Field service success: Ensure electronic reports contain these essential criteria

The main problem with paperwork orders is that they are often incomplete and missing critical information. Once you move to entirely paperless operations, you’ll notice the advantages of a smooth data flow. An electronic field service report is a document that opens the door to many new possibilities. For maximum efficiency, you must ensure your electronic field service reports contain essential details for field service success.
 

Work orders: The most useful information for technicians

With field service digital transformation in full force, your field service technicians no longer need to carry paperwork orders. They have all of the information necessary for successful service call delivery on their mobile devices. Here are the 9 types of information that must be provided to field technicians on the road.

1 – The service location

This is the most important piece of information because it determines the route each technician takes. The exact location where the service is required must be in the work order and visible on a map. GPS insight field service management technology can then be used to guide technicians to the customer site. The Praxedo field service management solution supports navigation using Google Maps, Waze, TomTom, and Plan.
 

2 – Customer contact details

If field technicians need to locate someone at the site, they may need the person’s name and contact details, such as a phone number. If the person is someone other than the customer, that person’s contact details must also be included.
 

3 – Site access details

Field technicians have no time to lose. Your contact center must provide all the information required to quickly access the equipment at the customer site. This includes access codes, a person to call, instructions such as which floor to go to, and instructions on locating the basement, if necessary.
 

4 – The date and time of the appointment

To meet contractual obligations, technicians must know when they are expected to arrive. That means the work order must include the time range selected by the customer and the estimated task duration. If field technician work order software is integrated with your information system, automated alerts can advise dispatchers of potential delays and send the information to customers.
 

5 – Detailed service description

The more precise the description of the problem or failure, the better-prepared technicians will be. For example, they should be able to identify the spare parts that are needed with the help of their spare parts management software or ask for additional help in advance.

According to Information Age, access to real time information is “no longer a nice to have” and is a clear differentiator between leading companies and everyone else.

6 – Necessary equipment

Service technicians may require many different pieces of equipment to access work sites and ensure the safety of customers and themselves. To avoid a second visit and reduce risk to field workers, all equipment requirements—ladders, hard hats, and work gloves—must be included in the work order.
 

7 – Useful spare parts

The work order must accurately describe the problem so that the spare parts needed to resolve it can be easily identified. Parts management technician roles ensure the necessary components are available and properly managed.
 

8 – Useful attachments

When relevant attachments such as site maps, images of damaged equipment, diagrams, and tutorials are included, field technicians better understand the situation and are more likely to resolve the issue on the first visit.
 

9 – Customer history

One advantage of integrating your field technician management software with your information system is that technicians can manage field by accessing service history details, better understand the issue, and adapt the service they provide to customer requirements. Access to service history is beneficial when the exact nature of the current problem is not clear.

Key criteria for complete work orders

When technicians finish a service call, they complete an electronic field service report that helps to improve customer satisfaction and communications and enables service tracking. This same field service report software is also a source of valuable data that can help you assess your performance and analyze your processes. But to do this, the report must be completed properly. Here are several steps you can’t afford to miss.
 

Service call duration

With field service mobile app software that optimizes technicians’ journeys, field workers no longer need to return to the office to indicate the number of hours they spend on a job. Now, they can log their start and end times for a job in their Praxedo mobile application, and details of the services performed can be tracked using geolocation.
 

Service call status

Before leaving the job site, technicians must indicate in their report whether the situation was resolved and, if so, how. This information is added to the service history for future visits or to plan maintenance activities for the equipment. If the situation is not resolved, the technician must also indicate that fact so that a secondary visit can be scheduled.
 

Photo documentation

Some field service mobile app applications enable technicians to add photographs to their reports. This helps avoid contentious situations because the geocoded photos prove that the equipment was indeed serviced at a specific place and time. The same photos can also be helpful when preparing for future visits. The Praxedo solution allows technicians to annotate photos using a touchscreen interface.
 

Spare parts list

Technicians’ reports should include the type and quantity of spare parts used on the job. If your field service management solution is integrated with your customer relationship management (CRM) software, you can use this information to automate inventory management.
 

Preformatted report forms

The most advanced field service management applications support customizable reports that automatically provide additional relevant fields to complete based on technicians’ responses to questions.
 

Minimalist forms

The main goal of moving to digital report forms is to save technicians time by eliminating the need to deal with repetitive administrative tasks. As a result, it’s very important to customize the fields on the form so that only those relevant to the specific service activity or type are displayed to the technician.
 

Minimum text input

For similar reasons, it’s essential to use drop-down menus and checkboxes rather than text input boxes. Even when text input provides valuable details, it can’t be handled by a computer, isn’t measurable for billing or statistical purposes, and must be processed manually.
 

Customer signature

Choose a field service technician management software, such as Praxedo, that can automatically manage the information captured in the report, so you don’t need to validate reports from your field teams one by one. Each technician can record the customer’s electronic signature after the service call to accelerate the billing process. This creates an ability to properly monitor and measure your technician performance.
 

Leave the last word to the technician

To motivate your field team members and increase productivity, give your technicians some autonomy. For example, allow them to coordinate service calls and reschedule appointments they cannot keep themselves.

Since technicians are in direct contact with your customers, allow them to share helpful information with your sales department. Technicians are often in an excellent position to identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.