Channel Management Data Sync

Great news for all channel managers! It is now easier to sync various Settings with downstream organizations. To name a few, channel managers can now sync equipment and usage settings. This feature would help ensure that channel managers can equip downstream organizations with the settings they would need to create jobs that comply with the channel manager’s criteria.

We know that you may have a lot of questions. In this article, we’ll talk about where this feature can be found, how it can be used, and show screenshots to help you visualize how it would work for particular scenarios.

To learn how the Data Sync impacts Design Desk, click here.

How do I get started?

To get started, head over to Organization Settings and open the Partnerships tab.

Open

The Partnerships page under the Organization settings brings a lot of flexibility in configuring permissions at a manager level. On this page, you’ll see the three flags that will determine how data will be synced with the partner org. These are:

• Is the partnership Exclusive?

• Is Data Sync enabled? and,

• Is Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings enabled?

You’ll find these three flags after clicking on the Edit button beside Partnership Details. Here’s how it would look like on the platform:

Open

As you may see on the screenshot above, all flags are checked. It is worth noting that the flags are closely related, where:

• How a Data Sync would work would depend on the organization’s partnership: is it Exclusive? There are two scenarios listed below.

• Non-Exclusive partnership always gives the downstream organizations the option to edit any synced settings.

• Since non-Exclusive partnership always gives the downstream organizations the option to edit any synced settings, the Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings does not show despite turning on Data Sync if the partnership is non-exclusive.

• The option to turn Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings on or off thus require both Data Sync and the Exclusive partnership to be turned on as a pre-requisite.

For the purpose of this article, we will refer to Data Sync settings that do not allow a downstream organization to edit synced settings as strict relationships, while we’ll refer to the other as flexible relationships.

What kind of Settings can I sync?

At the moment, the Data Sync feature allows you to sync the following Settings:

• Project Phase Settings: Equipment Settings, Adders, Default Costs, and Estimated Installation Dates

• Usage Phase Settings: Persona Inventory and Utility Rate Escalation

• Organization Settings: Organization Logo and Licenses (note that this is only applicable to new organization invites).

• Proposal Settings: Expiration Dates, Comparable Values, and Proposal Email

Note: The Proposal Templates are not included in the Data Sync’s features, as we already allow upstream organizations to share their templates with all downstream organizations.

Also, the following Settings will not be affected by the data sync feature:

• Integrations and Integration Settings,

• Feature Settings,

• Financing Product Settings,

• Operations Workflows,

• Qualifications,

• User Settings/Notifications.

To put simply, turning on the Data sync feature will not affect these Settings in any way for both the channel managers and their channel partners.

Types of Data

• nominal/multiple data sets: These are data that can have multiple values. Examples of these are available equipment, persona inventory, utility rate escalation values, and adders. These values can be deleted, added, or changed.

• default values: These are data that can only have one value. Examples are proposal expiration dates, default equipment (solar module, inverter, battery, energy efficiency) cost, and Project cost. Since there is only one value, these can only be changed or deleted. Say, an organization can not have more than one default equipment cost.

How can I predict how Settings will be synced?

Here are some examples of different ways data sync can be set up by channel managers, depending on the exclusivity of their partnership with channel partners, as well as their preferences. On all scenarios below, Data Sync is turned on.

Non-exclusive Data Sync

• Data Sync Yes

• Exclusive No

• Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings (Option not applicable)

A data sync can be set up by a channel manager despite not having an exclusive partnership with a channel partner. In this case, the Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings option will not show. Because the partnership is not exclusive, we automatically allow the downstream organization to edit its own settings.

For organizations with a non-exclusive partnership, data sync for settings with multiple values (available equipment, persona inventory, utility rate escalation values, and adders) will be merged. Meaning, if the channel manager adds new equipment, it will automatically be added to the channel partner’s equipment settings. In this case, since the downstream org is allowed to edit the synced settings, they can also add their own equipment.

For default settings (single value), any change that the channel manager makes won’t be synced with the channel partner’s. Since the channel partner is allowed to edit and specify their own value.

Here’s how a non-exclusive data sync setting would look like on EverBright:

Exclusive (Flexible) Data Sync

• Data Sync Yes

• Exclusive Yes

• Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings Yes

This means that the Organizations' partnership is Exclusive, and Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings is turned on. In this case, the new organization can edit all default values at any point.

For settings with multiple values (available equipment, persona inventory, utility rate escalation values, and adders), if Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings is turned on, data will be merged. Meaning, if the channel manager adds new equipment, it will automatically be added to the channel partner’s equipment settings. In this case, since the downstream org is allowed to edit the synced settings, they can also add their own equipment.

For default settings (single value), any change that the channel manager makes won’t be synced with the channel partner’s. Since the channel partner is allowed to edit and specify their own value.

Here’s how an exclusive and flexible data sync setting would look like on EverBright:

Exclusive (Strict) Data Sync

• Data Sync Yes

• Exclusive Yes

• Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings No

If the partnership is Exclusive and Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings is turned off, all data changes, may it be adding, changing, or removing available equipment, persona inventory, utility rate escalation values, and adders will be applied to the downstream organization’s settings. They will also see a locked icon indicating that they have no permission to edit the said settings. This applies to all data types.

Here’s how an exclusive and strict data sync setting would look like on EverBright:

New Organization Invited

For all newly invited organizations, if the Data Sync is turned on (regardless of Exclusivity), all values that can be synced as specified above will match for the new channel partner and the channel manager.

New Partnership with an existing organization

If Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings is turned off, all settings will match.

If Allow Downstream to Edit Synced Settings is turned on, all settings will be untouched for default values, while multiple values data will be merged ((equipment, persona inventory, utility rate escalation values, and adders).

Summary

Legend:

Merge - Downstream organization can add their own (utility escalation rate, equipment), but if the channel manager adds equipment/s or adders rates, these will be added to the downstream organization’s existing equipment.

Match - Downstream organization’s Settings is a replica of the Channel Manager’s. (Note that, in newly invited organizations, it will only match at first for flexible and non-exclusive data sync settings, as they can, later on, change these synced settings.

N/A - If a downstream organization is allowed to edit synced settings, their default values won’t be matched to the channel manager. (For example, if a downstream organization is allowed to edit default battery cost, their battery cost will be synced upon being invited as a channel manager’s partner, but any updates to this value, may it be made by the downstream organization or the channel manager, will no longer be synced.