For businesses that operate through field services, predicting staffing needs is a tough job because with every new service request the job location and headcount of field workers change. Managing the work schedules, flexible week-offs, compensation offs, and leaves, along while adjusting the KPIs for a mobile workforce is complicated. No doubt, for the manager it is an excessively time-taking and juggling act. The complications get further accentuated if the manager is still relying on manual methods like a spreadsheet for managing the job schedules.
Manual methods of KPI based task allocation among a huge workforce can become so time-consuming that it would take the whole day of the manager, which takes a dig into his productivity primarily required other managerial responsibilities. However, he can’t go casual about his job scheduling responsibilities also because ineffective scheduling will impact the productivity of the field workforce and the overall process of service delivery.
All these complexities around staff scheduling can be easily fixed with the aid of a Service scheduling software. It implements automated scheduling making it extremely convenient for the managers to allocate KPI-based tasks among bigger workforces, working in rotating shifts at different territories. An automated field service scheduling software has many advantages, some are listed below:
Easy to Adapt
Using a spreadsheet for managing job schedules needs an eye for detailing but it is not a very error-free method to do the concerned job. Moreover, if any changes are done to the schedules, then updating the field technicians about it is entirely a different process. But if field scheduling software is used then the manager can take advantage of automated templates that offer customization facilities, wherein the manager can tweak the scheduling as per his business’s requirements. He can apply filters like the availability of the individual field technicians, location proximity, skill sets, etc. and automate the scheduling, and immediate notification can be sent to whoever needs to be informed.
Meet Mobility Demand
Once installed in the smart devices of the field technicians, the Field service scheduling software provides the technicians easy on-the-go access to carry out their self-services such as they can fill their worksheets, share sales reports, apply for their leaves, make reimbursement claims, check their daily, weekly or monthly schedules, feed their attendance virtually by sharing their live locations using the GPS integration.
Visibility & Accountability
Through route planning features embedded in the software, the live location of the field technicians can be tracked. Also, as mentioned above service scheduling software is instrumental in optimizing the job schedules as per the KPIs, technician availability, location proximity, and skillsets of field technicians. So, in a way, the manager has clear visibility of the field technicians’ work status and live locations. So, the manager successfully dispatches the aptest, skilled, and closest available technician for a job. Clear visibility induces transparency and accountability among the field workers. HVAC software also works as an automatic notification portal through which managers can inform the field technicians about schedule changes.
Wrapping up
Field scheduling software is essential for managing field operations as it is effective in scheduling jobs based on KPIs. Also, facilitates the automated dissemination of daily and weekly work order notifications and reminders to the field technicians. Besides, offer the field workforce, on-the-go access to organizational data, and allow them to remotely perform their self-services. All these benefits and advantages provide the necessary push to their efficiency and productivity.
