Mobile Data Drives Rational Decisions

The title of this article is a mouth full, but it is true. We have customers using mobile data collection for the following purposes:

• Surveying AIDS victims, using mobile handheld computers, in various African countries to learn about habits, practices, cultural norms and other lifestyle issues. This information is synchronized back to a central research databases so analyst can learn how best to educate people on how to prevent the spread of AIDS. Real field data is critical for developing the most effective educational programs.
• Customer surveys included with Work Orders/Service Tickets. Once work is completed at a customer's location, the service technician hands the customer a mobile survey form on the handheld. The customer has the opportunity to rate the service in several different areas. This information is immediately synchronized to the office database and the manager can review the customer's responses. This is an effective way of scaling the manager/owners contact with customers. If there is a problem rating on the survey the manager can immediately contact the customer to address these issues. Having a mobile survey, also encourages the service technician to always provide their best customer support. Managers can base bonuses in part on customer survey reports.

These are just 2 areas where real-time, or near real-time data can enable managers in the office to make solid rational decisions based upon data gathered in far away locations.

If you are interested in more information on mobile surveys or any other kind of mobile application please visit MobileDataforce's website.

This is Not the Way to Mobilize

I was in Starbuck's on friday. I must confess this is not out of the ordinary for fridays, nor any other day, but I witnessed an event that was. Two service technicians were sitting at a table reading a work order on their mobile phone screen. This phone had about a 1" x 1" screen. They squinted at the screen and then filled our a paper work order on a clipboard. This is certainly one way of mobilize field service technicians, but I would recommend some better ways.

1. Provide a service technician with a full work order on a mobile device that has a big enough screeen to read. I can still see both service technicians squinting at their tiny screens over their mochas.


2. Don't make them rewrite the work order. Use a mobile work order software application on the handheld mobile device. Let them read the service ticket, fill it out, and sign the screen.


3. Don't use a paper work order. Wirelessly send new and completed work orders back and forth wirelessly. There is no need for paper.


4. Track inventory on the mobile work order application so inventory levels are automatically deducted when parts are used.


5. Let service technicians view their schedules on the mobile device.


6. Let service technicians view the status of ordered parts on the mobile device


7. Track time on various projects using the mobile device. Compare actual time with estimated time.


8. Complete job estimates on the handheld mobile devices and wirelessly send back to the office


9. Dispatch new work orders directly to the mobile handheld device

There are many more reasons to mobilize field service operations. MobileDataforce has been helping companies mobilize their businesses since 2000.

MobileDataforce, Mobile Work Orders & the 2008 Olympics

MobileDataforce has a customer in the Netherlands called Janssen-Fritsen. They are supplying all gymnastics equipment for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing next year. This is their fifth Olympic order. They are a market leader and expert in the field of equipment and materials for sports education, gymnastics and sports centers. Most of their products are developed in-house and supported by their professional services team.

The company has 25 field workers that register and work with large quantities of information related to the installation and condition of the equipment. Until recently, all of this information was managed with paper forms. They have now mobilized these paper processes using MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform to improve service efficiency and to significantly reduce the reporting time.

MobileDataforce is Selected to Provide Mobile Field Services Solutions for Hospital Equipment

MobileDataforce is working on a mobile solution for a biomedical equipment company that provides field repair and maintenance services to over 200 hospitals. The mobile field services provided are:

• Breakdown repairs and preventative maintenance on all biomedical equipment
• Safety and performance testing of all biomedical equipment
• Loan equipment to minimise inconvenience
• Acceptance testing of all new biomedical equipment
• Training and education on equipment operation and maintenance

Our mobile application will integrate with their pre-existing CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) to provide mobile handheld PDA applications for their service technicians.

Application Enablement

I have read about a dozen reports over the last month on the subject of mobility. Many companies have synchronization technologies for email, calendars, tasks and messaging, but one of the biggest needs right now is "application enablement." The definition of application enablement, as I understand it, is the ability for a company with a defined need for a mobile application to find a way to cost effectively develop and deploy it.

Here is a scenario - The Business Manager walks down the long row of cubicles to the IT manager's desk and says, "I need a field service work order management system on rugged PDA phones for my service technicians."

The IT manager closes down his My Space page and slowly turns and faces the Business Manager. "We have a custom Work Order Dispatch application written by your cousin Pete. There are no mobile applications that plug into it off-the-shelf."

"Just develop it then."

"How? Do you have a large budget and 12 months?"

This is the question that comes up in companies across the globe. The big unknown is how do you cost effectively create mobile applications. The answer is you need a RAD tool (rapid application development tool) that is designed for mobile applications. The following link covers this subject in more detail.

The PointSync Mobility Platform is the RAD tool created by MobileDataforce to address this need.

Work Orders on Mobile Handheld PDAs

Many owner's of small services companies ask me how a paper based work order or service request document can be condensed to fit on a small handheld computer screen. Good question! Let me explain some of the ways the team at MobileDataforce would layout the screens in an easy to use manner.

Most service or work order documents are divided into common sections:

1. Date, Service Technician name, service ticket number
2. Customer Name, address, phone number
3. Reason for Today's Call
4. Work Performed and description
5. Identify equipment that was serviced
6. Cost of work performed
7. Cost of parts used
8. Status of Work (complete, incomplete, outstanding)
9. Payment information
10. Customer and Service Technician signatures

We use the ability to pre-load the mobile work order application with all the dispatched customer information from the office. Most of the data the service technician enters into the mobile application can be done using:

• Check boxes
• Pick lists
• Radio buttons
• Pull down menus with multiple choice
• Digital signature capture
• Pre-determined labor rates
• Pre-determined parts' pricing
• etc

We are able to automatically compute the cost of labor and parts and you can even swipe a credit card from many of the handheld PDAs.

What is the value of mobilizing a work order or service request service?

• Faster dispatch from the office
• Pre-populated work orders synchronized to the handheld PDA
• Less data to fill out on work orders
• Instant invoicing for work complete
• Faster collections
• Complete and accurate work orders synchronized back to the work order or accounting system in the office
• Less admin work in the office
• Less dispatch work in the office

The benefits list is very long. If you would like to discuss your business requirements with a mobile solutions expert, please contact MobileDataforce by email or by visiting http://www.mobiledataforce.com/.

Here is another article on mobilizing work orders/service requests using handheld computers.

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.

Mobile Business Process Optimization

How do you improve upon a paper forms based business process? The plumber, electrician and appliance repair person have been using a clipboard with paper work orders/service requests forms forever. How do you improve upon this tried and true process? Let me provide some ideas for your consideration:

1. The office can wirelessly dispatch new work orders directly to a handheld device
2. Small service companies, with an owner/operator, can take calls from customers while on the road and enter new work orders on their mobile PDA phones. These work orders can be synchronized with the office and dispatched immediately to other service technicians
3. Wireless work orders can be integrated straight into office database applications and accounting systems so there is no additional paperwork to be entered
4. The wireless work orders can contain all the information on the customer, warranties, equipment type and model, history of the account, driving directions, etc. No need to call the service technician on the phone and dictate all the information.
5. Re-prioritize work orders automatically from the office to the mobile handheld device
6. Print invoices directly from the handheld using a mobile printer and give to the customer
7. Get a digital signature from the customer on the electronic work order
8. Take digital pictures of the work both before and after and integrate with the wireless work order
9. Get an automatic date and time stamp on the work order when it is opened at the customer's site
10. Track the time it took to complete the work - record for job scheduling and cost analysis
11. Wirelessly synchronize completed work orders directly to the office accounting system for instant invoicing.
12. Send parts orders directly to the office via the mobile handheld for quick processing
13. Parts and inventory can be queried from the field. Do we have the needed part in stock either in the office or another van? If it is available in another van, where is the van? Can you drive over and retrieve it?
14. If you implement a GPS system on your handheld computers, the office can see the location of all service technicians and optimize job dispatch
15. The service technician can schedule future service visits on his mobile handheld computer and synchronize back to the office
16. The service technician can estimate a new job on the handheld computer and sync this information back to the office for reference and database integration
17. The service technician can record parts, equipment and services sales on his handheld for immediate syncing with the office
18. The service technician can view past work orders on his handheld device for improved customer service

I heard a story about why Sears Service Technicians implemented a wireless work order system in their service vans. They wanted to be able to increase the sales of warranties, parts and other appliances while at the customer site. The results are said to be impressive. There is no better time to sell additional services, parts, warranties and other products than when you are with a happy customer in their home. The wireless mobile computer enabled them to fill out product and service orders at the point of work, reference online product catalogs, check shipping status and a variety of other customer friendly activities.

MobileDataforce develops wireless work order systems. If you would like to discuss your business and your requirements please contact us here or visit our website.