Work isn’t only performed in an office, and field service is an example of this. For example, a contractor works on one’s home or a professional services firm installs a new system in a client’s office. Field service management is a process to deliver customer satisfaction and service provider efficiency.
Before explaining that, let’s make sure we’re clear on field service and field service management. Then we’ll explore the key areas of field service management, its challenges and the team that executes field service. We’ll even discuss specific tools that can help improve the process.
What Is a Field Service?
Field service is work performed for a customer on the site of their residence or business, rather than at the office of the company doing that work. Skilled employees, contractors or people working for a professional services firm are dispatched to that site and carry out a variety of activities.
We’ll provide some examples of field service next, but first note that field service is a broad category that takes place across almost every industry, from telecommunications and high tech to manufacturing and utilities. Not all fieldwork focuses on equipment. Field service can take the form of other scheduled work done by professionals in the field.
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Service Report Template
Use this free Service Report Template for Word to manage your projects better.
Whatever form field service takes, project management software facilitates it. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that connects teams in the office and out in the field with task management tools. Managers can make assignments and schedule work on multiple project views, such as Gantt charts, sheet views, calendars or kanban boards to visually manage workflows. Teams can access and manage their work from task lists on mobile devices. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
Field Service Examples
Because field service applies to multiple industries, examples of field service work vary. For example, field service can include installing newly purchased equipment at a customer’s location. It can also include maintenance, whether to resolve an issue with equipment or prevent issues by having routine care.
Often field work is employed when a technician is called out to make an emergency repair to fix something that has broken at the customer’s location. Another example of field service is removing broken or outdated equipment, which often involves disassembling equipment or machinery and transporting it. Also, equipment upgrades on a customer’s site fall under field service.
Examples of businesses that use field services include manufacturing, which often will have preventative or predictive maintenance for equipment under warranty. Transportation, energy and utilities and oil and gas are all examples of field service, which emphasizes safety, reliability, compliance and performance that in the long run reduce costs for the customer.
What Is Field Service Management?
Field service management is a process that supports the activities involved in coordinating a company’s field resources, such as employees, and equipment, as they pertain to work activities and operations off company premises. This can include everything from scheduling the workforce to reporting.
Key Areas of Field Service Management
Field service management covers many aspects of running a business that services customers separate from the company’s property. There are field resources, such as dispatching employees, and operations, such as managing contracts. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Data sharing and reporting are also essential parts of field service management. The key areas are explained below.
Field Service Scheduling
Scheduling involves managing appointments, timelines and shifts. Managers want to prioritize service calls and optimize schedules to ensure that dispatching service personnel are efficiently sent on work assignments.
Field Service Operations Optimization
Efficiency is the goal of all field service management. This operations optimization seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of all operations related to field service. It involves thinking strategically and using technology to better manage resources, reduce costs and improve the quality of service.
Field Service Automation
Another way to improve service is through automation. This technology can touch most areas of field service management. It streamlines recurring tasks and helps with scheduling, managing parts and increasing customer satisfaction, productivity and response times. It can also be used to optimize routes, communication and data collection.
Field Service Reporting
Creating on-site service reports is another part of field service management. Invoicing the customer can fall into this area as well. Real-time field service metrics and analytics help teams quickly detect issues and make insightful decisions to resolve them.
Field Service Report Template
This free field service report template allows service providers to document the service delivery actions taken by employees so they can track their performance.
Field Service Management Challenges
Field service management has many hurdles to clear to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness it promises. This is especially true as service networks grow in scale and field service management increases in complexity. Many factors influence the jobs that are beyond the control of field service managers, such as traffic, availability of parts and jobs that take longer than expected. Other issues include the following.
- Scheduling conflicts can be caused by human error and manual processes, such as double-booking technicians, scheduling unavailable technicians, etc
- Misunderstanding the time to complete a job or the parts required can lead to multiple trips to the customer’s site, which leads to customer dissatisfaction and poor resource utilization
- Inefficient workflow leads to inefficient processes and higher service costs
- Poor route planning impacts arrival time, wastes fuel and creates unnecessary wear and tear on service vehicles
- Poor communication results in missed messages and misunderstandings, especially when multiple channels (email, text, apps) are used
The Field Service Management Team
Field service management is a team effort. There are a variety of roles involved in managing field service, all of which need to work together in a coordinated manner to reap the benefits of the process. The major field service team members are listed below.
Field Service Engineer
These professionals have specialized knowledge and are employed to respond to complex problems for which they provide comprehensive solutions. This can include installation, maintenance and troubleshooting complex technical systems, offering technical support and recommendations to optimize system performance.
Field Service Technician
A field service technician is more hands-on, specializing in practical aspects of maintaining and repairing technical equipment and systems. They’re skilled in following predetermined procedures and guidelines for maintenance and repair. A field service technician may assist field service engineers in implementing projects.
Field Service Manager
The field service manager is responsible for ensuring company employees, such as field service technicians, are performing their duties effectively at various worksite locations. They also evaluate the performance and activities of those employees, oversee daily operations and coordinate tasks at work sites. They should be thinking of ways to improve existing processes, too.
Field Service Representative
A field service representative performs customer support activities and also technical services. They tend to work with minimal supervision towards ensuring customer satisfaction and company growth through the delivery of quality service promptly.
Field Service Management Software
Field service management software is a tool that seeks to gain greater efficiency in operations. This includes scheduling, reporting, dispatching, file sharing and connecting field service workers with staff in the office. Real-time data is usually included to streamline processes and communication.
Free Service Management Templates
For those not ready to upgrade to field service management software, templates are available. In fact, there are over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that can help with every aspect of managing a project, across multiple industries, including field service. Here are some that can be used in field service management.
Service Report Template
Field service technicians need to keep track of the services they provide to clients to show their employers that they’ve executed the work they were meant to. Additionally, service reports allow businesses to monitor the quality, effectiveness and timeliness of service so they can keep track of their employees’ performance.
Service Level Agreement Template
A service level agreement is a legally-binding document that describes the obligations of a company when providing its services to clients. This service level agreement template covers the basic elements of this type of document, which makes it a great starting point when writing one.
Capacity Planning Template
Capacity planning helps field service managers ensure they have the service technicians needed to meet demand. The free capacity planning template for Excel includes a list of tasks, their duration, start and end dates and the resources needed to execute them.
Task Tracker Template
Field service managers can keep track of their workers in the field with this free task tracker template for Excel. It lists all the tasks, who’s assigned to them and their priority, which helps in dispatching technicians. Then track the work from its planned to actual completion.
Timesheet Template
To help with payroll, there’s a free timesheet template for Excel. It lists the days of the week, dates and the start and end times for the employee. There are also columns for lunch and overtime, with signatures for both the employee and supervisor.
How ProjectManager Helps With Field Service Management
Templates are a solution for field service management, but they’ll only get companies so far in their quest for greater efficiency. As useful as templates can be, they are static documents that are poor for collaboration with field teams and have to be manually updated. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that delivers real-time and gives managers live data on multiple jobs to help track costs, collaborate and report to clients and leadership.
Track Costs, Time and Resources in Real Time
Our software has in-depth cost, time and resource tracking for managers looking to understand the cost at the task level and resource costs. Automated timesheets streamline payroll and track actual hours against labor rates and real-time project and portfolio dashboards provide a high-level overview of cost, time and workload with graphs and charts that can be read at a glance. These tools help managers control costs. Customizable reports go deeper into the data and can be shared with stakeholders to keep them updated.
Allocate Resources and Automate Workflows
When onboarding employees, managers can set their availability, including PTO, vacation and global holidays, which makes it easier to dispatch them to jobs. Color-coded workload charts and team pages show everyone’s allocation in one place and managers can balance their workload to keep them working at capacity. Automated workflow takes recurring or simple tasks off an employee’s plate, such as triggering assignees based on changing task status, and ensures quality by assigning task approvals.
Our software is online with unlimited file storage. Field service workers can log hours in the field as well as images with the mobile app. All documentation can be saved in one place to make it easier to find. In-app and email notifications keep everyone updated. Teams can comment at the task level and share files anywhere and at any time. There are also risk management tools to help identify and mitigate unexpected events.
Related Service Management Content
Managing the delivery of services is a complex task, but it doesn’t have to if you use the right tools. That’s why we’ve created dozens of blogs, templates and guides to help you master service management.
- Professional Services Work & Project Management Software
- Project Management for Professional Services Providers
- What Is a Service-Level Agreement? (Example & Templates Included)
- Service Blueprint Template
- Service Proposal Template
ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that helps manage, plan, manage and track projects in real time. It’s the only software product users need to manage tasks, resources, risks and more, with multiple project views, secure timesheets and reporting features. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
