Posts Tagged ‘diary’

Developer Diaries #2

Handling Multi-Visit Jobs

We learned pretty early on that a lot of jobs, particularly in Housing, ended up being more complex than ‘send operative, job done’. There are all sorts of reasons for multiple visits to the same property, but each one requires more organisation. This blog is about how Connect handles pre-inspections, and how easy they can be.

We have developed a version of Connect Mobile that runs on desktop Windows-based Netbooks (and laptops and tablets). This allows a supervisor or inspector greater flexibility, where perhaps more text input or other keyboard/large screen functionality is required. Of course, all this functionally is available on a handheld device as well.

Talking to our customers, we found that inspections were often treated as separate jobs. This meant that it was difficult to co-ordinate the completed inspections and the resultant repair work. The cost of the completed job would end up split between the two, when of course both are part of the same job.

Connect is designed to handle multi-visit jobs, and to co-ordinate between them. For this, a task (SOR) code that identifies the inspection is used, usually as the only task attached to the job. This is scheduled and/or appointed as normal, to an Inspector, Supervisor or Technical Officer.

The Inspector completes the inspection task, and then adds the tasks that are required for the repair to be completed. Connect identifies that Further Work Required is selected; this puts the completed Pre-Inspection on its own to do list, making it easy to assign as a standard Repair by the schedulers.

The repairs themselves can also be complex. Whether due to the requirement of a mix of skillsets, or any other multi-visit reasons, the original job can be converted into a Connect Project, the subject of part 2 of this blog.

Follow the blog to learn more about the benefits of the Connect mobile workforce management solution.

Developer Diaries #1

Scheduling & Appointing

The first thing we had to accept was that scheduling and appointing mean different things to different people. From our customers, we learnt:

Appointing is the commitment that work will be done within a certain timeframe. Your staff want to know when to go, and the customer wants to know when to stay in. The shorter this window is the better for everyone; the customer can’t be confined to their house all day!

Scheduling is making sure a) that customer appointments are met, but also b) that they are met as efficiently as possible. The right guy at the job, short travel times and full days make sure you hit your targets.

We understand that your customers have different requirements that present you with different challenges. If every job was the same, you would just want your teams to travel the shortest distances. But different jobs require different skills. We guessed so far correctly that many specialist users were frustrated with the limits to their scheduling software. From plumbing, to surveying stop taps, to maintaining equipment, each job is different. We knew ensuring that the right guy got to the job with the right parts meant the customer would know they were getting the best service possible.

Field service software should handle the process from start to finish, so Connect does. For example, if a job requires specialist parts, the operative can order them direct from the supplier, and book a second job to complete the work, straight from their handheld.

Connect will look at the day’s work, and tell your operative all the parts they will need that day. That means only one trip to the supplier.

We knew that proper appointing and scheduling means reduced travel and increased efficiency. We knew you needed it, and that’s why it’s in the award winning mobile workforce management system, Connect.