Integration

Installer Panel Design Studio

  • ERPNext
  • n8n
  • Nextcloud
  • React Flow
  • Ollama

Problem

Installers hand-fill a PDF panel spec, scan it and email it in; sales engineers retype it into a spreadsheet and the ERP, so a quote takes days while installers are trying to win same-day tenders — and the design knowledge that sizes loads, fusing and batteries safely lives only in the engineers' heads.

Solution

A self-hosted web configurator built on React Flow (the actively maintained open-source canvas library, chosen because no catalogue tool offers a drag-and-drop schematic editor) walks installers through the same guided sections as the form, lets them drag fused output cards, batteries and extension boxes onto a 2D canvas, and validates load, fusing and battery-runtime maths live. An n8n pipeline prices the BOM only for authenticated approved accounts, pushes the design as a draft quotation into ERPNext for a sales engineer's approval, and generates wiring drawings plus an Ollama-drafted commissioning pack stored in Nextcloud, where the installer reviews, marks up and e-approves the drawings online before paying against the ERPNext quote. Installers can free-issue my company some components and sub-assemblies for us to fit for them. This would require them to mark space on the panel for their gear, including dimensions and locations of input/output terminals, etc...

What this lets you offer your customers

An installer can design a validated, safely-sized panel themselves, reuse their saved standard designs across sites, get a priced quote the same morning, and approve wiring drawings from their desk — with a full project history the business keeps for warranty, servicing and future expansion.

Estimated Operational ROI

With over 100 quotes monthly, an estimated 3-5 day reduction in quote turnaround and an estimated 15-25% uplift in tender win rate for installers quoting same-day, plus estimated 20% larger orders from validated upsells (alarms, extension boxes) recommended during design.

Strategic Fit

Installers can now find generic panel prices and rough battery maths anywhere; what they cannot get is a design tool that carries this firm's safe-sizing rules, their own saved standards, and drawings the firm will stand behind. The configurator makes the firm the place where the panel is designed, not just where it is bought — and a design library is far harder to switch away from than a price list. This fits with our five year strategic plan of helping our customers succeed at their core business.

This is a design, not a system I have built. Book a call and I will tell you what it would take to build.

Book a 20-minute scoping call