Navigating the proposal

Summary:

The Scroll Proposal in OpenSolar is a dynamic, interactive tool that helps you present key system, financial, and environmental information to your customers in a visually engaging format. This article provides a comprehensive overview of each section in the Scroll Proposal and how to customize its content to suit your sales process.

Navigating to the Scroll Proposal:

After completing your system design, simply click on "Proposals” tab within the project. This opens the Sales Machine Template Library where you can choose Scroll Proposal as your proposal type:

Cover Page Message:

When the Scroll Proposal loads, the customer is first greeted with a customizable welcome message.

To customize the message:

• Go to Control > Purchase Experience > Proposal Template

• Expand the Cover Page Template section

• Edit the Cover Page Message field

Click “Continue to Proposal” to enter the interactive proposal experience.

Featured Figures & System/Payment Options:

At the top of the proposal, you'll see four customizable featured figures (e.g., Payback Period, First-Year Savings). On the right, your customer can toggle between different system designs and payment options.

To customize featured figures:

• Go to Control > Purchase Experience > Proposal Template

• Expand the Proposal Settings section

These figures update dynamically based on the selected system and payment option.

Proposal Views Customization:

You can tailor the proposal layout to focus on what matters most to your customer.

• Click “Customize View” at the top of the proposal.

• Drag-and-drop sections, add/remove views, and rearrange their order.

• Click Save to apply your changes.

Switching Between System & Payment Options:

The Scroll Proposal is dynamic — any change in the system option or payment option immediately updates all figures and charts on screen.

Note: If a system isn’t appearing:

• Go to Design > Summary > Advanced Settings

• Ensure “Hide from customer” is unchecked

System Hardware:

This section displays the components (e.g., panels, inverters, batteries) used in the selected system.

• Featured components appear prominently.

• Additional components may appear lower on the page or not at all unless marked as visible.

To ensure visibility of custom hardware components:

• Go to Control > Design & Hardware > Other Components

• Toggle “Show Customer” to ON

System Performance:

This section highlights system effectiveness, showing:

• Offset percentage

• Consumption vs. Generation graph

• Self-consumption vs. Export-to-grid percentages

A hyperlink is also included, linking to the energy usage profiles similar to those in the Design > Summary tab.

Environmental Benefits:

This section shows the positive environmental impact of the solar system.

• Trees Planted: Based on 0.00998 trees per kg of CO₂ avoided
  Source: Forestry.gov.uk

• Car Miles Avoided: Based on 2.5 miles per kg of CO₂ avoided
  Source: US EPA 2018

• CO₂ Saved Annually:
  Data source varies by country:

  • Australia: National Greenhouse Accounts Factors

  • New Zealand: solarZero

  • US & Canada: Carbon Footprint

  • Others: Ecometrica

How Your System Works:

A simple graphic visually explains how energy flows from the solar system:

• Solar panels → Home consumption

• Surplus → Stored in battery or exported to the grid

This helps customers understand the benefits of self-generation and energy independence.

Electricity Bill Savings:

This section compares:

• Pre-solar utility bill

• Post-solar utility bill

• Annual and lifetime savings

The calculations are based on your entries for:

• Energy usage

• Tariff settings

• System performance

More about these calculations can be found here.

Quotation Table:

Shows a detailed pricing breakdown, including:

• Total system cost

• Incentives

• Monthly payments (if applicable)

🔧 To customize the Quotation Table:

• Go to Control > Pricing & Payment

• Edit the payment option you're using

• Scroll down and enable “Customize Quotation Table”

Net Financial Impact:

This section projects the lifetime value of the system, including:

• Cumulative savings

• Payback period (i.e., when total savings equal the system cost)

This provides a powerful financial narrative to help close the sale.

Customizing and Sharing the Proposal:

OpenSolar’s proposal engine is fully customizable:

• Add custom content blocks

• Rearrange or remove any section

• Include external links (e.g., company reviews, explainer videos)

• Enable PDF downloads for offline sharing

Your customer can review, accept, and sign the proposal—all within the Online Proposal experience.