 PM the owner gets one WhatsApp message with what was filed, by whom, and which technicians sent nothing that day.
Two of the four records above are built in: a site report (site, activity, photo, headcount, blockers, safety observation, location) and a service job (customer, work done, status, photo, equipment, complaint, parts used, time on site). Survey and commissioning records with your own columns are record types Vritti sets up with you, together with the destination sheet.
Technicians install no app and never log in; they message vBol's number, not a group. It suits a crew of five or a company of five thousand. It is free for 30 days (up to 5 confirmed reports per person per day), then ₹199 per user per month for teams of up to 100 users; larger teams get a custom plan. Details on the pricing section.
Frequently asked questions
What should a solar site survey report include?
Customer and address, roof type and usable area, shading, orientation, the electrical connection and meter details, photos of the roof and the main panel, and the recommended system size. Note anything that could block installation.
What should a solar installation report include?
Date, site, team and headcount, what was completed that day, what remains, materials used, blockers, safety observations and photos of the work. A final photo set before handover protects both sides.
What is a commissioning report for a solar system?
It records the checks done when the system is switched on for the first time: readings taken, whether it is generating, any faults found and fixed, and the customer's acknowledgement. The exact tests depend on the system and your own procedure.
How do solar companies keep track of service visits?
Log each visit as a row: customer, fault or purpose, work done, parts used, status, photo and the next step. Filtering by customer then gives you the full history of a plant.