In the above video you'll find the Q&A session from our most recent webinar run in partnership with service management software specialists IFS where Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland spoke with scheduling expert Daryl Dudey of IFS.

 

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Magenta Technology, the developers of the Maxoptra routing and scheduling system, has launched an online application that automates job despatching for users of TomTom’s telematics and fleet management solutions. The app, called Planndit, links job details from Maxoptra directly to TomTom WEBFLEET, eliminating the need to manually type in job details. This makes job despatch and sequencing quick and easy, saving time and eliminating errors.

It means being able to despatch routes to any TomTom Pro device in less than 30 seconds per route, and that includes verifying the overall route on a map and optimising the route sequence within the process before it is sent. The app simply connects to the TomTom service and pools the devices in use so jobs can be sent to the correct operative.

The Maxoptra app automatically calculates distance and driving time for the route and each individual address. The route sequence can be optimised for the best cost by re-ordering stops with a simple drag-n-drop. Notes for the driver can be added and sent with the address to the driver's TomTom Pro with a simple click.

Maxoptra is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform designed to enable quick decision-making within ever-changing operational environments such as service management. The Planndit app is a module available as a low cost, pay-as-you-go service and includes a simple 3-step wizard to take the user through the process, eliminating the need for any training.

Stuart Brunger, Business Development Director for Maxoptra, commented: “In talking to TomTom users it was clear that, although telematics promised big benefits, there was something missing. What they needed was an integrated system; a seamless link between their job management system and TomTom. With the Planndit app, we have addressed this with a solution that transforms job despatching and customer service delivery by linking Maxoptra and TomTom WEBFLEET to create an integrated operations system.”

 

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Marne Martin CEO of ServicePower gives us her insight into why the company continues to focus on evaluating and developing the latest technologies for field service...

Disruptive new, connected technologies are changing the workforce management industry, by leap and bounds.

ServicePower Technologies Plc, is incorporating the latest in technology innovations into its leading field management software solutions. These new technologies, including social, mobile, cloud, analytics, IoT and M2M, and collaboration, drive efficiencies and productivity, reduce costs and increase first time fix rates. Most importantly, they transform workforce management to improve customer satisfaction, recognized as the overall measurement of success.

Schedule optimisation is the cornerstone of workforce management software, and the key on which the success of operations rely. Without real optimisation, the software won’t deliver on its ROI promises. There are generally three types of scheduling approaches: 

1. Basic scheduling: Managers build and manage a schedule manually, using no logic to decide the best tech or the best place on a schedule for a job.
2. Automated/Simple Rules-Based Scheduling: Simple, rules based systems, including computerised logic automatically builds a schedule, filling an open slot on the schedule, with no reshuffling of existing jobs to achieve a less costly schedule.
3. Intelligent Route Optimisation, as offered by ServicePower.  The schedule is built automatically based on configurable parameters and sophisticated optimisation algorithms to minimise costs, maximise margins, reduce response times and improve customer satisfaction, while ensuring that the best field tech is assigned with the right skills and parts. It also re-optimises the schedule in order to reduce costs.Place your list items here

ServicePower pioneered true intelligent, configurable route optimisation,  providing its ServiceScheduling software since the late nineties. We’ve continuously enhanced the engine which is offered through competitive partners as well. In 2015, we incorporated a modern Management Console which provides managers the ability to monitor key metrics, scheduled jobs, staff location and collaborate with remote team members.

We’ve enhanced lat/long travel matrix capabilities, long and complex job functionality, as well as crew and third party scheduling, and are working on evolving our scheduling algorithms to the next generation in artificial intelligence technology.

We’ve improved planning and forecasting using the latest map layering technology and coupled it with a true, non-production modelling environment and robust, cloud self-service Business Intelligence to ensure results.

Most importantly, we’ve realised that at times integration budgets or timelines stand in the way of deployment. Optimisation as a Service (OaaS), our newest product, provides enterprises and SMBs alike the power of true, intelligent, automated, route optimisation, in the cloud and on demand, by offering schedule optimisation as a service, priced transactionally. For field service organisations that want the productivity and cost savings of optimised routing, but don’t necessarily require the power of continuous optimisation, OaaS enables them to book jobs, optimise them, creating the best, least costly schedule available.

OaaS enables any organisation, even SMBs which previously were priced out of the technology, to benefit from real optimisation, moving past manual or simple rules based solutions. Likewise, enterprises looking to supplement existing ERP or CRM solutions without a full workforce management software deployment, or those with sales, stocking, or depot work not requiring travel, will also have the option of utilising OaaS.  OaaS will revolutionise how route and schedule optimisation is deployed.

We’ve also extended our M2M Connected Service product through a partnership with UK-based Concirrus, a top 10 Platform-as-a-Service UK company, and named by Gartner in its report: Cool Vendor in the Internet of Things 2015.   Concirrus adds cloud based IoT services to our scheduling software, creating new opportunities in the insurance sector and other industries with high levels of early IoT adopters, as well as new countries around the world. Additional partnerships are also under discussion in interesting new segments of IoT and application development.

We’ve enhanced ServiceMobility, our cross-platform mobile application, with additional payment and pricing features, estimates, product catalogues real time collaboration and most importantly, configurable, rules based forms. Rules provide the ability to rapidly define when data or forms are to be visible to a technician on a job-by-job basis, deploying new strategies in the field without code changes.

On the back of OaaS and ServiceMobility,  ServicePower launched Nexus FS, in September, providing the same mobile features with a SaaS business management portal that any business, from enterprise to SMB, can use to manage customers, vendors, jobs, and field employees. Combined with OaaS, those enterprises seeking a true end-to-end mobile workforce management solution can rely on ServicePower as a single source vendor for all field service operations requirements.

ServicePower is continuously evaluating new technologies to ensure that clients achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction today, as well as future proofing our workforce management software so it supports our clients tomorrow as well. In 2015, our new products and partnerships are leading the way in technology innovation for field service businesses.

 

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Utilities firms are looking to Big Data and smart technology to move away from costly reactive maintenance. Marina Stedman, ClickSoftware, explains why...

Utility companies that typically manage vast networks of locations, staff, and supplies have the unenviable task of keeping the lights on regardless of what Mother Nature chooses to throw at them. It is an industry sector that is constantly investing and innovating but the impact often goes unnoticed, with customers and regulators only really paying attention when something goes wrong, a service is not delivered or when their bills increase.

The unpredictable nature of many countries’ climates and weather means that utility companies face many challenges to keep everything on an even keel. Add to that the fact that many organisations in the sector utilise subcontractors to support their engineering and maintenance activities, it leaves these companies largely operating in a vacuum, reacting to events when they occur.

This is corroborated by a recent OFWAT report that stated that 90 per cent of maintenance work is reactive and 33 per cent of down time losses are a result of unplanned maintenance, which costs utilities organisations 50 per cent more to deliver than planned maintenance.

These are huge figures in a sector that is traditionally run on very tight margins. It is a situation that is not sustainable, especially in the face of mounting consumer and political opposition to increasing bills and the well-known risks and issues of maintaining supply. Instead, we are seeing more and more companies pursuing a proactive system for both planned and unplanned maintenance.

The ability to manage and schedule field service staff while on the move is one of the key technologies driving the transition. The proliferation of connected devices integrated with sophisticated scheduling software is transforming the way that utility companies work in the field. With instant access to staff availability, asset data and interpretive scheduling software, the decision and communications process can be managed on a real-time basis.

While much has been made of big data for several years now, we are finally seeing companies beginning to confront the opportunities it presents. The key for this new proactive approach is in the immediacy of data collection and the availability and interpretation of that data.

 

Previously companies would require field workers to manually complete job data on sheets on site and only be able to update central databases from a central location. That equated to a lot of downtime and wasted effort. There was also a reliance on data being accurately completed on-site and then transcribed into the central office system, something which is not always easy to do in remote off-site locations.

Engineers using smart, mobile devices can now log data as they go along, provide progress reports, take photographic evidence, collect signatures after jobs have been completed and order in supplies all while still on site. This helps utility companies to have more visibility over the way both direct and subcontracted work is completed, to help them schedule resources with maximum accuracy and plan for next jobs and actions. Using real-time big data to analyse and then schedule people with the right skills to the right tasks in a way that minimises downtime and no longer requires them to return to a central point will help utility companies move from being reactive to proactive.

As staff are able to instantly update job status and see new jobs being scheduled while out on the road, a more finely tuned operation will create value for both the company and the customer.

In addition to the smart devices engineers now carry with them, we are starting to see the introduction of smart objects. Connected pylons, life buoys, sensors in the road and automatic weather sensors will all become available. These devices will be used to track a multitude of environmental factors that are key to the smooth operation of a utility company. As well as external smart devices tracking environmental factors, we are already seeing these kinds of devices in our own homes with smart meters that show both the consumer and the utility provider what’s being used.

Taking a proactive approach to scheduling based on a combination of environmental, logistical and organisational big data, delivered directly to field staff via mobile smart devices is a developing science but one which many forward-thinking utilities firms are introducing today.

However, given the speed at which smart technology and big data interpretation is developing, we expect to see the number of reactive responses start to drop and be replaced with pro-active, forecasted and tailored scheduling. It will be a virtuous circle as more preventative work will reduce the number of reactive situations companies need to manage. The cumulative effect will be less pressure on operating margins, more effective use of skilled field resources and ultimately a better customer experience.

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Leading mobile workforce management company ServicePower Technologies Plc has launched Nexus FS, an enterprise-class  cloud-based field service management solution for any sized service business that incorporates comprehensive mobile dispatch functionality.

NEXUS FS (Field Service) is designed to provide service businesses of any size an enterprise-quality cloud-based field service management solution with a comprehensive mobile application. It incorporates work order management, mobile dispatching to field based resources, real-time schedule monitoring through an interactive Gantt, timesheet reporting, location monitoring and reporting, asset and parts capabilities, and user configurable maintenance, all in the cloud, with fast and easy data set-up and a modern and easy user interface.

The NEXUS FS mobile dispatch component has new features such as rules-based, user configurable forms delivered on a job-by-job basis, allowing organisations and technicians to quickly adapt to job conditions, improving both efficiency and productivity, while enhancing the customer experience.  It also incorporates the latest release of ServicePower's  ServiceMobility providing job and activity management, scheduling, inventory management, parts information, schematic diagrams, note-taking, timesheets, signature capture, photograph capture, collaboration with office-based resources, navigation, estimates and payments, and customer surveys.

For those requiring real-time optimisation, Nexus FS can be integrated with ServicePower’s ServiceScheduling module, and later this year it will also be available with the company’s patented field service optimisation algorithm Optimisation on Demand.

NEXUS FS also will offer connected global third party contractors the ability to manage their own business while receiving work from our ServiceOperations global client base, aggregating all jobs into one software platform, reducing costs and improving operational efficiencies.

Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower, commented "ServicePower are investing in rapid development of our mobile workforce management platform adding in new features and new products that further connect the service supply chain, provide improved efficiencies and productivity, and enhance the customer experience.  NEXUS FS changes the field service market. It's not simply another disparate mobile dispatching solution. It provides small, medium and even large enterprise organisations with an economical, cloud-based solution to manage their business and fully mobilise their field operations with access to real algorithm-based optimisation, connectivity to multiple job sources and the ability to file claims for work performed, through our connected platform and offerings, providing an unmatched, single vendor solution to any business."

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Kirona
Title: Driving Productivity in Field Service
Download: Click here to download the white paper

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis

This white paper from Kirona highlights the benefits of integrating automated scheduling with a mobile working solution.

Overview

Leveraging the power of an integrated scheduling and mobile working solution that reduces travel and idle time, streamlines processes and ultimately increases the number of jobs/deliveries/visits completed per day per field worker can deliver average productivity improvements of 20% and sometimes even higher.

Rostering vs scheduling

Rostering ensures that you have enough people to fulfil the demand at any point in time. Scheduling ensures those people are doing the right things at the right time.

Real productivity gains only come when making the step change from rostering to scheduling. Best-in-class service organisation achieve 81% performance in worker utilisation Scheduling enables you to take into account when allocating work such a location and skill set.

 

The order in which work is schedule can have a significant impacto productivity. If you have a team of 100 workers doing 5 jobs a day, there are 1 billio possible combinations of how those jobs could be allocated

Minimise travel time

Travel time can be the greatest source of productivity leakage. Reducing the travel time of field workers by just 10% per day can, on average, increase productivity by as much as one additional average job per day.

Kirona strongly recommends that journey planning needs to be fully integrated into the scheduling process and that it takes into account the actual route between jobs and incorporates traffic information.

Addressing no access

An efficient schedule drives productivity improvements, but only if customers keep appointments and field workers are able to gain access. Integrating scheduling with customer communication can increase the number of appointments kept and update customers on arrival times.

Streamlining Workflow Paperwork, rekeying data, manual workflows and not having access to key information are all factors that are detrimental to the productivity of your field workforce. The benefits of having a seamless mobile working solution far outweighs the investment required.

Access to the right information empowers a results-driven workforce. According to Aberdeen Group’s Field Service 2014 report, best-in-class service organisations achieved an 88% first time fix performance

Handling the emerging day

The daily challenge for field service organisations is how deal with the unexpected without compromising productivity or letting customers down. According to the McKinsey Improving Workforce Productivity, an average 5-10% of jobs are cancelled each day an 10-20% or tasks run shorter or longer than expected.

Managing this requires real-time visibility of your engineers and a dynamic scheduling app that allows you to move work allocation one job at a time.

 

Leveraging Actionable Insight

Comprehensive insight, acting on it and measuring the impact is the key to driving continuous productivity improvement. Benchmarking individual performance and task times, analysis of capacity vs demand and understanding geographic coverage all are key productivity drivers.

Conclusions

Field workforce automation software is key to driving productivity. The technology is proven, deployment does not have to be complex and there are significant gains to be made.

We have seen time after time that by leveraging Dynamic Resource Scheduling combined with Mobile Working, organisations on average see an uplift in productivity of 20%.

Yet the value does not stop there. These organisations also see an improvement in first time fix, a reduction in no-access, reduced administration overhead and measurable improvements in customer satisfaction. The field service activities become far more predictable and so too does performance.

Every aspect of work can be measured, analysed and lessons learned to drive continuous performance.  According to Aberdeen Group, a best in class service organisation is defined by its ability to achieve 81% or greater workforce utilisation, 88% or better first time fix and a 90% or better customer satisfaction.

 

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Find out more by clicking here to download the white paper now!

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As we continue our exclusive serialisation of Advanced Field Service’s excellent Service Manager Handbook 2015/16 edition we turn our attention to agile resource scheduling…

You are also able to download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

It’s simple to manage a relatively small team of engineers with a limited number of jobs. But as your business grows, so do the scale and complexity of your resources.

However, the challenge of getting the properly skilled technician to the job with the minimum of fuss and overheads is not insurmountable. So when scheduling your field resources, how can you get it right?

Optimise travel times

Typically, around half of engineers’ time is spent (i.e. lost) in travelling to the customer’s site. Escalating fuel costs mean that long journeys also eat into your profit margins.

Clearly, optimising travel times has never been more important.

When new calls come in, you need to know your engineers’ present and future locations. Modern GPS navigation, route planning software and mapping tools have changed the rules for engineer allocation, helping your engineers reach customers via the quickest and/or shortest route. Don’t assume the usual route is the best one. Stay alert to incidents and planned roadworks that are causing hold-ups.

Your scheduling system should reduce planning time by suggesting and prioritising slots in the vicinity of the engineer’s base location and/or existing call locations, as well as finding the best slot for the job in line with SLA commitments.

Track your field team

Can you see at a glance which engineers are in the area and who is best placed to answer a new call or respond to an emergency? If, for any reason, an engineer cannot gain access to a customer’s site, is there another call locally that they can be redirected to?

Knowing your engineers’ whereabouts will help you react with agility and re-plan rapidly. You’ll also be able to monitor how long they’re spending on any particular job and check whether other work needs to be urgently re-planned.

Over time, having this data will help build a record of engineers’ actual and reported locations, highlighting any anomalies that need addressing.

Combine breakdown service with planned maintenance

Do you know which customers have routine service checks falling due? Is an engineer already scheduled to attend the customer or working with another customer nearby?

Being proactive in scheduling routine maintenance jobs will free your team to handle unexpected events.

Your systems should give you the flexibility to generate service jobs when you want to and to prompt operators with information about these jobs at the appropriate time.

Hit the ground running and increase first-time fix rates

You should have the systems in place to quickly identify who has the skills and availability to take a call. Provide them with everything they need to know to get in quickly, do the job, close down and exit, including call history and technical information. Enable them to do this via their mobile device, rather than having to carry around boxes of manuals.

Needless to say, your engineers require ready access to spares and parts. Can you track your inventory so that parts can be sourced quickly – from another engineer in the vicinity, the depot or a supplier? Give your engineers the power to search for and order spares via their mobile device.

This can also assist in reducing the costs of carrying inventory on the van ‘just in case’, which ties up your capital unnecessarily.

Plan non-billable activities

Time has to be allowed, planned and incorporated into the overall scheduling process for non-job related activities such as holidays and training. You need to be able to see at a glance any potential clashes: will approving a particular holiday request make it impossible to deliver certain jobs on time? Or can delivery be achieved only by the over-utilisation of the engineer prior to or immediately after their holiday?

And what contingency plans do you have for unplanned absence or adverse weather that may prevent engineers coming into work?

Review demand against resources

Integrated planning can help manage the tricky juggling act of satisfying the customer by responding within a reasonable timeframe and keeping engineers’ and back-office staff’s workloads within acceptable limits.

Your scheduling systems should prove invaluable in managing the complexity of resourcing across all jobs and provide a holistic view over the resourcing commitments across the business, so you can see at a glance the forecasted demand on your staff and their availability to take on new work.

By being able to visualise the impact of resourcing staff into new jobs and contracts, you can assign priorities and create realistic schedules. If necessary, reschedule or reassign existing work to another engineer with the skills to complete the job. Your system should hold details of engineers’ skills and certifications.

Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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In this the second instalment of our on going series looking at some of the key insight delivered in Advanced Field Service’s Management Handbook 2016 we take a look at one of the most important areas of any field service operation… scheduling.  

You are also able to download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

Scheduling your field engineers is undoubtedly one of a service managers core key performance indicators (KPIs), central to business profitability, and a key target on which you and your staff are measured.

Get it right and you increase the chances of business success. Get it wrong and the consequences can be disastrous, with resources overstretched or your engineers and technicians ‘sitting on the bench’ waiting for the call. There are multiple factors to consider when getting the right scheduling solution for your organisation, such as...

What type of call are you doing?

Is your engineer being sent out as an urgent response to fix a breakdown in an emergency or are they preforming routine planned maintenance? And what type of service do your engineers deliver when they are on site? Is it your strategy to just fix the immediate problem before moving swiftly onto the next customer, trying to get as many jobs in per day as possible?

Or does your company take the viewpoint that a more sensible approach is to have your engineers go above and beyond when on site, so your engineer will take their time to make sure all potential problems are addressed in order to reduce the chances of another call-out in the near future? Finally what about your business model? Do you work on a pay per call basis or does the customer have a warranty, a service contract or a rental agreement?

What is your routing allocation model?

How can you ensure engineer days are utilised with maximum efficiency? Do you split your engineers into specific geographic regions? What about routing and tracking tools to help your engineers get from one job to the next? And what type of scheduling tools are you using – dynamic, assisted, none at all? Is this right for your business or should you be exploring scheduling options in greater detail?

Can you categorise the calls you do to plan the day effectively?

How do you optimise the number of calls per day your team is able to handle effectively? Also how do you balance the workload amongst your engineers? What considerations do you put in place to ensure you are getting this balance right? How should you be dividing your teams into large site service jobs? Is it better to concentrate on multi-location quick fixes or is a mix and match approach a better fit with your company and your team?

What about where in the week you try to place your planned maintenance work? Is it better to show a bias towards the latter half of the week to free up capacity for a start of week breakdown rush or is it more sensible to have an even spread across the week so you don’t face the possibility of preventative maintenance being continuously pushed back to accommodate emergency calls?

What is your skills/parts allocation model?

Of course it’s not just a case of getting an engineer to the job, we need to be getting the right engineer to the job. How easy is it for your team to dispatch jobs based on the engineers skill-set and knowledge base? Of course this is a two way street – do you know what skills each job requires and do you know what engineers have what skills?

How easy is it to access that information? Do you have systems in place to manage this or does your call centre team have to know all about your products and your engineers’ individual capabilities? What about building your engineers skill sets up - can you train all your engineers to do everything, and then keep them up to date? Is it plausible to do so? Or would it be more sensible to have area experts, specialists in certain maintenance and repairs? Is there a risk of over-utilising sought after individuals if you take this approach?

Do you understand the site access profile?

Finally what about the access your field service engineers will have to your customer’s site? Are the customers’ premises  open on a 24/7 basis, 9 to 5 or appointment only? Again are you relying on staff knowledge to ensure you don’t dispatch a field service engineer out to the job when he can’t get access or do you have automated systems in place to help avoid this?

All of these questions are key to helping you build up an understanding both of how your business is currently approaching scheduling and what changes you can make to get things running ever smoother…

Download the full 40 page ebook The Service Management Handbook 2016 no by clicking this link and completing the brief form.

 

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Warranty, claims and customer care provider Castelan Group is using scheduling software from Paragon Software Systems to centralise the planning of its UK home service operation and manage the allocation of its mobile technician team.

The Paragon software schedules service calls for Castelan’s nationwide team of mobile technicians, enabling the company to improve the customer care experience it offers on behalf of the UK’s major high street retailers.

Castelan (previously Homeserve Warranties) provides furniture and electrical warranty and care packages to more than 1.5 million households. With a team of over 80 service engineers carrying out home visits ranging from damage assessments to TV repairs and French polishing, Castelan wanted to streamline the routing and scheduling process, enhancing the overall efficiency of its technical service operations and in turn improving the company’s customer satisfaction levels.

Castelan chose Paragon’s Multi Depot system with HERE Map Content, enabling the company to plan the routes and schedules for its entire team of mobile technicians as a single planning task. With each technician treated as a “depot”, the system is able to flex the depot boundaries automatically to take into account the availability of its technicians, and provide a higher level of route planning capabilities. This results in improved efficiency in a multi depot planning environment.

“We’re very happy with the support we get from Paragon,” said Lisa Harbison, Network Deployment Coordinator, Castelan. “Paragon’s support team helps us with software upgrades and to use our solution to address new business requirements as they arise. For example, we needed to incorporate the collection of spare parts from stores prior to the service engineers’ visits into our planning process. These collections are now routed through Paragon.”

William Salter, Managing Director, Paragon Software Systems concludes “Paragon’s flexibility helps our customers create efficiencies in many different ways including fleet optimisation, cost control and reduced planning time. Paragon Multi Depot has facilitated the switch to central planning for Castelan, providing the ability to share results and incorporate changes from other sites across the operation. Not only does this reduce planning time, it also improves visibility of the service schedule and gives the planning team added flexibility, helping Castelan to distribute the workload evenly between its service engineers.”

 

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