Supercharge your Field Service outcomes with Dynamics 365 and FLS VISITOUR5 min read

This blog comes from our partners at FLS - FAST LEAN SMART. To find out more about our partnership with FLS, check out our spotlight here: Partner Spotlight - Fast Lean Smart - Cloud 9 Insight

Supercharge your Field Service outcomes with Dynamics 365 and FLS VISITOUR

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) know that effective business management begins with effective data management. With Dynamics 365 powering your ERP and CRM processes, Microsoft’s solution to automate field operations has arrived with Dynamics 365 Field Service. Dynamics 365 Field Service is specifically designed for organisations that provide field services, such as repairs and maintenance, installation, inspections, and surveying. Integrating Field Service streamlines workflows through tools for efficient scheduling, resource management, and communication. Specifically, it creates a unified platform for end-to-end business processes and allows field operations to transition away from one of the final inefficient hurdles: Scheduling.

What is Dynamics 365 Field Service?

Leveraging Dynamics 365 Field Service works over and above service management and ticket systems to enhance efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and make data-driven decisions to drive overall business success. The tool complements your existing Dynamics 365 apps to remove the daily service pressures of:

• Work Order Management: Enabling the creation, assignment, and tracking of work orders for field service tasks.
• Scheduling: Intelligent scheduling optimises field service appointments, taking into account factors like resource availability and skills.
• Mobile Workforce: Empowers field technicians with a mobile app that provides access to relevant customer information, work orders, and collaboration tools.
• Inventory Management: Manages stock levels, tracks inventory usage, and ensures that field technicians have the right parts and equipment for each order.
• Customer Communication: Enhances customer communication through automated appointment reminders, status updates, and feedback collection.
• Analytics and Reporting: Provides analytics and reporting tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and gain insights into field service operations.

What is Resource Scheduling Optimization (RSO) in Dynamics 365?

Microsoft Resource Scheduling Optimization (RSO) is an additional Dynamics 365 Field Service component. RSO is the module designed to optimise the scheduling of specific resources, such as field service operatives and equipment, to maximise efficiency and improve overall service delivery.

RSO succeeds when both assisted and optimised field scheduling is required. Assisted scheduling balances the insights of an experienced dispatch agent with intelligent optimisation. This is well-suited for smaller organisations transitioning into a growth phase, recognising the potential risk of losing skills and knowledge if a team member departs.

Fully optimised field scheduling therefore becomes essential when a field service department seeks to automate certain decision-making aspects of scheduling. For instance, an organisation might prefer to retain its call centre for appointment bookings. This optimisation often incorporates the use of algorithms to streamline decision-making processes.

When is assisted field service scheduling not enough?

For authentic field service optimisation, consider a third option: Dynamic, real-time field service. Real-time scheduling solutions are ideal for operators facing daily challenges of greater complexity and management, both in-day and across the longer term. Businesses in this category may find themselves stuck with inefficiencies, frustration over a lack of transparency and control, and few options to adapt to changes without broader consequences.

FLS – FAST LEAN SMART is Europe’s technology leader for real-time field service scheduling and dynamic route planning, and most importantly, a Microsoft-accredited ISV (Independent Software Vendor).

FLS develops award-winning dynamic scheduling, route optimisation and mobile job management solutions that enable digital transformation to achieve all-new levels of productivity and customer engagement. FLS VISITOUR customers range from 50 to 1000s of field operatives, planning and managing their field services in real-time with cost-optimised appointment booking and scheduling with greater accuracy and efficiency than RSO can produce.

When is the time to deploy Dynamics 365 Field Service and FLS VISITOUR?

FLS VISITOUR extends beyond capabilities provided by Resource Scheduling Optimization (RSO) in Dynamics 365. Requirements for truly optimised appointment booking for hundreds or thousands of field resources, high volumes of jobs per route, dynamic in-day response, and complex rules/dependencies can all be met with an integration that integrates the real-time scheduling and embedded routing engine of FLS VISITOUR.

What can my business achieve with Dynamics 365 Field Service and FLS VISITOUR?

By retaining your Dynamics suite and adopting dynamic real-time scheduling, your field service operation can achieve heightened productivity whilst saving up to an additional 30% in costs. Plus, FLS is 'always on', ensuring real-time event-driven optimisation - keeping your schedule optimised, regardless of changes. It equips planning teams with tools for efficient escalation management and optimisation, reducing overall costs.

Here’s how:

• FLS calculates real-time optimised bookings considering the schedule for the whole workforce, ensuring shorter appointment times and optimal use of skills and resources.
• FLS produces appointments and their routes within seconds, with no batch processing, against a cost-based algorithm for clear decision transparency.
• FLS automates scheduling, allowing minimal manual interventions and more time for planning teams to spend with customers.
• FLS works at a greater depth & completeness, with over 150 configurable specialisms, handling any scheduling requirement.
• FLS' configurable PowerOpt algorithm ensures real-time handling of unlimited complex rules, futureproofing your return on investment with continuous best practices from all sectors.
• FLS handles complex relations, such as multi-resource jobs, dependencies, and real-time optimisation, addressing realistic scenarios.
• FLS provides accurate door-to-door routing, live ETA, and track & trace notification with scalable elasticity, accommodating unlimited resources and job volumes.

Effective data management with the Dynamics 365 suite; effective Field Service Automation with Dynamics 365 Field Service and FLS VISITOUR.

If you’d like to find out more about Dynamics 365 Field Service, any other module in the Dynamics suite, or our partnership with FLS, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team here at Cloud9 Insight.