The model 7 areas 6 levels One spine

Seven areas on one 0–5 spine.

The maturity model of the Solar Operations Maturity Institute (SOM Institute) rates seven areas of how solar assets are run. Every area uses the same six levels, so levels are comparable across areas, and each level means something concrete in its area.

This page is everything the survey measures, in full, before you answer a single question.

Areas: Monitoring, Performance, Data Quality, Data Analysis, Optimisation, Finance, Reporting
Levels: 0 to 5, the same spine in every area
Weighting: Areas are weighted equally
Origin: Its shape comes from the Capability Maturity Model. Model history

01 The spine

Six levels, the same in every area.

From blind to optimised & quantified. The meter on each level fills to that level.

0 Blind
1 Manual
2 Reactive tooling
3 Systematic
4 Automated & integrated
5 Optimised & quantified

02 The matrix

Seven areas × six levels, in full.

Read across a row for one area, or down a column for one level. Short titles first, then what each level looks like in practice.

The SOM Institute maturity matrix in full: seven areas, each with six levels from 0 to 5. Each cell gives the level’s short title and its one-line description.
Area · level	0 Blind	1 Manual	2 Reactive tooling	3 Systematic	4 Automated & integrated	5 Optimised & quantified
01 Monitoring How quickly a fault at a site is identified and acted on.	0 Blind No monitoring We find out a site is down when someone else tells us.	1 Manual Portal-by-portal We log in to each vendor portal manually, when prompted.	2 Reactive tooling Vendor alerts Per-brand portal alerts are on; someone scans them most days.	3 Systematic One view A consolidated cross-brand view; offline sites are caught within hours.	4 Automated & integrated Alerting with ownership Near-real-time alerts routed to a person with an escalation path and response expectations.	5 Optimised & quantified Measured & prioritised Alert noise is managed, detection/response times are measured, and the highest-impact sites are watched hardest.
02 Performance How each site’s output is measured against expectation, and how well shortfalls are understood.	0 Blind Not tracked Production is whatever it is.	1 Manual Eyeballed Monthly glance at kWh vs a gut feel or last month.	2 Reactive tooling Vs a static estimate Compared against the design estimate or yield guarantee only.	3 Systematic Weather-adjusted Expected production per site reflects the weather that actually happened; shortfalls are flagged.	4 Automated & integrated Causes attributed Underperformance is detected fleet-wide and traced to its root cause (soiling, shading, string faults, diode failures).	5 Optimised & quantified Every lost kWh explained and costed Losses are attributed, valued in Rands, benchmarked, and drive a planned remediation list.
03 Data Quality How far the underlying data can be relied on.	0 Blind Unknown Gaps and errors in site data go unnoticed.	1 Manual Found by accident Data problems surface when a report looks wrong.	2 Reactive tooling Spot checks Occasional manual review of data completeness.	3 Systematic Gap detection Missing data is detected and backfilled systematically.	4 Automated & integrated Cross-validated Independent sources (meter vs inverter) are reconciled routinely.	5 Optimised & quantified Quantified confidence Data completeness/accuracy is measured per site, and every downstream number carries that confidence.
04 Data Analysis How far analysis goes below site totals — string, temperature, voltage, load.	0 Blind Raw data only Nobody looks below site-level totals.	1 Manual Occasional exports Data pulled to Excel now and then, when there’s a problem.	2 Reactive tooling Portal charting Per-site charts in vendor portals, on demand.	3 Systematic String & temperature analysis String-level and AC/DC/BMS temperature analysis is done when investigating.	4 Automated & integrated Automated anomaly analysis String, temperature and alert-pattern anomalies are surfaced automatically per site.	5 Optimised & quantified Continuous fleet analytics The whole fleet is analysed continuously; faults are found without anyone asking.
05 Optimisation How actively the installed system is adjusted to improve its financial return.	0 Blind Commissioning settings Inverters run whatever was set on day one.	1 Manual Occasional tweaks Settings changed manually when someone thinks of it.	2 Reactive tooling Seasonal reviews Periodic reviews of setpoints and tariff settings.	3 Systematic Per-site optimisation Charge/discharge tuned to each site’s tariff windows and load shape.	4 Automated & integrated Simulation-backed Upgrades are chosen from simulations with predicted ROI.	5 Optimised & quantified Continuous & verified Optimisation runs continuously and the realised savings are measured and reported.
06 Finance How generation is translated into figures finance teams and funders accept.	0 Blind No financial view Energy data never becomes money.	1 Manual Rules of thumb Savings estimated with a generic c/kWh figure.	2 Reactive tooling Estimated savings Calculated, but on approximate or outdated tariffs.	3 Systematic Tariff-accurate Savings and utility-bill reconciliations use each site’s actual tariff.	4 Automated & integrated Asset-level finance IRR and ROI per asset, with billing and reconciliation systemised.	5 Optimised & quantified Auditable Financial reporting stands up to owners, auditors and funders.
07 Reporting What reaches clients, boards and colleagues, and how much is assembled by hand.	0 Blind None No regular reporting exists.	1 Manual On request Screenshots and ad-hoc emails when someone asks.	2 Reactive tooling Manual monthly Someone copies numbers into a template every month.	3 Systematic Automated & standard Standardised reports generate and send themselves.	4 Automated & integrated Role-tailored Distinct O&M / finance / customer reports, plus a customer-facing portal.	5 Optimised & quantified Insight-driven Reporting is exception-led; it tells each reader what needs their attention, and customers self-serve the rest.

03 How it is scored

Simple rules, applied the same way to everyone.

Area level: mean(question levels)
Each area’s level is the average of its questions.
Not applicable: not rated ≠ 0
Areas marked not applicable are not rated, rather than scored zero.
Comparison: area by area
You are compared with your peers one area at a time.
Gap: target − today
The distance from where you are to the level you said you want to reach.
Priority: importance × gap
The areas that matter most to you and are furthest from your target come first.
Weighting: equal
Areas are weighted equally.

No score on screen

This site never shows a score, percentage or benchmark. Results are emailed within about two weeks of the survey closing.

Instrument 01 · Solar O&M Maturity Survey

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