What is a Field Services Management System?
"Field services management system" is commonly the name given to a database system that is designed to coordinate and keep track of the activities of a staff of mobile workers. Such a staff of mobile workers are typically given names such as "Engineers", "Installers", "Delivery Personnel", "Service Agents", "Assessors", "Inspectors", "Surveyors", "Meter Readers", "Adjustors", "Sales Workers". The roles that these mobile staffs can have may vary widely from one business sector to another, but what ties all of these groups of staff together, is that they all have a requirement to send and receive address, location and related task information to and from a central administrative office, or number of administrative offices.
Modern field services management systems eliminate around 80% of the administrative work associated with the management of a field services staff. They achieve this by sending and receiving information to and from field services operators directly into and out of the central office database, with minimal and sometimes even zero intervention from administrative personnel. Very often this is sent to and from the field operative via a "smart device" such as PDA or PocketPC. This eliminates the need for paper work and the enevitable transcription errors that go with it.
Examples
Lets consider some examples of field services management systems, the traditional paper based systems, and what the new electronic system replacements are able to achieve over and above the traditional systems.
(1) White goods installation, service and repairs
Typical Existing Paper based system
Every job, whether it be a delivery or installation or repair has associated paper work. A customer signature must be obtained and original paper work must be stored. Relevant information must be printed by office staff onto delivery or visit documents. After the job the installer / repairers notes must then be copied by office staff into the database system together with the status of the job, completed or ongoing. Parts and labour associated with the work done on the job must be recorded on paper and then copied into the office system.
Electronic system
The electronic system passes information to and from the installer / repairer / engineer or plumber via the PocketPC PDA smart device or phone. The address and job information is passed directly to the installer at the end of each day ready to prepare for the following day's work. Information can be updated on the office system dynamically, and synchronised with information on the field operator's device. All information is captured electronically and stored electronically. (See the note about the security of electronically stored information below.) The customer signature is entered directly onto the surface of the PDA. Parts supplied or stock purchased during the process can be entered by the engineer as the job proceeds. Purchase orders can be monitored on screen back at HQ. Van stock levels can also be tracked, together with warehouse stock, ordered stock and damaged stock.
(2) Billboard posting
Typical Existing Paper based system
As long as the reliability of board posters cannot be counted on 100%, it is hard to guarantee 100% posting, and how in any case do you prove to a client that this has been achieved. Traditional methods involve having a set of more responsible staff, who monitor the reliability of the posting staff, but there is no way to guarantee 100% proof of posting without having these auditing staff members visit every posting location, resulting in 2 visits for every poster put up, or else a lower service level guarantee.
Electronic system
Using cheap readily available technologies such as 3G or GPRS, the billboard poster can receive posting address information sent directly to the device from the central office database. This can include the code numbers of the posters to be displayed at each location. After the poster is put up, the operative takes a photograph of the new poster being displayed at the billboard location, using the same PDA PocketPC device to take a digital photograph. This photograph is tagged with the job, visit, and address information for the particular posting in question, and can also be tagged with G.P.S. location information, to provide even more reliability that a given posting has been done at a given time in a given location by a given operative. The operative may also be required to sign on the PDA screen to confirm they are there when the photograph is taken and the work carried out. The digital photograph, signature, locations information, status and circumstances noted by the operative can then be transmitted immediately via 3G/GPRS and the internet back to the central office database system, which in turn can be used to power a customer portal, showing the photographs, and G.P.S. location information.
You are now in a position to offer 100% proof of posting. Can your competitors say the same?
(3) Security Officer rounds and alarm responses
Typical Existing Paper based system
Security company administrators must manage and coordinate a whole array of varying types of tasks: mobile rounds, alarm responses, keyholder interventions. These schedules of work are typically generated manually off the back of contracts which for a given customer may span multiple sites or single sites. The scheduling process is labour-intensive, at every stage - not least at the level of administration.
Further to this, the security guard must record notes and observations at each of the sites visited, they must manage their own time keeping, and spending a specific number of minutes at each of the sites they visit, they must deal with interruptions to a mobile round, such as attending to an alarm response, and then return to a point part-way through a schedule. Notes taken at each location need to be captured and summarised in reporting back to clients, and demonstrating service level agreements have been met.
Electronic system
The central office system can automatically generate mobile round site visits driven off the back of customer contracts, and allocate these to available guards who are on shift. The necessary visits are then sent directly the individual guard's PDA's together with navigation information. When the guard arrives at a given site for inspection, the guard registers this by simply on screen button selections, pressing on screen to indicate having arrived. The screen then shows a count-down clock, which counts down the required allocated number of minutes to stay at that site, whilst also allowing the guard to note down observations and security status, directly onto the PDA.
Information transfer to and from the device is continuous, allowing ongoing monitoring of the progress of each guard on any given mobile round, and feeding the captured data straight into the office database system.
As the system knows the location of any given guard on mobile rounds, alarm responses can be allocated in the light of this information.
(4) Fire safety inspections
Typical Existing Paper based system
Paper records must be kept of each visit, each piece of fire safety equipment that has been checked, expiry dates for each extinguisher, implementation of new legislation and recommendations given. Compliance with regulations must be monitored.
Customer signatures must be captured, and in some cases photographic records taken.
Renewal and replacement dates must be monitored, and annual inspections recorded.
Electronic system
Most if not all of the existing data that is currently captured by inspectors on paper forms and notes can be captured onto a cheap PDA device, which feeds directly into the main office database system by transmitting its data over the internet.
The integrated main office system database can produce automated reports: on a per customer basis,
such as the findings of a survey or inspection, confirmation of compliance to fire safety regulations, or the need to make alterations and costed quotes for any such provisions.
Management reports across inspectors, regions, and business sectors,
which allow for the monitoring of performance of safety officers, identify problems, and improve staff performance.
Other examples
(5) Lift servicing and repair
(6) Commercial and residential property sales
(7) Boiler servicing and plumbing
(8) Point of sale display stand installation
(9) Accreditation of construction site workers
(10) Courier and delivery services
Case studies of previous projects are available on request
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