Mobile Handheld Software & HVAC Service Technicians

The poor HVAC service technician didn't see it coming. My wife tried to warn him. She said, "Don't answer any of his questions!" It was too late.

• Kevin -"What have you got there on the clipboard."


• Unsuspecting HVAC service technician -"This is a work order form."


• "How do you know where to go for your next job"


• "I call Pam at the office. Problem is my Nextel phone takes 10 minutes to connect to the office...I hate it. Sometimes I use my own personal phone to call her."


• "What does Pam do?"


• "She talks to all the service technicians and dispatches all the work. She tries to keep track of where all the service technicians are and what they should be doing, and where they should go next."


• "What happens if Pam elopes to Las Vegas with a circus clown?"


• "We would just close down the shop and lock the door. She is critical to our business...I call her 5-7 times a day to have her look up archived work orders so I know what previous work has been done on a furnace or air conditioner, and what parts were replaced."


• "How long do you spend on the phone with Pam for each of those 5-7 times a day?


• "About 10 minutes each time."


• "Do all the HVAC service technicians call her for information on archived work orders?"


• "Yup...she also dispatches all work orders to us by calling us on the phone and reading us the address of our next jobs and instructing us on what to do. We stop working or driving and write down all the information for the next job."
• "How does the work order information get entered into the accounting software?"
• "Another person enters the data into the accounting software each day."

At this point -my wife stepped in between us and pushed the HVAC service technician out the door and he escaped!!!"

OK...some math and ROI considerations:

• 7 HVAC service technicians
• 60 minutes/day/HVAC service technician on the phone with Pam looking up archived work orders
• 20 minutes/day/HVAC service technician on the phone with Pam writing down new work orders
• 10 minutes/day/HVAC service technician waiting on the Nextel phone system to work
• Pam spends 8 hours a day dispatching and talking to HVAC service technicians on the phone

If my numbers are correct that would equal 18.3 hours per day that the HVAC company is wasting on tasks that could be automated and mobilized by using a mobile work order software application (from MobileDataforce) running on a handheld computer synchronized with the service dispatch system in the office. If you multiply 18.3 by $20/hour you have $366. Now multiply $366 by 22 work days in the average month and you have $8,052. Now multiply $8,052 by 12 months and you have $96,624.

The total cost of a mobile work order management system running on ruggedized handheld computers that synchronize wirelessly with the office dispatch system would be a fraction of this expense. Plus I did not even include the cost of entering the data into the accounting system.

Field Services, Work Orders and Mobile Handheld Devices

I have written a number of articles over the past year about the value of using handheld computers and Smart phones for field services and work orders. Here are a few of them for your reference:

Tools, Parts & Mobile Work Order Solutions on Handheld PDAs

HVAC Maintenance and Mobile Handheld PDAs

HVAC Service Orders on Handheld PDAs

Mobilized Work Order System

Mobile Inspection Software, Service Requests & Asset Management

Toilets and Handheld PDAs

More on Mobile Workflow & Business Processes

30 Reasons to Mobilize Your Business

Business Analytics and Mobile Handheld Computers

Mobile Service Orders for Furniture Repair and Delivery

Automobile Work Order Solution for Handheld PDAs

To read more articles on mobile business solutions click here.

HVAC Maintenance and Mobile Handheld PDAs

Access Heating & Air Conditioning came to my house today. Poor them...they did not realize that I work at MobileDataforce and we design, develop and deploy mobile HVAC software applications for handheld computers. They must think I am the most obnoxious customer they have ever had.

"Using a paper form and clipboard I see."
"Yep"
"How do you know what job to do next?"
"They tell me on the radio."
"How many jobs do you do a day?"
"As many as they tell me."
"How do they tell you?"
"I go to the office in the morning and they say - here and hand me a job."
"What about jobs 2-7?"
"I call them on a radio and say I am finished. They say about time now go here or there."
"Do you ever need to review past work orders or maintenance forms?"
"Yep - most of the time the customer has the last one duct taped to the side of the furnace."
"If not?"
"I call the office and ask them to look in the file and read it to me."
"Why three separate forms?"
"One for a service agreement, one is a maintenance checklist and the third is an invoice."
"What happens when you give all that paper work to the office staff?"
"The invoice is put into the computer, the other 2 forms go into a notebook/file folder."
"How long does a service call take?"
"With a customer like you? Too long."
"Sorry...thanks...goodbye!"

I refrained from explaining how we mobilize HVAC operations regularly. It makes so much sense to combine the 3 forms into one mobile software application on a handheld computer. The service agreement, maintenance inspection and invoice could be integrated easily into one electronic form on the rugged handheld computer and the data could be synchronized wirelessly directly to the office computer system.

The service technician could query past visits with a simple online request. Digital signatures and a mobile handheld computer could be used to capture digital signatures and a mobile printer used for the invoice. The invoice could even be emailed to the customer rather than using more paper.

Service orders could be dispatched electronically to the service technicians handheld computer rather than trying to call and read all the information, which the service technician scribbles on a paper tablet while drinking his coffee and driving through the rain in rush hour traffic.

Oh my...I have a lot of work to do.