How the all-in-one business management solution is being used for improving field service operations.

Field service management (FSM) refers to the management of a company’s resources employed at or en route to the property of clients, rather than on company property. FSM most commonly relates to companies that need to manage installation, service or repairs of systems or equipment. If you are working in the field service realm, you understand the challenges that come along with the job – but imagine being able to use work orders to capture and describe the needed work while also capturing the required resources and skills to complete that work…would you jump on the opportunity to use a product that promises such benefits? Enter Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, a cloud-based all-in-one business management solution that is changing the face of field service work. If you have spent any time around the DMS websites and fun-filled blogs, you’ve undoubtedly seen the repeated references to Dynamics 365 Business Central and how the solution works in a myriad of applications; now, we’re going to shine a white-hot spotlight on how it is up to all sorts of good for field service workers.

Painless Resource Scheduling, Optimizing Work Order Requests and More

In the field service arena, it’s all about work orders. The process of resource scheduling with regard to field service enables the configuration of constraints and perimeters to improve business needs; put simply, it optimizes work order requests by work order availability, required skills, work order duration, priority, promised time window and so much more. With Microsoft Dynamics 365, resource scheduling – and a lot more – is made absolutely painless in a myriad of ways.

Say Goodbye to Work Order Confusion

Through Business Central, work orders are used to track equipment, repairs, inspections and preventative maintenance, with a schedule board that displays the resources and the associated requirements. Included in this are requirements from work orders and opportunities, given the fact that the same pool of resources may be performing the repair work and that there may be opportunities for new service. As resources are scheduled, booking is captured for a specific time and place, which can be performed manually or by using the “smart filtering” feature via the Schedule Assistant. According to Microsoft reps, customers can best schedule their resources using Resource Scheduling Optimization as their challenges grow more complex. Let’s take a quick look at that primary feature now…

Say Hello to Resource Scheduling Optimization

As one of Business Central’s more premium features for field service workers, Resource Scheduling Optimization enables the configuration of constraints and parameters to meet specific business needs. It works by optimizing work order (there’s that phrase again) requests by:

• Resource Availability
• Required Skills
• Work Order Duration
• Priority
• Promised Time Windows
• More

Here’s a good example of how Resource Scheduling Optimization makes a difference in the field service sector: The application can schedule events based on matching skills and staying within scheduled working hours; in this instance, with the Resource Scheduling Optimization applied, the schedule has been optimized with the defined constraints and objectives, while work orders and Opportunities have been scheduled across the available resources based on skills and within working hours.

The bottom line is that with Resource Scheduling Optimization and Business Central working in tandem in field service, the ability to intelligently schedule and reschedule in minutes enables resources to better meet customer commitments and organizations to make the best use of available capacity.