Ask an installation contractor where the serial number of a particular inverter is, eighteen months after handover, and you will often get a pause. It was on the delivery note. It was in a photo. It might be in the monitoring portal, if the customer gave you access. Somewhere, the data exists, but not in a form anyone can search.
Per-product data points solve that. Instead of treating each installed item as a line on a quote, you treat it as a record with its own fields: serial number, rating, firmware, IP address, configuration, location and test results. This guide explains what to capture, how to structure it and why it matters long after the crew has left site.
What a data point is
A data point is a named field attached to a product. Some are universal: manufacturer, model, serial number, installed location. Others depend on the product type. A string inverter has a rated AC output and a number of MPPT inputs. A battery has a usable capacity and an operating mode. A charge point has a rated output, a connector type and a connection method for its back office. A building controller has a network address and a points list.
In Integrio's product library you define key fields such as serial numbers, IPs or logins once and they apply automatically to new entries. Default data points can be set globally for your sector, and extra data points can be added at project level where a particular job needs them.
The data points worth capturing
The right list depends on your work, but most commercial renewables and EV installers end up with something like this.
For solar PV
- Module make, model and quantity per string, with batch or serial where the manufacturer provides it
- Inverter make, model, serial number and firmware version
- String allocation: which strings land on which inverter input
- Rated AC output and export limit settings, where applied
- Isolator locations
For battery storage
- Battery and battery inverter make, model and serials, including each module in a stacked system
- Firmware version and configured operating mode
- Usable capacity as specified by the manufacturer
- Location of the enclosure and its isolation points
For EV charge points
- Charger make, model, serial and rated output
- Supply arrangement and protective device details
- Connectivity method (SIM, Ethernet or Wi-Fi) with the relevant identifiers
- Charge point identifier as configured for the customer's back office
- Location: bay number, car park level or site plan reference
For building services
- Plant item reference matching the drawings
- Controller address and protocol
- Commissioned setpoints or configuration file reference
None of these are exotic. The value comes from recording them consistently, against the right item, at the time of installation.
Why structure beats free text
When a serial number is typed into a notes field, it is still data, but only just. You cannot filter by it, you cannot check it for duplicates and you cannot be sure it is attached to the right product. Structured data points fix all three.
Search. With serials held as fields, a warranty claim or manufacturer recall becomes a search: every installed unit of a model, filtered by customer, site or space.
Consistency. When every inverter has the same fields, a missing firmware version is obvious. When fields are free text, gaps hide.
Reuse. Data captured once flows into testing forms, handover documents and helpdesk tickets without being retyped. Every retype is a chance for a transposed digit.
Capturing data without slowing the crew
The objection from site is always time. A crew commissioning a large canopy of chargers does not want to type forty serial numbers. The answer is to make capture part of a step they are already doing.
Scan instead of typing. Integrio generates a QR code for every product. Scanning it in the app opens that product's record and logs its arrival, so the engineer is always editing the right item. Photographing the rating plate as evidence alongside the typed serial gives a second check.
Capture at delivery, confirm at install. Serials can often be recorded when goods arrive on site, from the packaging or the delivery note. Integrio's delivery schedules let you check items in and flag incomplete orders. At install, the engineer confirms or corrects the serial against the unit being fitted. That catches swaps.
Put the fields where the work is. A charger's configuration fields belong in its commissioning form, which the engineer is completing anyway. A battery's firmware belongs in its test record.
Use conditional logic. A single-phase and a three-phase charger need different supply fields. A hybrid inverter needs battery fields. Show only what applies to the product in front of the engineer.
Make essentials mandatory, and only the essentials. Required fields enforce completeness, but twenty required fields on a simple product breed resentment and placeholder answers. Make identity and safety-relevant readings required; leave the rest optional.
Batches, swaps and substitutions
Real projects rarely install exactly what was ordered. A module batch is substituted because of supply. A charger fails on arrival and is replaced. An inverter is upgraded at the customer's request.
Per-product records handle this cleanly if you record the change rather than overwrite it. The replaced unit's serial stays in the product history, the new serial becomes current, and the reason is noted. Integrio supports batch tracking for items that arrive in lots, and each product keeps its history from installation onward. When a warranty claim lands, you can show exactly which unit was fitted and when.
Where the data goes next
Accurate product data pays off in three places.
Commissioning and handover. Handover documents for renewables typically list the key components installed. The MCS solar standard MIS 3002 issue 6.0 requires the handover document to include a list of the key components installed, and its model array test report records the inverter serial number. If serials and models are already held against products, that list is produced from the data rather than copied from a spreadsheet.
Aftercare. Installed products can be viewed by customer, site or space, along with their data points and related helpdesk tickets. When a customer scans a product's QR code with their phone, it opens a fault submission page, so the ticket arrives already tied to the right serial. See helpdesk and aftercare.
Your own systems. If products and serials need to reach your ERP or finance system, Integrio's ERP integration and form webhooks let the data flow on without re-entry.
A practical rollout
- List the product types you install most, and for each, the five to ten fields you wish you had recorded on your last difficult warranty claim.
- Set those as default data points in the product library.
- Add the fields that belong to commissioning into each product's testing form.
- Print or apply QR codes at goods-in, or at the latest at installation.
- Review the first two projects: which fields were left blank, which were filled with nonsense, and which nobody used. Adjust.
The goal is not to capture everything. It is to capture the fields that someone will need later, once, correctly, against the right product. If you want to see how this ties into equipment control more broadly, see equipment tracking.