Focus on Field Service Management

Definition of Field Service Management

Field Service Management, also known by the acronym FSM, means managing services in the field. It's the coordination and optimization of interventions outside the company's premises.

In this article, we'll explore in detail the fundamental principles of FSM, the issues involved, and the crucial role of appropriate software in the effective management of these field activities.

Introduction

Field Service Management is the management of all operations related to field interventions. This includes planning interventions, assigning material and human resources, monitoring field activities in real time, managing stocks and equipment, as well as managing contracts and invoices.

Which companies are concerned by Field Service Management?

The FSM meets the needs of service companies providing maintenance, installation and repair operations in a wide range of sectors:

• Plumbing
• Air conditioning
• Heating
• Janitorial services
• Video surveillance
• Intruder alarms
• Landscaping
• Electricity
• Renewable energies
• Fire extinguishing
• Personal assistance services
• Locksmith
• Carpentry
• Painting
• ...

FSM challenges

The productivity of mobile teams, the profitability of operations and customer satisfaction are at the heart of field service management.

Yet Field Service Management often looks like this:

• Paper work orders to be picked up and returned to the office
• Manual or Outlook-based scheduling
• Post-it notes, spreadsheets and filing cabinets
• Copies and scans
• Multiple data entry
• Frequent searches and calls to obtain and transmit the right information
• Manual entry of hours worked and kilometers traveled
• ...

Paperwork, time-consuming tasks and multiple data entries waste valuable time, reduce productivity and profitability, and prevent each employee from expressing his or her added value.

Which employees are affected by the FSM?

Simpleter helps you simplify the management of your field interventions, from the initial request, the planning of the intervention and its follow-up through to invoicing.

FSM involves all employees, not just field staff:

• Sales representatives, who are responsible for informing customers of contract specifics and SLAs, and for following them up
• Planners are responsible for dispatching teams (employees and service providers), taking into account workload, skills required and location.
• Field staff carry out interventions in the field, write reports and obtain the customer's signature on site.
• Account managers monitor work progress and performance, draw up quotes, place orders for supplies, issue stock releases and send out service contracts.
• Administrative staff receive and process service requests, work orders and service reports.
• The HR department organizes training courses, tracks the certifications required for certain interventions and monitors absences.
• Billing and accounting departments invoice customers and process payroll.

External service providers (subcontractors) and suppliers are added to this list, and a customer web portal and a service provider web portal are dedicated to them!

Our tool has an intuitive interface, and staff quickly adopt the software. Simpleter is accessible on PC, tablet and smartphone. The field staff can even work "offline", and it is possible to dictate the intervention report.