The new mobile apps make it easier to manage field jobs. The apps are available for free download from Apple or Android marketplace.

Field Force Tracker, a leading provider of cloud-based field service software, today unveiled a brand-new mobile experience for field service technicians. The new app makes it easy for technicians to complete jobs in the field with just a few simple steps. Field Force Tracker App is available for free download via the Apple App Store or Google Play.

The app offers a new easy-to-use, on-the-go, and fully customizable experience for users of Field Force Tracker field service software. The Field Force Tracker is an award winning, mobile enabled, comprehensive field service management software used by service companies in many countries. It is designed to manage operations of service companies offering equipment repair and installations in many industries. The main features of software include work order tracking, client history, employee management, parts and installed asset management, estimates, contract management, invoicing, Quick Books syncing and more.

“Field Technicians access our software daily using either their mobile phone or tablet so user experience and ease of use are very important.” says Dr. Brijesh Kumar, chief technology officer of Field Force Tracker. “Our new app was built with input from our daily users with the main goals of offering ease of navigation, fast data load times, and the ability for users to quickly complete all work order related steps at a customer location. We believe it is the best app of its kind in the market today.” 

Key features of the applications include:

• Easy to navigate to all assigned/ open jobs
• Parts, customer products and service management
• Customer and product repair history
• Photo and customer signature attachments
• Reminders on upcoming jobs
• Push notifications
• Job timesheets
• Quotes and invoice generation
• Sales leads management

Field Force Tracker provides unlimited ongoing support to its customers. There is no charge to request any support or help at any time. Its multi-location customer service teams provide education and best practices for helping businesses achieve more with their software.

About Field Force Tracker

Field Force Tracker (http://www.fieldforcetracker.com) is a leading global provider of its award-winning mobile field service software for service-based businesses of all sizes delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS). Our solutions enable businesses of all sizes to meet the challenges associated with managing and running complex service operations. It helps in improving the productivity of their mobile workforce in Copier, HVAC, Plumbing, Fire Alarm and Security, and Electrical Service Industries.

Field Force Tracker is a marketed by Rapidsoft Systems Inc. Rapidsoft Systems, Inc. has its main office in Princeton, NJ, USA, and sales and support offices in several locations in the US, India (Delhi) & UAE (Dubai).

If you’re shopping for mobile workforce management software for a field service company, you’re not alone. Many organizations have realized that workforce management with paper and spreadsheets is no longer viable for a workforce that is out in the field and on the go. Some have already tried a digital solution, but it hasn’t worked out. Either way, if you want a field service management (FSM) application that makes a difference for your productivity and bottom line, it’s important to look for solutions that:  

• Take little effort to learn and use 
• Free employees from repetitive tasks 
• Keep customers informed and happy 
• Manage assets and equipment 
• And help you grow business for the long term 

1  Usability Leads to More Effective Deployment

The most important thing to look for in mobile workforce management software is usability. You may think usability is a second-tier consideration compared to a good feature list, but all the features in the world do you no good if your team can’t figure out how to use them. And when employees are in the field trying to get work done, they don’t have the time or patience to fumble their way through a confusing interface. They revert back to their previous inefficient but comfortable habits, and the software you’re paying for isn’t paying off for you. 

When you’re researching solutions, look for a clean, simple design that prioritizes information most relevant to the user, such as today’s appointments or past-due work orders. The system should allow users to customize their dashboards based on their preferences. Menu options should be easy to find with informative labels, and the most common tasks such as submitting a work order or updating status should follow a logical, intuitive process that makes sense to your team. Finally, if a user makes a mistake, they should get useful error messages, and they should have a way to delete or reverse any action.  

2  Work Force Automation Improves Productivity 

Mobile workforce management software should make your life easier by taking some of the work off your plate entirely. Look for features that automate manual tasks. For example, if you have preventive maintenance or repetitive jobs, the system should automatically create work orders for those based on a schedule you define.  

A typical workday is filled with tasks that could be automated to save you time and money. Workflow automation ensures notifications of status changes are sent to the people who need them. You can customize default values for forms and specific events, which saves entering the most common data. When your team makes comments, conducts chat conversations, or sends emails regarding a work order, the system should connect them all to the job record, so no decisions, instructions, or observations are lost in a chat history. And when employees snap a picture of work done or equipment in the field, a good FSM will automatically upload it and attach it to the record. 

Other useful automation includes bulk editing, which allows managers to close work orders, change status, or add comments to multiple jobs at once. Import tools also automate the transfer of data into the system, which is especially helpful when you’re setting the FSM up for the first time. And it should be easy to export the data in an FSM to a spreadsheet or text file if needed. 

3 Customer Portal and CRM  

Many field service companies struggle with customer communications. Customers are happiest when they can get the status of a job anytime they want it. But they’re not always on the job site to see what’s been done, and techs are often too busy to fire off an email or make extensive notes on the work order. But an FSM with customer relationship management (CRM) features and a customer access portal make it much easier to keep clients in the loop. 

Depending on what you want to share, an external portal will allow clients to look up service history, submit work requests, check status, download files, view contracts, and run reports. For an added bonus, look for the ability to customize and automate notifications so customers get proactive information about job status, appointments, and looming contract expiration dates. They should be able to access the portal from any connected device, and it should have security features, such as secure login and user permissions.   

The CRM features helps your team serve customers better by making it easy to find service history, contacts, addresses, communications, and assets for every customer. With CRM capabilities, your team gets a picture of what each customer needs from you, their preferences, and their service history. This detailed information helps you determine how to serve them better. For example, you might notice that some customers call once a quarter for equipment fixes and they could save money and reduce business disruptions if you put them on a regular preventive maintenance plan. Customer insights derived from your CRM increases loyalty, drives new business, and raises the lifetime value of the account. 

4 Installed Asset Management Drives Each Job 

If it’s going to be useful for a field service business, mobile workforce management software has to provide asset management. Your techs square off against a wide variety of equipment and each machine has its own serial number, model number, and service history. Asset management keeps information for every piece of equipment in your care in one easy-to-find place, so techs never have to guess, call back to the office, or get stuck with the wrong manuals. It keeps track of warranties, fault codes, and past work, which helps you know when to schedule preventive maintenance and helps techs troubleshoot machine failures. Good asset management improves first-time fix rate, decreases time on task, and reduces the number of emergency calls. 

5 Analytics and Reporting  For Enhanced Opportunities

Any good mobile workforce management solution helps you collect, order, and manage details about your jobs, customers, and assets. But your FSM should also help you put that information to work. A good system will help you crunch data into reports, trends, and dashboards that illustrate where your business excels, where you need improvement, and what opportunities you can go after. 

Reports will instantly assess key metrics such as service billing, profitability by job, labor hours used, and average expenses. You should be able to customize them for any metric you want to track over any time period, geographical location, work order, customer, or technician. Analytics and reporting capabilities give you the insight to drive constant improvement in your business. 

Essential Features of Mobile Workforce Management Software in Field Force Tracker  

Field Force Tracker’s FSM solution prioritizes the most valuable and useful features for field service companies. Over the years, we’ve listened to what our customers want and need, and we’ve designed a platform that delivers maximum value through simple, clear, intuitive interactions. 

With Field Force Tracker, your team gets work done faster with fewer errors. Customers are delighted and jobs run smoothly from request to billing. 

• Best-in-class usability and user-friendly mobile app 
• Automated workflow, notifications, status updates, and import/export 
• Preference-based customer portal for optimal communications and transparency 
• Detailed asset management with custom fields and attachments 
• Extensive standard reports plus build-your-own reports and dashboards for best fit to your needs 

Successful businesses use technologies to grow their business. The goal of any field service organization to grow its business. Managing your field service workforce can be a difficult task and can eventually prevent you from handling growth and being able to scale your organization. It is perfectly fine if you started your business using Excel sheets or manually managing your job dispatch. However, as field service teams grow, maintaining your business via spreadsheets is a recipe for chaos. Not deploying a good field service software will lead to many lost opportunities.

With the need to increase revenue with fewer resources, businesses now have to work smarter than ever before. Let’s face it, growth is important for any organization, and field teams are forced to reduce operating costs and be more productive. How is the growth going to happen? In order for business operations to improve, they need to look beyond a spreadsheet and start employing tools that will help streamline operations and lay the groundwork for growth in your company and scaling of your field teams as jobs increase and become more complex.

Incorporate a Paperless, Automated Platform

Excel is a powerful program but falls short when it comes to the ability to communicate with your field technicians. In short, a spreadsheet lacks automation. Automation is the main differentiator between a Field Service Management platform and a spreadsheet. Among other things, a spreadsheet doesn’t give you the capability to:

• Communicate with your field teams in real-time
• Capture field data in real-time
• Generate customer quotes
• Invoice quicker
• Generate powerful business reporting
• Automate field communication and business operations

The days of emailing your field technicians their daily schedules are over. No longer do you have to reschedule jobs because of a change order or because a tech is out sick. A Field Service Automation Platform will help you automate your workflow by managing the assets or inventory for your field teams, pushing notifications to the field in real-time, instantly rearranging or rerouting technicians to more appropriate jobs, and preventing missed additional revenue opportunities, to name just a few.

Benefits of Cloud-Based Field Service Management Solution

Organizations that have included cloud-based field service management software in their workflow will likely increase their productivity by simplifying their processes. Expected benefits associated with cloud-based FSMS include:

• Access to the program at any time and from anywhere makes it easy to retrieve information
• Optimizes the allocation of resources
• Helps equipment-centric service businesses improve compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• Streamlines issue resolution and reduces Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)
• Offers organizations increased flexibility to scale accordingly
• Facilitates equipment monitoring so that organizations are up to date with the state of their assets
• Supports inventory management by notifying personnel which materials or parts are needed and which are running low to inform purchasing decisions
• Leads to improved customer satisfaction and promotes better engagement between customers and your business
• Cloud-based programs also allow you to carry on your operations without having to worry about the maintenance of the software. That is the work of the vendor or service provider.
• Cloud solutions often provide high levels of security to business data that some organizations would otherwise not afford
• Implementing cloud solutions is affordable to most businesses since you do not have to buy hardware or any equipment upfront

Reduce Field Team Costs and Improve Workforce Productivity

Whether your growth is driven by strong markets, success in new or emerging markets, or by acquisition, there are always two factors instrumental in improving business performance:

• Lowering your field operating costs
• Increasing your field team performance & productivity

With field service management software, field teams can access information instantly from any mobile device. Now dispatchers have the technology and ability to see all their worker’s location in real-time, which allows them to instantly optimize and re-route technicians according to real-time changes in the schedule or urgent and unexpected field requirements. This helps field teams to be more efficient, driving down fuel costs and increasing daily worker productivity. Field Force Tracker’s Field Service Automation Platform is the industry’s premier cloud-based, end-to-end field service management software with completely automates and streamlines field service operations, from mobile teams to the back-office operation.

Reduced costs and increased performance are instrumental in helping an organization to accommodate growth or to be able to scale quickly. Spreadsheet solutions are limiting and open the door to error and inefficiencies. Field Force Tracker’s Platform connects all the powerful feature sets like scheduling, dispatching, route optimization, field data capture, inventory/asset management, work order management, maintenance tasks, business reporting and intelligence, and more.

Replace Your Spreadsheets with Field Service Management Software

If you are currently using Excel or find yourself spending a lot of time managing a spreadsheet and not enough time managing your mobile workforce, then you need to look into Field Service Management Software. Contact us today to find out how Field Force Tracker really helps move companies forward, do more with less, reduce costs and realize revenue faster.

A good Field Service Software like Field Force Tracker can help a busy office by saving time and streamlining job assignments. You can keep track of all jobs easily and assign right people to right job.

What Is A Work Order?

A work order is a formal request for maintenance, repair, or operations work that needs to be done. Included in the work order is all of the information pertaining to a maintenance task and outlines the process for completing that task.  Additionally, a work order can include details on who authorized the job, who it’s assigned to, deliverables, any special instructions, drawings, and anticipated end results.

Work orders can be generated through a service request form (work request form) that is submitted by a staff member, customer, tenant or automatically created through work order management software, such as a Field Service Management (FSM) System like Field Force Tracker.  Using FSM software to manage work orders provides additional information to technicians, checklists, access to documents, manuals, images, and more.   In addition to the documentation of the tasks that were performed, labor expenses, materials issued from inventory, spot buys, and other expenses incurred for the job can also be captured within the work order.

Why are Work Orders Important?

The purpose of a work order is to initiate a task, clarify what is to be done, specify completion dates, and give special instructions as needed.  FSM work order management software also helps organizations manage and maintain data on assets as well as on resources, expenses, and labor.  Organizations have the flexibility to manage and schedule current and upcoming work, analyze data to make improvements, manage expenses, control labor costs, and remain compliant.

Service Requests Versus Work Orders

A Service Request (also referred to as a Work Request) is a request for a maintenance task that is submitted by a non-maintenance staff member or customer.  When a service request is approved by the maintenance manager, they will assign a technician and schedule the task and a work order is created.

A Work Order is an authorization for the maintenance team to perform the maintenance task.

What Can Field Force Tracker FSM Work Order Software Do For You? 

Our FSM Work Order Management software provides organizations with many benefits and features for users to easily:

• Create, manage, and prioritize work orders from anywhere.
• Maintain work history, share documents, and generate reports.
• Track technician’s work order time from start to stop of a task.
• Manage resource availability and assignments.
• FSM is a centralized system accessible from a computer or mobile device.
• Streamline workflows.
• Improve communications.
• Track Inventory.
• Many more capabilities.

Work Order Process Defined

Using FSM software makes the work order management process more efficient and streamlined.  Some of the main components of a work order include creation, completion and recording.  

Work Order Process

• Task is Identified.
• Service request or maintenance request is created.
• Request is approved and turned into a work order.
• Work order is assigned and scheduled.
• Work order is sent to the appropriate technician.
• Work order documentation is updated and completed.
• Work order is closed out.
• Work order information can be analyzed to get a better insight into the processes followed or the steps taken to resolve any issues.

Different Types of Work Orders

Standard Work Order

A standard work order is a non-critical maintenance task that does not pose an immediate risk to facilities, systems, equipment or components. Some examples are: removing old equipment, setting up new equipment, painting, or changing light bulbs.

Preventive Maintenance

A preventive maintenance work order is an essential tool for organizations looking to ensure the effectiveness of their equipment as well as to extend the life of their assets. This work order gives users the ability to schedule routine maintenance tasks on assets and equipment to minimize unexpected breakdowns. The preventive maintenance work order gives users the ability to control, plan, schedule, and identify the materials, parts, and labor to do the work within a specific timeframe. The advantages of preventive maintenance are to keep existing equipment in good working condition, prevent equipment downtime, increase the life expectancy of assets, decrease the number of major repairs, and control expenses.

Prepare for Inspections

When creating a work order, you can create a checklist and define a set of inspection points requiring a maintenance technician to audit or inspect an asset based on that predetermined set of parameters.  If the technician should identify a problem during the inspection, then a new work order can be created to correct that problem.

Reactive\Emergency

A reactive or emergency work order is generated when equipment breakdowns or a facility failure occurs and creates an unsafe environment, or a critical asset needs to be repaired immediately. An emergency work order is used to record and track and document any unscheduled work.  Reactive work orders give maintenance technicians the ability to provide detailed information on what caused the breakdown, what actions were taken to fix it, and what can be done to prevent it in the future.

Corrective Maintenance

A corrective maintenance work order is generated as a result of a regular inspection, preventive maintenance, emergency, etc., which identifies the failure in a reasonable time for corrective maintenance to be planned and scheduled. 

What Are The Benefits Of A Work Order?

Field Force Tracker FSM Work Order Management brings organizations the tools to effectively:

• Organize and manage work requests so nothing gets overlooked.
• Schedule work to be done at a convenient time.
• Control and manage labor overtime and expenses.
• Increase availability and performance of equipment.
• Better management and control of costs.
• Boost employee productivity.       
• Preordering of supplies and materials. 
• Improve customer service.
• Minimize paperwork.
• Reduce the maintenance backlog.
• Improve safety.
• Be compliant with company, state and federal regulations.

All of these benefits result in increased efficiency, productivity, safety, compliance and reduced costs.

Conclusion

Effective management of maintenance tasks is important to any organization. Work orders are a critical part of the management of these maintenance tasks. Field Force Tracker is a powerful FSM Work Order Management software that is designed to provide easy-to-use tools to streamline the processes to help you work more efficiently.  With our FSM processes and procedures are defined, workflows are simplified, tasks are tracked, and information is well-documented.  

Using FSM software to manage your work orders, maintenance teams will be more productive and work more efficiently.  

If you are interested in learning more about how Field Force Tracker FSM Work Order software can help you automate your maintenance tasks, and would like to see a live demo, contact us today.

A field service software that supports your business’s sales operation can be a powerful tool to growing your business. It can manage both your sales and service operations.

A field service management solution can help you improve internal operations and communication and deliver better service.  It has one key element – your customer data.   This is your goldmine because you can use your customer data to grow your sales in many ways. A good modern field service software like Field Force Tracker can  help you in selling more and not just delivering field services.

Only some high end software have full CRM capabilities built in.  Our Award Winning Field Force Tracker software is an example of such software.  With it, you can manage your customer data and use it to build long term relationships and upselling to customer your new services and products. This is what differentiate Field Force Tracker from other low end software that mainly focus only on job dispatching.

A built in field service CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can be highly effective tool to grow your business. Using a CRM system of an FSM (field service management) system like Field Force Tracker, you  can have a 360-degree view of both your client and your field workforce.  The system enables all the customer information to all the  key stake holder be it technicians, managers, or finance people in your company.

Delivering Customer Focused Service

Today’s customers expect you deliver high quality service. Any delay in delivering service or delivering non-professional service will result in unfavorable reviews on site like Yelp, Capterra, Software Advice and Google. Even a small number of bad reviews can deeply hurt your business.  Many such problems can be avoided by following a customer-centric approach and anticipating customer issues when delivering the service.

The first benefit of a CRM and FSM system working together is improved personalization in the delivery of service.  With the built in CRM system, you can create and manage customer profiles.  You can look at the historical service data and answer any queries. Moreover, a field technician can pull up past jobs history, add comments, track updates and easily find invoices.

This allows them to have immediate access to reliable information on past issues that may be relevant to current work. Not only will customers appreciate a self-reliant field technician, but the comprehensive data makes it easy for technicians to talk to customers as if meeting them in person. For example, a technician will know how long a customer has been with your company and what specific problems the customer has encountered in the past. Another advantage of CRM is that individual customer profiles give technician’s quick access to preferred contact methods. For example, if a customer prefers to be contacted by text message, the technician will know that he should not call. CRM can also track both individual customers and businesses through multiple touch points. These field technicians work by reaching the wrong people within the company and improving the customer experience.

Improve Business Productivity

In a competitive environment, being able to achieve high productivity is very important. A good field service software lets you better organize your teams and your operations.  This  will sure result in improved customer experience.

Within a good CRM system, field technician or sales persons can log comments into customer profiles with chronological notes and updates.

This enables field technicians to better understand critical issues with a system and better prepare for customer visits.  and chronologically sort through the client’s history with your company.

In addition, all customer-related files such as photos and invoice PDFs are conveniently stored in the customer profile for quick referencing. This makes a field technician’s job much easier, and it is also useful for headquarters. For example, if a customer dispute arises, account managers have easy access to proof of the service and can better resolve complaints.

Improve Reporting Accuracy

Finally, a CRM paired with an FSM system makes invoicing easy and accurate. For example, while plenty of apps exist to help with invoicing, a CRM and FSM system working together provides the accounting department and field technicians with a complete view of all jobs, estimates, and invoices. This helps prevent inaccurate invoicing and better track accounts receivable.

In addition, most of the data is auto-populated, making it faster and easier than ever to complete invoices and reduce errors.

Getting The Best of Breed Field Service Software

If you’re looking for an easy way to automate operations and improve customer relationships, a CRM system paired with an FSM system might be the best solution. While it’s essential for larger companies, it’s also a great way for smaller companies to increase operational efficiency and maximize the bottom line.

Field Force Tracker is a fantastic software that offer features that you won’t find anywhere else. It is the ebst simplest and easiest to use field service software.

For many businesses implementing preventive maintenance is very important. Field Force Tracker provides excellent capabilities to create agreements and implement effective PM scheduling.

If you’re a facility manager, you’ve probably heard some variation of the phrase “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” This mentality may work in the short term, but constant reactive maintenance can actually waste thousands of dollars each year due to lack of consistent, proactive repairs. Unplanned asset failure is stressful and time-consuming for a facilities team to fix.

If your team still operates on a reactive approach to maintenance, it’s time for a change. A strong preventive maintenance plan is the key to keeping your equipment in safe, operable condition. Use this guide to preventive maintenance as your one-stop shop for understanding and implementing a successful program of your own this year.

Topics Covered in this Preventive Maintenance Guide for Facilities

Click any of the following links to jump straight to the topic you’re looking for.

•           What is preventive maintenance?

•           The four action items of preventive maintenance

•           Key benefits of preventive maintenance

•           Reactive vs. preventive maintenance

•           Types of preventive maintenance

•           Using preventive maintenance to reduce risk

•           How to create a preventive maintenance program

•           More resources on preventive maintenance

What is preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance (also called “preventative” maintenance) is a systematic approach to building operations that aims to predict and prevent catastrophic equipment failures before they occur. To accomplish this goal, facilities personnel conduct routine inspections, maintenance and repairs on assets to ensure they work as the manufacturer intended. Functional equipment allows facilities staff members to focus less on reactive maintenance and more on upcoming maintenance tasks or time-sensitive work orders.

As a rule of thumb, it’s better to prevent issues than react to them. Preventive maintenance reduces the likelihood of unexpected issues by promoting optimal equipment performance. The following list features a few ways facilities teams can stay on top of preventive maintenance in their departments:

• Schedule and perform regular inspections of equipment
• Conduct regular cleaning of buildings, grounds and assets
• Lubricate moving parts to reduce wear-and-tear
• Adjust controls for optimal performance and energy efficiency
• Repair and replace any defective equipment parts

What are the four key action items of preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance takes a proactive approach towards maintenance and involves four key action items: inspection, detection, correction and prevention. Let’s take a closer look at how each concept is fundamental to a successful preventive maintenance program.

1. Inspection: Inspections are a necessary part of preventive maintenance and aid organizations in two ways. First, facility inspections ensure that equipment is safe to use. Regular inspections help prevent workplace injuries and provide a business with increased liability protection. Second, regular inspections protect property. Inspections ensure that equipment is functioning as the manufacturer intended.
2. Detection: Operating on a run-to-failure approach can end up costing a facility department significant money, which is why many facility managers choose to utilize a preventive approach to maintenance. Preventive maintenance helps facility managers detect problems early, when issues are still relatively easy and inexpensive to fix.
3. Correction: Preventive maintenance encourages facility managers to take a proactive approach towards equipment care and correct issues before they occur. If an issue (or potential issue) is detected, facility managers take steps to promptly address the problem before it worsens or shuts down operations.
4. Prevention: Facility managers can combine inspection records and maintenance notes to learn from past mistakes and correct repeated issues with equipment. Prevention of asset failure reduces stress and increases productivity for facilities teams. When equipment works as inspected, staff can focus on proactive (rather than reactive) maintenance tasks.

What are the benefits of preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance has two overarching goals: to increase asset longevity and productivity and to keep people and assets safe from harm. Facility managers and their teams can use the principles of preventive maintenance to achieve various benefits, including the following:

• Diminish excess depreciation of equipment
• Prevent untimely breakdowns of critical equipment
• Eliminate unnecessary inspections and maintenance tasks
• Save money by extending the useful life of assets
• Prepare for and prevent future issues from occurring

“Reactive” vs. “Preventive” Maintenance: What’s the difference?

In facility management, reactions to issues are unavoidable. Things can and will go wrong. However, facility managers can take steps to promote safety and reduce reactionary maintenance by taking a proactive approach towards fixes. Facility managers should start by understanding the benefits of proactive maintenance versus a reactive response.

• Reactive maintenance focuses on diagnosing and fixing a problem once an asset has already broken down or malfunctioned. A maintenance technician identifies the issue that occurred and takes steps to restore the asset to operational condition.
• Preventive maintenance emphasizes regularly scheduled maintenance tasks. The goal of preventive maintenance is to give an asset the care it requires while it’s still running. This approach actively minimizes the chance of failure, costly repairs and unscheduled downtime.

A common misconception is that reactive maintenance is a bad thing. The truth is that most facilities departments experience a healthy balance between reactive maintenance and preventive maintenance throughout the year. This is because it is nearly impossible to predict and prevent all asset failures.

Reactive maintenance tasks should be minimized whenever possible. Neither occupants nor maintenance personnel enjoy dealing with a broken air conditioner or leaky pipe.

What are the different types of preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance can follow a time-based approach, a usage-based approach, or a combination of the two. Let’s look at examples of each.

Time-based Preventive Maintenance

Time-based preventive maintenance goes by a variety of names, a main one being “calendar-based” maintenance. No matter which term your department uses, this approach involves setting up a preventive maintenance schedule to perform regular inspections on pieces of equipment, especially those that would have a severe impact on production in the event of a breakdown.

Time-based preventive maintenance is best used for bounded assets (such as fire/safety equipment) and critical assets (such as HVAC systems and pumps), though facility managers can use this approach for any asset that requires preventive maintenance. Here are a few examples to illustrate.

1. “Inspect parking lot for cracks once a month”
2. “Change air handling unit filters every three months”
3. “Inspect water heaters semi-annually”

Usage-based Preventive Maintenance

Usage-based maintenance, also called “runtime maintenance,” is an approach that triggers maintenance after a certain amount of asset runtime (such as every “X” amount of kilometers, miles, hours or production cycles).

Usage-based preventive maintenance makes sure that equipment continues to operate as the manufacturer intended. Unlike time-based maintenance, which occurs on a more rigid schedule, usage-based maintenance occurs as often as an asset needs it, whether it’s every month or every six months — whichever comes first. Check out these examples of usage-based preventive maintenance.

1. “Inspect belts every 100 hours of production”
2. “Service motor vehicles every 5,000 miles”
3. “Lubricate pumps every 10,000 run-hours”

How can preventive maintenance PROCEDURES reduce risk in my facility?

All facilities face potential risks which, left unchecked, can put workers, occupants and goals of a business in jeopardy. Facility managers and their teams are responsible for securing these risks and upholding safety in a facility. A strong preventive maintenance plan can effectively reduce two types of risk to your buildings. Let’s take a look at each type.

Preventive maintenance reduces risk to people.

Facility managers have the power to prevent injuries and reduce employees’ days spent away from work. Preventive maintenance can be used to support safety and security of equipment for all occupants of a facility.

Keep occupants safe by conducting recurring maintenance and inspections on dangerous machinery. Do the same with security cameras, door locks, fire extinguishers, emergency exit signs and any other asset that safeguards people from harm.

Preventive maintenance reduces risk to property.

Reactive maintenance can be expensive. Facility managers face hefty costs when an asset breaks down unexpectedly, including costs to diagnose the issue, replace parts and ultimately fix the problem. Preventive maintenance can dramatically reduce the likelihood of these risks.

Facility managers should implement routine asset checks and planned maintenance to avoid costly fixes down the road. Use a Facility Inspection Preparation Checklist to determine assets you should regularly inspect.

How do I create a preventive maintenance program that actually works?

Many facility managers like the idea of preventive maintenance, but quickly become frustrated by not knowing where to start. The good news is that implementing a proactive process can be painless if building teams develop a solid strategy and use the right tools.

The quickest, easiest way to support a winning preventive maintenance program is by using a facility management software (FMS) or a Field Service Software. A cutting-edge FMS can not only automate preventive maintenance tasks for you, it’ll also replace bulky stacks of paper and cluttered spreadsheets. Software holds your team accountable and provides them instant access to asset information and preventive maintenance protocols in the field.

Here are just a few other noteworthy ways facility management software can help your team get ahead and stay organized with preventive maintenance throughout the year. Make sure you’re using the best maintenance software for your team.

• Utilize location-based asset mapping to find and service equipment.
  Location-based asset mapping allows software users to filter through assets via an interactive floor plan map so they see only the asset pins they need. This feature is especially useful if a team member is assigned to inspect or service all assets of a certain type (i.e. inspect all emergency exit signs for burnt out bulbs) as part of a preventive maintenance program.

• Use a work order and PM scheduling module to create recurring preventive maintenance tasks and procedures.
  Software makes work order management and preventive maintenance scheduling easy. You’ll have the ability to triage incoming service requests by building or floor, assign work orders to specific team members and receive automatic reminders of upcoming preventive maintenance tasks.
• Upload asset documentation, receipts and proper O&M manuals for future reference.
  Software includes facility document management, which protects your most critical building documentation and grants instant access to it on the field where it matters most. You’ll be able to upload and store any document, including O&M manuals, warranty information, receipts and as-builts for commissioning reports.
• Stay informed on preventive maintenance success with a data reporting dashboard.
  Many facility managers are data-driven and want to see evidence of success (or the need for improvement) through numbers. Some facility management software solutions feature a statistics dashboard, which serves as a one-stop-shop for departmental data. This data comes in handy when it comes time to draw up annual reports for your organization’s administrators.
• Access PM information for assets out in the field via any electronic device.
  Facility management software gets your team up, moving and getting more work accomplished throughout the day. You’ll no longer need to be tied to your desktop computer and printer, since an FMS can function on any mobile device and eliminates the need to print out work orders for preventive maintenance tasks.
• Scan QR codes to view preventive maintenance work orders for an asset.
  A QR code is a type of barcode that can be placed on equipment and assets within a facility. Use a mobile device with a camera to scan an asset’s QR code. With the scan of the barcode, your team will gain instant access to the asset’s PM history, as well as any upcoming maintenance tasks to be completed.

Click here to see facility management software capabilities in action and learn how they can help your department become more successful.

Where can I find more free resources on preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance is an extensive topic. Facility managers should take the time to seek out a variety of resources on preventive maintenance in order to form a plan that works best for their facility. Not sure where to start? Field Force Tracker has you covered. We suggest exploring the following free resources to help jump start your new or revised preventive maintenance program.

• Read About Preventive Maintenance Guide
  Flipping a facility to a preventive maintenance model doesn’t need to be challenging. Break the cycle of reactive maintenance with a free guide that gives you the information and tools you need to strategize for your department.
• Develop a Preventive Maintenance Checklist.
  Keep the focus on preventive maintenance versus reactive maintenance with the a Preventive Maintenance Checklist. This step-by-step checklist covers asset identification, naming conventions and data collection accuracy.
• Check out a Guide to Understanding and Implementing Preventive Maintenance.
  Thinking of implementing a new or improved preventive maintenance plan for your facilities or customers? A free online Guide to Understanding and Implementing Preventive Maintenance covers the foundation of a proactive strategy, tips and tricks to implement a PM plan, and a timeline to fully implement and perfect your program.
• Speak with a facility management industry advisor.
  It’s a good idea to contact a facility management professional who can coach you through preventive maintenance best practices that will best suit your building and industry. Our friendly team is here to help and will work with you to determine a customized solution created just for you.

Implementing Preventive Maintenance in Your Facility

Facility managers who run a reactive maintenance-based program may view preventive maintenance as an overhead cost that is, at first, difficult to justify. But all it takes is one serious accident or significant period of downtime to demonstrate how important it is to undertake a program of proactive maintenance strategies. The most successful maintenance strategies value preventive maintenance as its main focus. By staying ahead on maintenance and repair, your department will realize major cost savings and higher asset reliability. This comprehensive resource explains how to collect and update asset data, how to document facility audits and inspections and how to effectively budget for your new PM program.

A good Field Software like Field Force Tracker can greatly help your field service business by making everyone more productive.

This article explains many commonly asked questions about the field service management.

1.      What is Field Service Management?

Field service management refers to the management of a company’s resources employed at or en route to the property of clients, rather than on company property. Examples include locating vehicles, managing worker activity, scheduling and dispatching work, ensuring driver safety, and integrating the management of such activities with inventory, billing, accounting and other back-office systems. FSM most commonly refers to companies who need to manage installation, service, or repairs of systems or equipment. It can also refer to software and cloud-based platforms that aid in field service management.

2.      What are the components of field service management?

Field service management typically involves dispatching workers or contractors to a location outside company premises to install, maintain or repair equipment, systems or assets. Field service managers keep track of an organization’s field resources and coordinate the work of field service practitioners who deliver skilled, specialized or proprietary services to clients.

3.      What are Field service management activities?

Field service scheduling is the process of arranging employee schedules, service appointments and expected work order completion timelines.

Field service dispatch management is the process of coordinating dispatch, which is when a field service technician or specialist is sent out on a work assignment.

Work order management is the process of assigning and tracking service work orders from creation through completion to customer invoicing.

Inventory management is the process of keeping track of parts and supplies, including the transfer of products, consumption, adjustments and more.

Field service contract management is the process of managing contracts with your customers and ensuring service level agreements (SLAs) are met.

What Are the Benefits of field service management Software?

Effective field service management solutions integrate data from enterprise asset management systems with remote data from the field — including IoT and mobile devices — to help a company manage its resources.

Benefits of field service management include:

Increasing uptime: Identify necessary repairs earlier in the asset lifecycle for always-on operations, high levels of performance and reduced downtime.

Shortening mean time to repair and improving first-time fix rates: Ensure the right technician is assigned to the job and provide them with the right data at the right time on a single platform.

Empowering field service technicians: Provide technicians with remote assistance and mobile capabilities that help them to stay safe, be compliant, troubleshoot and complete work tasks efficiently.

Reducing field service costs: Use data and insights to complete maintenance tasks at the right time and in the most effective and efficient manner.

Increasing customer satisfaction: Know if technicians are meeting customer expectations and respond promptly to concerns or unexpected delays.

4.      What Are Challenges of field service management?

Maintenance technician leaders are facing many challenges, including attracting and retaining talent amid a shrinking talent pool, under skilled workforce, growing operational costs and a lack of technology to manage complex assets and expanding service needs. The key to managing these challenges is employing software that can automate certain tasks to reduce the strain on your workforce, improve knowledge transfer and provide capabilities that support technicians in the field.

Mobile service technicians face challenges such as scheduling conflicts, the ability to obtain essential data, miscommunication about job tasks, and having to make return trips. To overcome these challenges, more main system CMMS capabilities must be available on phones and tablets, including the ability to review asset maintenance histories, access detailed technical specifications and GIS-location data, examine work order information, process billing, and communicate in real time.

Finally, many companies have implemented several separate solutions over time and now have multiple tools that don’t work together. For field service management to run smoothly, it’s critical to have cohesive, integrated, end-to-end solutions that are easy for field teams to use and provide dashboards that offer enterprise-wide visibility of a company’s resources.

5.      What is field service management software?

Field service management software helps businesses manage all the resources involved in field service management activities. It can help managers and technicians process job orders, automate scheduling and dispatch, keep track of service and repair tasks, manage customer service contracts, collect payment and more.

Field service management capabilities are provided by a variety of software and solutions.

6.       What is Mobile field service management software?

The cloud and mobile capabilities offered by some field service management software provide access to real-time communications and keep technicians connected to important information and support while in the field. With mobile capabilities, field service technicians can capture images on their devices and access data from remote assets and digital twins to evaluate the root causes of issues. They can also extend collaboration with AI and AR capabilities that are becoming more standard.

7.       What is Enterprise asset management software?

Enterprise asset management (EAM) software helps companies maintain and control their operational assets and equipment, both off and on premises. By centralizing asset information and implementing AI-powered remote monitoring and analytics, maintenance managers can maximize asset utilization, increase productive uptime and reduce operational costs.

8.       What is Inventory management system?

An inventory management system helps companies optimize their maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) inventory. It can provide an accurate, granular view of MRO inventory performance while delivering optimized recommendations for inventory and reorder levels for each stocked item.

9.      What are Field service management industry applications?

Manufacturing

Technicians are typically dispatched for preventative or predictive maintenance and repair of equipment under warranty within various sectors such as automotive, aerospace, defense, electronics, industrial products, consumer products and more.

Transportation

Service technicians must have access to details about assets and inventory, including fuel management, driver logs, spare parts, bay schedules and other data critical to maintaining rail, road and air traffic operations.

Energy and utilities

Technicians must consider geospatial information from remote assets while accommodating complex crew scheduling for high volume and time-sensitive work orders.

Oil and gas

In these industries, the emphasis is on safety, reliability, compliance and performance. Companies can reduce costs by standardizing and streamlining field service maintenance practices.

10. What is the  future of field service management?

As assets grow in complexity, the way businesses manage their field service operations must evolve. The future of field service management will be about empowering the connected technician — any asset, anytime, anywhere, on any cloud.

Field service technicians will use solutions that provide significant insights from IoT devices into how and when equipment should be serviced. They will increase their productivity through automation, mobile capabilities and AI support. With access to digital services in the cloud, customers will also have a better experience.

In the future, these technologies will continue to transform field service management.

Field service automation

AI-informed automated schedule optimization will help dispatchers perform better troubleshooting and improve field resource quality and productivity.

AI in field service management

As technology evolves, AI will augment the skills and training requirements of technicians while leveraging the ability to analyze endless tomes of new and historical data.

IoT field service

Predictive maintenance based on data obtained from Internet of Things (IoT) devices and augmented reality (AR) powered troubleshooting will make it possible to limit maintenance on equipment and assets.

Cloud field service management

Hybrid cloud will enable integrated and infinitely scalable operations platforms that connect data and knowledge across an organization, their partnerships and customers.

Explore 3 key features your technicians need to get the job done 

11. What do you use for field service management?

The future of field service management

Field service automation. AI-informed automated schedule optimization will help dispatchers perform better troubleshooting and improve field resource quality and productivity.

AI in field service management.

IoT field service. ..

Cloud field service management.

What do you need from field service management software?

For dispatchers and owners, this includes:

Automated scheduling and dispatch

Intelligent scheduling recommendations

Easy customer and job creation

Smart notifications, including delays and ETAs

Job status monitoring on scheduler plus the Live Map feature

Proof of service data

Customer experience reviews

12. What is Field Service Management (FSM)?

The research report “Field Service Management (FSM) Solution Market” includes qualitative and quantitative insights into the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges impacting worldwide market growth. The analysis contains detailed …

13. What’s important in the field service industry?

Field service management must meet certain requirements: Customer expectations: Customers expect that their service should not be disrupted, and should be immediately restored Underutilized equipment: Expensive industrial equipment in mining or oil and gas can cost millions when sitting idle Low employee productivity: Managers are unable to monitor field employees, which may reduce productivity More items…

14. What is the best field service management software?

Field Force Tracker is an FSM tool designed for large and enterprise-level businesses that offer field service. Available features include automated routing and workflow automation. .

15. What to Consider When Reviewing FSM Options?

Check the number of good quality companies that are already using the software and  how long the company has been in the business?

What is the definition of field service?

Field service is the process of managing your assets and resources that are deployed at customer, public and third-party locations. This may also include managing assets in transport and providing services at customer locations. The following are illustrative examples of field service.

16. What does a field service representative do?

 

A field service representative working for phone companies, medical suppliers, and power companies generally provides light customer service and education, but her duties are usually more technical. These representatives are typically testing new products or services, fixing problems with current products, or consulting field engineers in order to find new ways of making things run more.

17. Who uses Field Service Software?

Field service software is used by all kind of businesses – like HVAC Service Business, plumbing service company, electrical contractors, elevators service companies, cleaning, industrial repairs, telecom, It equipment repair business etc.