Field Services, Work Orders & PDAs


Work Orders on handheld PDAs are the most common requests from companies contacting us. Why? Traditionally field service technicians use paper forms and a clipboard to document their work. Once the field service technician returns to the office they deposit these completed (hopefully completed) work orders in a stack to be entered into a computer system at a later time. Immediately we recognize a problem in that 2 people are required to enter the data, not just 1. Here are a list of additional costs with a paper process:
  1. Incomplete work orders that require the data entry person to track down the field service technician for additional information.
  2. Unreadable handwriting that requires translation by the field service technician
  3. Delayed response time when additional parts need ordered to complete the work
  4. Delayed re-scheduling when return visits are required
  5. Lack of visibility to part's inventory
  6. Lack of visibility to other field service technicians' schedules
  7. Lack of effective route planning

Many of these inefficiencies involve the field service technician calling the office, and using the office staff as an intermediary to gather information. This process turns a 1 person task into a 2 or 3 person task. Automating the "work order" process can save a great deal of time and money.

We often configure mobile work order management applications on a handheld PDA to do the following:

  • Show a list of all assigned work orders for a field service technician
  • Enable the field service technician to open and close work orders on the PDA
  • Synchronize work orders directly to the work order management system in the office
  • Send new work orders directly to the PDA in the field
  • Integrate GPS with the work order management application so the office has visibility to the location of the field service technician.
  • Enable the printing of work orders with digital signatures at the customer's location
  • Check inventory levels via the PDA with a wireless connection to the office inventory software.
  • Order parts from the field service technician's handheld to expedite the process
  • Reschedule appointments from the field

New technologies in 2006 will also enable the field service technician to talk through their handheld PDAs directly with the dispatch center. Many handheld computer manufacturers are adding this VoIP technology now.

It is very easy to demonstrate a positive ROI with Mobile Work Orders. We have an ROI calculator on the bottom of our website that you can use to determine your specific ROI.

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