A Mobile Work Order Process in the Field

What does an automated and "mobilized" work order system or service ticket dispatch and management system look like? Here is a scenario - A customer calls in to report a broken heating system. The office staff takes the phone call, enters the relevant information into the work order application on the desktop computer which then creates a unique work order and number.

The work order database application, with GIS integration, can compare the location of each service technician to determine which one is closest to the work location. The dispatch system can also look at the estimated availability of the nearby service technicians. In addition, the solution can quickly look up the qualifications of each service technician to see which ones are qualified for the job. 

Once the appropriate service technician is identified, the work order is dispatched to the smartphone or handheld computer used by the service technician. Included in the electronic work order is driving directions from his/her current location to the next job location. In addition to the work order information, warranty, repair, users manual, maintenance history, customer support issues and product information on file can also be dispatched to the mobile device for reference and parts inventory management.

Once the service technician arrives at the location, he opens the work order on the mobile device. Opening the work order automatically captures the service technician's name, the date/time stamp and the GPS coordinates of the jobsite and enters them into the mobile application’s work order.  In addition, the service technician can see where all other service technicians are currently located.

Next the service technician examines the broken heating system and determines which parts need replaced. He can pull out his mobile device and check whether he has the needed parts in his vehicle inventory, if not, it can automatically search for nearby service vehicles that may contain the part (GPS tracking enables this feature). If another nearby service vehicle is determined to have the required part, then driving directions can be provided.

When the service technician arrives at the service vehicle with the needed part, then the part is scanned using a bar code scanner in the handheld computer to log its removal from the vehicle's inventory and assigns it to the appropriate work order number.

Back at the work site, the service technician runs into a challenge. He has never worked on this model before and needs advice. He snaps a digital photo or activates his digital video and records a view of the equipment and problem. His supervisor reviews the images and quickly walks him through the repair.

Once the work is completed, the service technician signs his name on the mobile device screen, and has the customer sign the work order screen as well. The service technician prints an invoice on a mobile printer and collects the payment or swipes the customer’s credit or debit card. The collection is noted on the mobile work order and synchronized back to the office.

As soon as the work order is completed and synchronized, the mobile application reminds the service technician to promote a 2 year service contract. The service technician reviews the details with the customer and signs them up for a 2 year service contract. Next, the work order system reviews job locations and priorities and assigns the next optimized work order to the field service technician.

This is an example of the processes involved with a basic mobilized work order.  There are many more powerful and sophisticated features available from field service automation experts like SAP mobility partner, ClickSoftware.  I read recently about the "emergency response" capabilities of ClickSoftware that helps you understand the industry expertise that goes into an enterprise quality field services solution.  You can read more about the "emergency response" capabilities on Gil Bouhnick's blog.  Gil helps you understand the level of complexity involved in simply switching priorities and addressing emergencies while in the field.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
Phone +1 208-991-4410

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Where Has Microsoft Mobility Gone - Here?

Several years ago when I was up to my neck in mobile application development projects, the only mobile operating systems referred to were Windows Mobile, Windows CE, along with a few reminiscent comments about Palm OS.  Today, the mobility world is a completely different place but perhaps not as different as you may think.

The world of Windows Mobile and Windows CE still exists.  In fact the industrial and ruggedized mobility environments are strong and completely dominated by Microsoft operating systems.  This may surprise folks who are relatively new to mobility and may have thought enterprise mobility is limited to the smartphone.  The ironic thing is that Microsoft was primarily focused on the consumer device market but accidentally found themselves dominating the markets for ruggedized and industrial grade mobile devices. 

SAP mobility partners like Leapfactor, RIM, and Vivido Labs are mobilizing SAP primarily for the users of smartphones such as iPhones, Blackberrys, and those using the Android operating systems, but just because they are making the headlines does not mean there isn't a substantial and growing market for rugged and industrial mobile devices using Microsoft Mobile.

A few weeks ago I spoke to Andy Sivell, a project manager for SAP mobility partner Sky Technologies, about a large mobility project he is working on for a water utility in Australia with many hundreds of mobile application users.  The rugged devices being used are Motorola MC75s, all with Windows Mobile operating systems.   The mobile applications they support are:

• Enterprise asset management
• Mobile work order dispatch
• Field services
• Parts and equipment consumption
• Maintenance
• Job costing/time tracking
• Mobile resource management applications

It is easy to forget, with all the buzz around iPhones, iPads, Android and BlackBerrys, that there is another large and growing market for industrial grade mobility applications using Microsoft OSs.

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Mobile Expert Interview Series - Jane and Keelin Glendon of HotButtons

I had the pleasure of interviewing two mobile experts this week, Jane Glendon and her daughter Keelin Glendon. Jane founded her mobile software application company, HotButton Solutions, http://www.hotbuttonsolutions.com/index.html, in Calgary, Alberta in 2000. HotButton Solutions focuses on mobile field data collection applications for the oil and gas industry. The focus is deep, as in deep mud and snow.

Jane and Keelin have a lot of great stories to tell about selling and supporting mobile applications in the wilderness. I learned that moose gather on the roads to lick the salt, bears like to scratch their backs on oil well heads and a rugged handheld computer screen only survives 4 whacks with a hammer and nail to break. I also learned that northern Canadian oil workers have been known to express their dislike for new technologies by throwing ruggedized handheld computers into a moving compressor fan (it still worked), and that clever oil workers customize mobile applications to keep track of animals and game they see along the road in preparation for hunting season. One particular oil well inspector developed a golf course along his oil well inspection run/path. This is the kind of work for me!

HotButton sales calls often require taking an airplane to a remote northern airstrip and renting a 4x4, or driving 9 hours through the wilderness to train oil patch workers on mobile applications. Keelin, who does much of the onsite training and sales calls in the cold northern oil patches of Canada considers mud, snow, seasons and storms before booking her travel. Before driving to some locations on remote one-way roads, Keelin must radio ahead to warn oil tankers coming down the mountain.

Jobsites have buildings with names like the doghouse, compressor shack, dehydration building and field office. These buildings have been known to collect bullet holes during hunting seasons. Stray dogs are known to make oil camps and field offices home and co-habit alongside the local bears that are given pet names by the workers.

The mobile application users are oil patch workers that have a wide variety of responsibilities and support many different business processes all on one rugged handheld computer. The same worker is responsible for a variety of tasks like the following:

• Checking pressure gauges and documenting the readings
• PVR – production volume reports
• Conditional assessments
• Rust inspections
• Leak inspections
• Safety and environmental compliance inspections
• Maintenance inspections of equipment, machines, buildings, pipelines and vehicles
• Site inspections (brush, grass, trees, etc.)
• Work orders

The working conditions are often cold, dark, wild, isolated and surrounded by flammable fuels. Keelin brings rubber boots along on her visits. There are more moose than people and IS - Intrinsically Safe ruggedized handhelds are required. These are devices developed to function safely around flammable environments. That means no mobile phone capabilities. I guess mobile phones can ignite fuels… I learn something new every day. For the most part the ruggedized handheld computers are docked in the job shack to synchronize the collected data with the home office.

How do they know when the weather is too cold for the handheld computers to function? When the oil patch worker freezes.

One example of the importance of having real time data visibility is a recent incident where the oil production volumes reported to the central office did not match the delivered oil volumes. The central office activated an alert and the oil patch workers were ordered to look for an oil leak. One of the field workers quickly checked his handheld and found the missing oil volume sitting on a tanker that was preparing to depart. The alert was canceled and everyone went back to work.

HotButton's mobile data collection software application is called HotLeap and includes a Universal Data Translator, Staging database, Bullseye and OrgAdmin. Jane has even received a patent for her technology. It is designed to work with Windows Mobile and Windows CE devices.

One mobile client application can support dozens of different oil field applications and business processes from one common menu on the mobile handheld. These mobile data collection applications most often sync to multiple database applications in the back office. There is deep vertical expertise and experience built into these oil patch applications that is relevant in both Canada and in the USA.

Jane's next step, as a mobile software entrepreneur, is to find a larger software company that can help them go global through a partnership or possibly by acquiring them. She says her global oil company customers love their mobile applications but prefer a vendor with a global presence and more resources than HotButtons has today.

This article is the first in a series of interviews with mobile industry experts. If you have a mobile expert or unusual character that you would recommend for an interview please contact me.

The next article in this series is called Nokia's John Choate. He works in the mobile Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality programs at Nokia. Yes, it is as interesting as it sounds...stay tuned.

Advice for Mobile Start-Ups: Working with SAP, Part 2

There are several different categories of mobile applications that work with or integrate with SAP.

1. Those that provide real-time mobile views of complete SAP applications
2. Those that provide mobile queries and reports on SAP data
3. Those that provide custom mobile forms for subsets of SAP business processes based upon roles and responsibilities
4. Complete, disconnected mobile applications (like work orders) that synchronize with a field force automation solution (e.g. Sky Technologies, Sybase, Syclo, ClickSoftware, etc) on the backend where it is integrated with SAP
5. Custom mobile applications for inspections, assessments, plant maintenance and other niche requirements that may be synchronized with custom databases that are integrated with SAP databases.

It is important to understand which category or categories your solutions fit, and how this impacts your ability to leverage the SAP sales and marketing organizations to help grow your business.

The different categories of mobile solutions and architectures listed above often have different users. A field service technician needs a connected/disconnected mobile application, while the administrator may simply need mobile access to the SAP ERP. You must recognize who your user is before you start marketing. What department's budget will pay for a white collar worker's mobile access? Who are the decision makers? What are their priorities? Is it saving money, making money or doing more with less?

Can you think of other mobile application categories that I missed?

Read Advice to Mobile Start-Ups: Working with SAP, Part 1 here, Part 3 here and Part 4.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: @krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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Mobile Field Services Score Cards

Mobile score cards for field service technicians. That is an interesting notion that is written about in this article. You combine mobile work order management applications, with mobile business intelligence dashboards and perhaps even mobile customer surveys. The results are a score that is shared company wide to all field service technicians.

In this scenario, everyone can see the total number of work orders a technician has completed each week, plus the results of customer satisfaction surveys and the totals of any products or services each technician has sold. This score is presented on a mobile dashboard on each of the technician's mobile handheld computers or Smart phones.

The idea is that a competitive spirit and peer pressure will encourage and motivate field service technicians to do the things that most benefit the company.

The customer service survey, each service technician must have the customer fill out on the screen of the mobile device, helps keep the service technician focused on the customer's satisfaction level.

Have you seen this kind of mobile software application before? Please share your thoughts.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobile Strategy, Sales and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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