More Than a Solar CRM
A conventional solar CRM helps you manage leads, contacts, appointments, and opportunities. Core365 includes those tools and connects them to the work that follows the sale: site surveys, engineering, permitting, installation, PTO, funding, and service.
Your sales reps, operations staff, field technicians, and customers work from the same customer and project record.
What a Solar CRM Does, and Why Connected Operations Matter
A solar CRM helps you manage leads, contacts, appointments, and sales opportunities. Some platforms also include project management and other operational features.
The difference with Core365 is how those activities connect to the work your team manages after the sale. Customer and project information carries into site surveys, engineering, permitting, utility interconnection, procurement, installation, inspection, PTO, funding, and service.
You can coordinate that work across departments without treating the signed contract as the end of the customer record.
Signs Your CRM Has Become the Bottleneck
- Operations re-types customer and system details the CRM already has.
- Sales reps can't see project status without asking someone.
- AHJ, utility, and HOA requirements live in personal notes or spreadsheets.
- Lender stipulations and funding milestones are tracked outside your main system.
- Customers call for updates because they can't see progress on their own.
- Service requests arrive without the original project history.
How Core365 Connects Sales to Operations
Core365 is a unified operations and field service management platform. It gives your sales team the CRM tools they need, then keeps the same customer and project record moving through operations, field work, funding, and service.
Each department works in its own module, with its own queues and consoles. The customer, project, and document history they depend on stays connected.
A Solar CRM vs. the Core365 Lifecycle
- Solar CRM: Lead → Opportunity → Signed contract
- Core365: Lead → Sale → Site survey → Engineering → Permitting → Interconnection → Procurement → Installation → Inspection → PTO → Activation → Funding → Service
What Happens After the Sale in Core365
Canvassing and Field Sales
Step365 gives your field sales team territory management, door-to-door activity tracking, lead capture, appointment scheduling, and proposal and contract generation, all connected to the customer record. Step365 is a standard Core365 module, not a separate subscription.
Project Phases, Queues, and Milestones
EPC365 coordinates the project from intake through site survey, engineering, permitting, interconnection, procurement, installation, inspection, PTO, activation, and funding. Configurable project phases, departmental consoles, and queues show each team what needs attention next.
When configured requirements are met, supported events and milestone conditions can move work from one department to the next. Some phases still require an authorized person to verify or approve the work before it moves.
AHJ, Utility, and HOA Requirements
Spark365 stores the AHJ, utility, and HOA requirements your team maintains. Core365 can identify the applicable AHJ for a project and display the requirements you have recorded, so designers and permitting staff aren't working from memory. Your team enters and updates the requirements.
Company and Individual Licensing
Coral365 tracks company and individual licenses and registrations, jurisdictional requirements, expiration dates, and renewal work. Warnings and follow-up workflows connect licensing issues to the projects they affect.
Financing Coordination
Lender365 keeps project-linked financing information in one place: lender settings, stipulations, change orders, credit expirations, and funding milestones. Funding queues show what is still outstanding. Integration capabilities vary by lender and program, and some steps still happen in the lender's own portal.
Calls and Messages on the Customer Record
Contact365 connects supported calling and messaging services to customer and project records, so anyone working the account can see the conversation history. Capabilities depend on your communication provider and configuration.
Documents and eSignature
DocuVault365 is Core365's own eSignature and document workflow system. Build reusable templates, map Core365 data into documents, set the signing order for multiple signers, send reminders, and keep completed documents with the customer record. DocuVault365 requires a separate annual license.
Service After Installation
When your customer needs service, Service365 keeps the service ticket connected to the relevant customer and project records. Authorized team members can access available equipment information, project documents, service history, and other details needed to coordinate the work.
Dispatchers assign technicians, while field teams use the native iOS and Android apps to review assignments, access available documentation, upload photos, and update ticket progress.
See how Core365 connects field service management to the rest of your operation.
Operational Visibility
Analytics365 gives each department an operational console and gives leadership an Executive Console for KPIs, targets, and trends. Renewable energy consoles cover areas such as intake, engineering, installation, inspection, activation, service, and funding. Available consoles and metrics depend on your configuration.
Give Customers Their Own View With Customer Connect
Customer Connect is Core365's customer-facing portal. Depending on how you configure it and what you permit, your customers can:
- Track project milestones through installation, activation, and service
- See scheduled visits
- Access documents and agreements
- Download equipment specification sheets
- Review text messages and permitted call recordings
- Approve engineering plansets, when you enable it
- Submit referrals
- Request service
Customers can check progress themselves instead of calling your office for every update.
Solar CRM vs. Core365
| CRM-Only Workflow | Core365 | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Leads, contacts, appointments, and the sales pipeline | The customer and project lifecycle, from lead through service |
| Where it ends | At the signed contract or the handoff to operations | Continues through permitting, installation, PTO, funding, and service |
| Project tracking | Handled in a separate tool | EPC365 phases, departmental queues, and milestones |
| Permitting requirements | Notes, spreadsheets, or a separate system | Spark365 requirements connected to each project |
| Financing coordination | Lender portals and spreadsheets | Lender365 stipulations, change orders, and funding milestones |
| Field service | A separate service or scheduling app | Service365 tickets, dispatch, and native mobile apps |
| Customer updates | Phone calls and emails from your team | Customer Connect portal |
Who Core365 Is Built For
Core365 fits solar companies whose hardest work starts after the sale:
- Residential solar installers managing projects from contract to PTO
- EPCs coordinating engineering, permitting, procurement, and installation across departments
- Sales organizations with door-to-door teams that need sales connected to project status
- Companies that service the systems they install
If your team only needs a contact list and a pipeline, a basic CRM may be enough. If you run the project after the contract is signed, Core365 is built for that work.
What Core365 Works Alongside
Core365 is not an accounting system. Finance365 handles operational invoicing, receivables, collections follow-up, and job costing, while your general ledger stays in your accounting software. Commissions365 calculates commissions and prepares payment information for your payroll provider; it does not run payroll.
For design and sales tools, Integrations365 lists working integrations with Aurora, OpenSolar, SOLO, and Lightfusion. What each connection does depends on the provider and your implementation.