FLS - FAST LEAN SMART, UK Managing Director, Jeremy Squire shares his experience on the tools needed to overcome increasing last mile challenges...

Key to the success of your last mile service delivery is planning appointments (when applicable) and Engineer routes that are both achievable and efficient. Not all methods for this are equal and in this article we explore the alternative methods used by scheduling technologies and why you need a real-time appointment optimiser, even if you prefer to fix the jobs to Engineers on the day of service delivery.

With the right systems to support you, the appointment booking is opportunity to guide your customer to the most cost effective time slot for an Engineer with the right skills and parts.

Every Field Service software solution includes appointment booking and often describe this as ‘optimised’.  Look closely at how this is achieved, the majority are far from optimal and result in unachievable appointments, heavy involvement by Planners and Managers, and cause some Engineers to work excessive hours whilst others are under utilised. 

Which of these are familiar to your way of working? The good, the bad, the ugly…or the best!

 

The Ugly – ‘patch’ method

Engineers are assigned exclusive postcode patches and new appointments can be offered until the maximum daily limit is reached. There is often a long wait for an appointment, even though neighbouring Engineers have availability, and you can typically only offer full day timeslots. Before the day of service begins, the scheduling system or a Planner will put each diary in a good order for travel according to maps, or the Engineers do it themselves.

 

 

The Bad – ‘basic’ white space scheduler 

With this method engineers work within a maximum travel radius from a start point and there is overlap between coverage areas. Each engineer has a route optimised utilising a driving time calculation with speeds according to road type. Timeslot options for a new appointment are calculated by the system finding ‘white space’ in the existing diary of suitable engineers and presenting best (lowest cost) choices based on deviation from current route – the job is then inserted into the chosen place in the diary.

Periodically, every few hours or overnight, you run the scheduler which will move jobs between the engineers for better routes and efficiency.

The comparison appointment costs given by this method are inaccurate because they do not consider the overall schedule so you end up ignoring them and just offer up any of the available slots, even if this was 2 hours driving one day or 10 minutes the next. Diaries may appear full which causes a long lead time to attend appointments, but running the scheduler later reveals availability was there all along – too late!

 

The Good – ‘enhanced’ white space scheduler

The ‘enhanced’ is based on the same principles as the ‘basic’ but smarter. Routes are more accurate using travel times with actual average speeds for each road segment according to the time of day. It is still just looking for white space in the diary but, after the appointment is booked, it will re-optimise this and nearby routes, moving jobs between engineers, ready for the next appointment request. 

Whilst this is more accurate than the ‘basic’ method, the comparison of appointment costs is still incorrect for the same reason. Also, an appointment that is calculated unavailable might actually be available if the ‘real-time’ method was used.

 

The Best – ‘real-time’ appointment optimiser

This method is truly best-of-breed. The schedule is always optimised with time of day traffic based travel speeds. For an appointment request, the system performs a real-time optimisation for each time slot requested, incorporating all relevant Engineers and jobs. It advises the difference in cost for adding this job into the fully optimised schedule for each available time slot.

To be practical in a customer service environment this must be achieved in seconds, even for high volumes, which is why there are few vendors able to offer this.

This is the only method that enables your customer service team (or self-service portal) to correctly offer and guide customers to pick the most cost effective time slot choices – resulting in mileage reduction and time for more jobs.

The real-time optimisation will also reveal time slots are available when all other methods would say the diary is full - reducing the average time to attend an appointment.

With this approach, you always know the planned schedule is accurate ready for last mile delivery - your Engineers will be happy with the plan and you are less likely to have challenges during the day of service or let customers down. Planners can be reassigned to customer service roles and  Managers can instead focus on quality of service.

The benefits of a ‘real-time’ appointment optimiser for your last mile service delivery are clear and we at FLS are so confident that we offer to facilitate you to prove this in live operation before commitment.

 

Customer proof

As Richard Wilson, IT Director HomeServe Boiler Installations comments, “We wanted a more dynamic tool, one that could continuously optimise, looking at every appointment and every field worker collectively and scheduling everything in the most optimal way.”

And the results - “FLS has enabled us to get to our appointments 25% quicker than we were. It’s really highlighted how efficient your scheduling can be when intelligent software does it for you. We see FLS as a growth facilitator. The efficiency gains are such that we’re now in a position to scale up”

In the Big Discussion we bring together a panel of industry experts and focus on one key topic within the field service sector.
In the final part of our series on dynamic scheduling our panellists, FieldAware's Mark Tatarsky and Fast Lean Smart's Chris Welsh are asked if SMEs can also benefit from optimised scheduling.

Can smaller and medium sized organisations benefit from optimised scheduling, or is it only beneficial for enterprise-level field service providers?

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware
Advances in cloud computing, multi-tenant SaaS solutions, and new micro and macro optimised scheduling capabilities enable optimised scheduling to scale down. Optimization is now an effective solution for organizations of all sizes.

Micro optimisation enables service delivery firms to build a library of business policies that can be used to tune the optimiser to create a work schedule for an individual team or region. The business policy contains the rules that ensure competing business objectives are balanced appropriately. The rules ensure the right field technicians are considered for the work while managing business objectives such as limiting travel time, delivering priority work, or balancing the number of jobs across the team. 

The business policy library can cover how the team should work in various business scenarios. These can include an emergency schedule; prioritising installations at the end of the reporting period to assist in achieving revenue targets; during seasonal changes, etc.

Running the service delivery business is easier when you select the business policies you want to apply to different teams and then change them as needed to reflect the changes in their business. The benefits of accelerating time to value and reducing the cost and complexity of maintenance that a micro optimised schedule provides small and medium sized organisations equally apply to the enterprise.


Chris Welsh, Director, FLS – FAST LEAN SMART
Yes, most definitely, optimised scheduling will help even small service operations that are performing multiple jobs per day to be more efficient and deliver reliable customer service – essential in an ever more competitive industry where customer expectations are rising.

Even with a handful of engineers, there are thousands or millions of possible permutations for job assignment and most providers will resort to allocating work according to postcode patches. This makes it easy to allocate jobs but the ‘hard borders’ between resources can be the greatest inefficiency for field service delivery and you might turn down an appointment request that was actually achievable and cost effective. 

An optimised schedule considers all resources and travel time without these hard borders and, in my experience of performing scheduling tests, an optimised schedule compared to a manual schedule will typically reveal a 25%-50% reduction in mileage whilst making sure appointments agreed are achievable - that might be 1 to 2 hours saving per day for the engineer to do that extra job.
Perhaps equally important, only engineers with the right skills and parts turn up and engineers get home on time! This contributes to greater employee engagement and to the success of the company.

In the Big Discussion we bring together a panel of industry experts and focus on one key topic within the field service sector.
In the third of a four part series on dynamic scheduling our panellists, FieldAware's Mark Tatarsky and Fast Lean Smart's Chris Welsh identify the biggest mistakes companies make when implementing a scheduling system.

What is the biggest mistake field service companies make when implementing scheduling solutions?

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware
Companies often expect a ‘silver bullet.’ They aren’t prepared for the challenges that come with a successful implementation. One problem is capturing the implicit decision-making processes used by dispatchers today. Another is looking at how those processes can be enhanced to take advantage of new optimisation capabilities.

These tasks can seem daunting but are essential to define the rules and objectives of the optimisation engine and give valuable results. However, by phasing the implementation initially with manual or semi-automated scheduling, service organizations can achieve faster adoption while simultaneously creating a positive environment.

The company can define what it wants to accomplish by implementing schedule optimization so that it can give appropriate weighting to seeminglyconflicting objectives. FSM vendors have a parallel role to play here. To minimize friction during adoption, vendors should create intuitive workflows.

These workflows include setting up rules, objectives, working time, etc. Vendors can also help instil confidence in the solution by providing feedback and visualisation of optimization results. These metrics allow dispatchers to compare manual and optimized schedules.

Chris Welsh, Director, FLS – FAST LEAN SMART
The biggest mistake is not managing the ‘rate of change’. A company decides it’s objectives for performance improvement, chooses a new technology to enable automation and new processes. However, it is important to understand and manage the perception, challenges and priorities of all the stakeholders: the customer, the management team, the back office and the field force.

Introducing a scheduling solution is best considered as a journey with continuous improvement, ensuring the entire service team are engaged and ‘bought in’ along the way and change taken in steps that the business can consume. It is also important to have a system with transparent visibility of how scheduling decisions were made so users will understand and have confidence in the results.

With system design, focus on the fundamentals with a pilot area to begin with and then listen and learn from feedback. At FLS we offer this stage ‘precontract’ so there is no doubt in the technology, the business case, and what is required for deployment.

Next you refine/improve based on these learnings, show you take feedback onboard, and expand the use. Sometimes company improvements are not obvious for individuals who only see their own workload. Measuring and reporting overall statistics is therefore important not only for ROI calculation but also for positivity across the service team.

The final part of the big discussion will be published next week, when the panel are asked if SMEs can also benefit from optimised scheduling. You can read the first part of the discussion here and the second part here. 

In the Big Discussion we bring together a panel of industry experts and focus on one key topic within the field service sector.
In the second of a four part series on dynamic scheduling our panellists, FieldAware's Mark Tatarsky and Fast Lean Smart's Chris Welsh, ponder if optimised scheduling should be an accepted part of a wider FSM platform.

Should optimised scheduling still be considered as a best-of-breed solution or should it now be an expectation of wider FSM platforms?

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware
The most significant expense for a service organisation is the cost of its field resources. In a hyper-competitive market where service delivery is a crucial differentiator, service organisations must excel at customer service delivery whilst sustaining high levels of operational productivity.

Given these increased pressures, an optimised scheduler is a core feature of any world-class FSM platform. Ensuring work schedules are compliant, deliver the intended service to the end customer, and are operationally efficient is essential.

Traditionally, providing this depth of capability was cost-prohibitive for an FSM platform. Implementation projects were either too lengthy or too complex to configure an optimizer efficiently.

Modern, micro optimisation capabilities enable service delivery companies to quickly and cost-effectively implement optimised scheduling at a team level. Moreover, for those workflows needing a manual or semi-automated scheduling, advanced FSM tools also provide options such as Planning Mode.

This capability allows schedules to be built and adjusted in a safe environment either manually or through interactive optimisation cycles. When the Planner or Dispatcher is satisfied with the scheduling outcomes, they can publish and dispatch the approved schedule to the field technician’s mobiles following the team’s dispatch policy. 

Chris Welsh, Director, FLS – FAST LEAN SMART
Making do with scheduling included in an FSM platform might seem logical, however the benefit can be so great that best-of-breed is the way to go. Not only does schedule optimisation minimise cost, it also helps ensure you can deliver on the increasing service expectations of your customers.

In 2019, I believe it reasonable to set the minimum bar at the following capabilities to describe field service scheduling as ‘optimised’: 
1. Dynamic schedule optimisation to incorporate all engineers and jobs over a substantial radius, not just assigning work to an engineer because it’s their patch or have a space to fill in the diary;
2. Route calculation with actual average driving speeds for each road segment according to the time of day.

FLS are one of the few companies with this expertise, honing our solutions for over 25 years to provide the fastest, leanest and smartest configurable algorithms that can be integrated easily into any established FSM solution or new project.

Our customers are using most of the leading FSM/CRM/ERP technologies and FLS are happy to prove the benefit free of charge, starting with a scheduling test to compare how FLS VISITOUR would have scheduled your work - expect to be amazed at the unlocked potential!

The third part of the big discussion will be published next week, when the panel diagnose the biggest mistakes companies make when implementing a scheduling system. You can read the first part of the discussion here. 

Aligning capacity planning with dynamic work order scheduling is the key to planning for tomorrow not just getting through today unscathed argues Click’s Paul Whitelam. Kris Oldland reports...

There has been much talk in field service circles, but particularly in the manufacturing space, with regards to the importance of moving away from the traditional break-fix approach to field service delivery. In the past, the relationship between the service provider and customer has always been one whose nature has been primarily transactional.

An asset breaks, the customer calls to request a repair, and the service provider delivers that service within a previously agreed SLAs or at a designated cost if the asset lies out of warranty. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it has been around in one way or another since service delivery itself, with the odd refinement here or there.

So why, all of a sudden, does it seem that field service companies of all stripes and sizes are prepared to walk away from the ‘old ways’ to embrace the new? The truth is what we’ve done in the past has been good enough, it doesn’t mean it is the best we can be. Moreover, as technology drives both customer expectations and service provider capabilities forwards simultaneously, the need for better’ has in many senses been thrust upon us from all angles.

It is of little surprise then that we are seeing field service companies begin to adopt a new approach which positions them more firmly within a business ecosystem built of partnerships between service providers and customers. Talk of servitization and outcome-based service delivery has moved from niche concept to mainstream discussion in a relatively short time, and an understanding of advanced services has, well, advanced.

However, this shift in thinking is also being seen in the way some field service management (FSM) solution providers are approaching how they design their offerings. More and more we see talk revert to technology stacks which harness best of breed solutions versus the platform. For a long time, it seemed that the platform was going to be the future of the FSM.

“If you take the high-level strategic view, you can be a platform, or you can be a specialist in field service management..."

However, as integration becomes almost effortless in the age of the API, we see once again a shift in the direction of best-of-breed solutions. Take, for example, ClickSoftware, a company who have for a long time been regarded as a leading specialist amongst scheduling providers, who remain a best-in-class specialist, having previously appearing to flirt with the idea of a platform approach, for a short time at least.

“If you take the high-level strategic view, you can be a platform, or you can be a specialist in field service management,” explains Paul Whitelam, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, when I caught up with him earlier this year at the Field Service USA conference in Palm Springs, California.

“There are some arguments about where are the boundaries on field service management because that boundary’s changing a little bit. It’s certainly true that if you listen to service managers, they’ll say that an integral part of field service management is work holder management. Technically it’s not, it is an integral part of work order management.

“However, it’s perfectly acceptable for an organisation to have a best of breed work order management or a work order management system within their CRM and then also have field service management as an adjunct.

“As a best-of-breed field service management player, we can differentiate on how strategic we are, and we can expand our addressable market vertically and horizontally - vertically both in terms of industries and then geographically.

“When I say we differentiate on the strategic nature of field service management, what I mean by that is that a lot of the implementations you’ll see around, are centred on the day of service. For example ‘I’ve got a task, I need to allocate it to someone, and I can put various degrees of automation around it.’ Our approach incorporates this, but also questions what you did six months ago or a year ago.

"Capacity planning has become a perennial challenge..."

“What moves did you make to make sure that you’ve got the right skills, you’ve got people who have trained appropriately with the appropriate parts in the proper geographies who speak the right languages to be able to support your broader business strategies?” he adds.

This approach is certainly in keeping with the current zeitgeist becoming prevalent within our sector as touched on above, where field service is taking a much more central role within the long-term planning of many organisations.

“We’re looking at a field service management organisation that is about more than just delivering transactionally on the day of service. It’s more about making sure that, that team is set up for success and they’ve got the right skills, they’re the correct size.” Whitelam explains. 

It is interesting to hear Whitelam talk about the longer-term strategic planning of field service organisations both on the industry vertical and geographical focus. Click has undoubtedly made some significant gains in specific industry sectors such as telcos and more recently, the insurance sector. However, when it comes to increasing geographical coverage, this is often at the core of the challenge for expanding field service operations for companies in all industries.

Capacity planning has become a perennial challenge, but it has been revolutionised since the advent of cloud computing which enabled dynamic scheduling engines like Click to leverage the higher computational power of the Cloud to make modelling of potential capacity requirements into new regions a far more straightforward task than it previously once was.

“Capacity planning is a big area where we’ve invested in the product side of things,” comments Whitelam. “The advantages for linking capacity planning to work order scheduling is that if you’ve got your day of service review on how you’re doing, having that hooked in real-time with capacity management is becoming essential. It makes an excellent argument for having a tightly coupled planning and execution engine.” 

With strategy in field service evolving, it is undoubtedly prudent to consider how you can leverage the tools you have, or what tools you might need to invest in, to support you, not just with the ongoing day of service operations, but in your strategic growth in the mid and long-term future.

In the Big Discussion we bring together a panel of industry experts and focus on one key topic within the field service sector.
In the first of a new four part series, we turn our attention to dynamic scheduling where our panel includes FieldAware's Mark Tatarsky and Fast Lean Smart's Chris Welsh...

Given the increasing challenges of last-mile service delivery, how crucial is optimised scheduling for field service excellence?

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware
As markets become hyper-competitive, service delivery has become a key differentiator in winning and retaining customers.
Delivering consistent, high-quality service in the last mile is essential. New sources of competition are entering from different verticals, and service organisations are required to support a broader range of products, service offerings, and customers across both metropolitan and rural regions.

These increasing competitive pressures have service organizations turning to optimized scheduling to improve the delivery of their service commitments. Optimized scheduling now encapsulates the workflows, decision-making processes, and the criteria service providers use to execute on the customer journey and create genuine differentiation consistently.  

Key to this approach is new generation optimisation engines. These modern optimisation tools provide the ability to configure “micro scheduling.” These new tools enable providers to uniquely configure optimisation capabilities to support different team sizes, multiple product lines, as well as regional and seasonality needs.

This approach of building business policies that reflect optimisation needs at an atomic level provides the basis for rapid time to value. Micro scheduling not only facilitates efficient execution of the initial implementation, but it also helps with the introduction of new service lines, products, and regions. It enables service providers to react to and create a competitive advantage based on changes in the market and seasonal demands.

Chris Welsh, Director, FLS – FAST LEAN SMART
Last mile service delivery has always relied on good scheduling for field service excellence. With increasing pressure to achieve more with less and time-window/SLA expectations shortening, it is harder than ever to achieve this well without a schedule optimiser.

The best scheduling technology will not only plan accurately but also have ability to dynamically react in real-time to the progress of travel and work changes on the day. Engineer job allocation will re-optimise automatically to ensure priorities, including emergency jobs, are best met within available resources, highlighting SLA’s or appointments that will be missed so a Planner can override by exception.

This dynamic operation does not suit all service businesses and the technology is flexible. For example, many appointment based companies want the schedule finalised and ‘fixed’ for engineers the night before.

In this case the system will display real-time progress and give accurate prediction of when appointment windows will not be met or the engineer late home. By exception, the company may then decide to reassign using system recommendations.

The further importance for optimised scheduling is the ability to provide auto notification of arrival times and Uber-style tracking the engineer’s arrival by the customer on their phone. FLS were ahead when we launched this with FLS Portal last year and the function is increasingly an expectation for field service. 

The second part of the big discussion will be published next week, when the panel are asked if optimised scheduling should be an accepted part of a wider FSM platform.

This article first published on the HSO blog offers five crucial steps that field service companies can take to get a better handle on the core processes of field service delivery...

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It’s a no-brainer that a flawless service process contributes to higher customer satisfaction and increased service revenues.
But how do you ensure fast and accurate invoicing, service technicians who are always well equipped to solve the problem at hand, and that the right resources are in the right place at the right time? This blog outlines 5 steps to an optimised service process with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service. 

 

Optimised field service scheduling:

When a visit by a technical field service engineer doesn’t go as planned for one reason or another, money is lost. The five most common reasons why a service is not completed on the first visit are: 

• The right part is not available
• The customer or the equipment is not ready for the service
• The diagnosis already made appears incorrect on site
• The field service engineer does not have the right skills
• The solution was temporary
• The above problems cost the service company money, the field service engineer time and the customer’s patience and satisfaction. Microsoft Dynamics for Field Service offers you Resource Scheduling Optimisation functionality that allows Field Service engineers to be scheduled according to the location, time, customer SLA, personal preferences of the customer and the right skills for the job.

The schedule can be viewed via a mobile device and includes optimised routes that the engineers should take. When a change is made to the schedule, because, for example, there is an unexpected job that requires someone with specific skills, the Field Service engineer receives a notification with a new route. This means that the right person is always at the right place. When the job is completed, a new job is automatically set up. As a result, the time of the Field Service engineer is optimally utilised and no time is lost. Projects can also be planned via the schedule board. When, for example, 50 boilers need to be replaced, it is useful to have a good overview of all available Field Service engineers, based on which the schedule is created as efficiently as possible, taking into account the individual’s workload. In this way, an optimised schedule is automatically drawn up, which dynamically responds to the customer, the Field Service engineer and the company. 

 

Authorise & mobilise Field Service engineer:

Field Service employees often feel alone on the job or do not have access to the right information to solve a customer problem. They want to take control and have insight into the job. When you let your Field Service engineers go ‘mobile’, the company benefits from: 

• On-time appointments through the optimised schedules and routes.
• Case history & instructions: all information about the customer is at hand and when necessary insight into all the steps to complete the task.
• Work order completion: the Field Service engineer can take photos of the finished job, collect a customer signature and even handle the payment.

The process surrounding the purchase of new parts with Field Service has also been optimised. If for example, a certain part is required for the job, the Field Service engineer can order the correct part directly. The purchase page can be chosen to ‘send to ERP’, as a result of which the order will immediately appear in the ERP system of the company. When a certain purchase amount has been preapproved, approval for the purchase can be given immediately, so that the part is immediately ordered. This makes the process more efficient and eliminates unnecessary waiting times. Mobility is a game changer within Field Service and allows for greater flexibility in the field. The possibility of a complete overview of the customer and real-time guidance is necessary for the independent appointment of the Field Service engineer and the optimisation of the customer relationship.

 

Using Machine Learning and the IoT in Field Service:

If your car breaks down, it would be handy if your car could indicate what exactly is wrong. This would save a lot of valuable time. This is possible with machine learning – keep track of which customers or machines often have problems, what the problems are, what solutions have been put forward and which ones were effective. If, for example, it becomes clear that the same solution is always effective for a specific customer, then in the future, the problem can be solved in advance by the Field Service engineer with the right skills or even by providing the right directions remotely. With Field Service you can make optimum use of the opportunities offered by Internet of Things devices. Through optimal application, problems are predicted before downtime occurs and before the customer is affected by the problem. With Field Service you can: 

• Detect and resolve problems before the customer knows about it and only deploy a Field Service engineer when needed.
• Use predictive maintenance effortlessly: repair, clean or replace parts when necessary instead of using a fixed maintenance schedule.
• Automatically adjust work orders and assign these to the correct Field Service engineer, when self-healing steps do not solve the problem.

 

Optimal use of the cloud with the Azure IoT Suite:

What exactly is the Azure IoT Suite? Let’s take a step back and start with the problem for which it was designed. We are currently experiencing tremendous growth in IoT solutions, but why now? The answer to this question is simple: the advantages of IoT solutions start to outweigh the costs that are incurred to implement it. The complex layout of IoT is pricey since you have to have sensors that safely send all data, the data has to be stored, processed and analysed and finally presented to the end user in a clear way.Today, the hardware is already much more affordable and the connectivity is cheaper. The Azure IoT Suite is a set of different technologies brought together in one tool in the cloud. What’s in this tool? 

• Data storage
• Data analytics
• Stream processing
• Predictive analytics
• Workflow automation
• Dashboarding

 Everything you need for optimal use of the cloud. 

 

Customer relationship optimisation:

In 2016, 62% of consumers worldwide indicated they would no longer do business with a brand due to a single bad experience that has taken place with customer service. This highlights the importance of excellent customer service.  With Customer Communications, Field Service helps you to retain your customers by providing optimal service, insight and by involving them in the processes: 

• Companies must gain insight and control the entire customer journey across all touchpoints.
• Maintaining the customer relationship should no longer be a statistical, ‘one-size fits all model’, but should be personalised for each customer.
• Companies have to meet the customer on their preferred channel (e-mail, chat, social media, web, telephone, shop, etc.).

 

And perhaps most importantly: the customer service doesn’t end with a single transaction, it is important to build a long-term relationship. In addition, real-time up-to-date stock management is a must. Poor stock management is, in addition to being a drain on the profitability of a company, an irritation point for the customer. With Customer Communications you always ensure an optimally personalised, proactive and predictive approach to the customer. That is what the customer wants from you nowadays and what companies have to offer.

This article first published on the HSO blog offers some key insight for field service organisations that are keen to empower their field service operation with automated field service scheduling...

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Few companies can remain competitive in today’s field service environment without effective management of time, costs and resources. Despite this, a staggering 52% of field service companies still coordinate work and perform functions manually[i]. The adoption of dynamic, automated scheduling software can free up time to concentrate on team development and maximising revenue. In this blog we share the benefits of, and the pain points eradicated by using automated field service scheduling tools.

 

Management of unexpected changes

No matter how carefully a schedule is planned, unexpected and last-minute changes can occur. Automated software solutions can minimise these risks, while maximising efficiencies. Re-optimisation happens in real time when changes occur, giving both the employee and customer an immediate update, even down to a specific time slot for an engineer’s arrival. With 89% of customers preferring an ‘Uber like” service for tracking technician arrivals[ii], it’s something that will delight customers and increase brand perception.

 

Utilising Graphical User Interfaces (GUI’s)

GUI’s are a popular way to manage resources for the field service industry, not least because it’s a quick and easy way to deal with large amounts of data. Using Microsoft Dynamics 365, team managers can use a calendar style view, showing each technician’s day, jobs and skill set, along with a map view for both staff and call out locations. It’s predicted that by 2020, more than 75% of field service organisations with over 50 users will deploy mobile apps that go beyond simplified data collection and add capabilities that help technicians succeed[iii]. These field operatives can benefit from a mobile app showing location and fastest route, customer assets and service history of the equipment needing attention.

 

Automating decisions using parameters

As well as helping to efficiently book service calls to your customers, automated scheduling software also knows when not to book an appointment. Customer satisfaction can quickly evaporate if technicians don’t have either the skill set or parts required to complete the job. Harnessing data on part availability and employee skills can ensure the right person with the right skill set and equipment is in place at your customer’s site, first time. This also translates into a reduction in repeat call outs and a much improved customer experience.

 

Effective reduction of waste

Time spent by employees travelling to customer sites comes at a cost to your business. They are on the clock during this time and yet it’s not a billable event for your customers. That’s where automated route and traffic mapping can help, like Microsoft’s Resource Scheduling Optimisation. Instant calculations occur, allowing the best available engineer to be selected and routed directly to the customer site – assisted by a simple drag and drop interface for work orders. This not only saves employees’ time, but also wear and tear on a fleet of vehicles and gives a measurable reduction in fuel costs.   .

 

Improving staff morale

Many Engineers like driving, but they all know it is inherently un-productive. What they really want to do is spend their time working on customer-sites. The reduction in the travel-to-work time ratio achieved by a well optimised schedule increases job-satisfaction levels for field personnelAs the global field service market is expected to reach $4.45 billion by 2020[iv], companies that adopt automation will reap the rewards.

From filling shifts in the event of unplanned absences to managing budgets, anticipating scheduling needs to maximising productivity; embracing the right solutions can reduce costs and mitigate lost revenues; while enhancing worker mobility and improving organisational performance.View our infographic about “A Day in the Life of a Field Service Engineer”  with HSO Advanced Field Service.

For more information about the benefits of automated field service scheduling please contact HSO. 

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[i] https://www.servicepower.com/blog/top-5-field-service-industry-trends-for-2018

[ii] https://www.reachoutsuite.com/field-service-management-stats-and-trends-2018/

[iii] https://blog.capterra.com/10-field-service-statistics-to-keep-you-in-the-know/

[iv] https://www.reachoutsuite.com/field-service-management-stats-and-trends-2018/

Scheduling software has long been a foundational technology for field service companies allowing them to meet customer demands. Michael Blumberg lifts the lid on all of the key aspects of this crucial tool...

 

If you have spent any time in Field Service, you probably understand the importance of managing service delivery functions against key performance indicators (KPIs). Among the most critical KPIs in the Field Service Leaders track are First Time Fix (FTF), Service Level Agreement (SLA) Compliance or Onsite Response Time (ORT), and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). These KPIs measure the effectiveness of a Field Service Organization (FSOs) in delivering quality service in a timely manner.

The inability to meet KPI targets may result in exponential costs, customer attrition and loss of revenue; whereas the ability to exceed customer expectations can result in customer appreciation followed by an increase in profit margins and sales. To effectively schedule/dispatch the right technician to arrive on time with the right parts and skillset plays a significant role in meeting these outcomes. This is definitely not a small feat for your typical FSO.

 

"Scheduling and dispatching Field Service Engineers (FSE) poses a challenge for most FSOs, particularly those with more than 5 FSEs. The reason behind this is there are many variables and factors involved..."

 

Scheduling and dispatching Field Service Engineers (FSE) poses a challenge for most FSOs, particularly those with more than 5 FSEs. The reason behind this is there are many variables and factors involved.

An FSO with only one or two FSEs and a few customers may not perceive scheduling to be a major challenge. The volume of service requests may be relatively low while the options of who, when and where to send them may be rather limited. Scheduling becomes more of a challenge as the volume of service requests (i.e., customers) and the number of FSEs increases.

Adding to this complexity are the business objectives and/or constraints an FSO must optimize to meet its scheduling requirements.

With additional constraints or objectives, the more difficult it becomes to produce a solid schedule. For example, if the objective is to only meet a response time commitment to the customer, then the decision is easy - assign the FSE who can arrive in a timely manner at the customer’s site.

If FTF, MTTR, and/or SLA Compliance targets are also part of the equation, it becomes even more difficult to produce that solid schedule. Adding a profit margin objective, high call volumes, multiple geographies, and a sizable pool of FSEs, the decision becomes even more overwhelming.

 

"The reason why scheduling is so excruciating of a task is that there are numerous factors that an FSO would need to create and evaluate to determine the optimal assignment for each FSE..."

 

The reason why scheduling is so excruciating of a task is that there are numerous factors that an FSO would need to create and evaluate to determine the optimal assignment for each FSE.

This is a time-consuming activity that requires an extensive amount of computational power to achieve. Many companies have suffered from a loss of time and resources in dealing with confusion and potential human error. The solution is Dynamic Scheduling Software.

Dynamic Scheduling Software provides FSOs with the feature-rich functionality that streamlines, automates, and optimizes scheduling decisions.

This technology ensures the FSO sends the assigned technician to the right job having the proper skill set and arriving on time. These applications typically leverage a scheduling engine that optimizes FSE job assignment. Scheduling engines vary in their complexity ranging from those based on business rules to Linear Programming (i.e. goodness of fit) techniques, Operations Research Algorithms (e.g., Quantum Annealing, Genetic Algorithms, etc.), or Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Self-Learning applications.

The complexity of the scheduling problem, number and types of resources involved, duration of tasks, and objectives to be optimized play a role in determining which scheduling engine is most functional.

Critical factors to consider may include whether the scheduling engine can handle:

1. multi-day projects or short duration field service visits,
2. people and assets (e.g., tools, parts, trucks, equipment) or solely people,
3. the number and types of KPIs that are part of the objective, and
4. route planning requirements.

In evaluating Dynamic Scheduling Software, FSOs are also advised to consider the following criteria:

• Cloud versus On-Premise Deployment Options
• Speed and Ease of Implementation
• Integration with Back-office Systems
• Availability of Real-time Visibility by the Customer
• FSO Requirements for Best of Breed or Integrated Enterprise Solution
• Total Cost of Ownership
• Return on Investment
• Vendor Industry Knowledge and Experience

There are over a dozen software vendors who offer some form of dynamic scheduling functionality for field service.

Obviously, no two Dynamic Scheduling applications are alike. Each one has their points of differentiation. The best solution is a function of the level of importance the FSO places on each criterion and how each vendor meets these criteria.

Regardless of which vendor is selected, the benefits of Dynamic Scheduling are clear.

In fact, industry benchmarks show that companies who implement these types of solutions can achieve a 20% to 25% improvement in operating efficiency, field service productivity, and utilization. The impact on bottom line profitability and customer satisfaction is substantial. To enable FSOs to provide customers with an Uber-like experience and significant profitability, FSOs should consider deploying Dynamic Scheduling Software as part of their service delivery infrastructure.

 

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Michael Blumberg, is President of the Blumberg Advisory Group 

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