Deep Dive into D365: Field Service

Main features

Work order management

• At the heart of Dynamics 365 Field Service lies work order management; each work order details what needs to be done and is used as a basis to coordinate and schedule resources and activities. 
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• Work orders are typically generated by one of three things: a sales order (e.g. a customer has made a purchase and requires installation), a case (e.g. a customer has a concern that needs addressing), or an agreement (e.g. an activity carried out to a set schedule, like an annual service). 
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• For each work order, a scheduling tool helps identify the best person for each job, taking skills, travel time and distance into consideration. 
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Mobile

• While keeping track of workers on location poses a challenge for organisations, it can also be difficult for team members working afield to stay informed and maximise their productivity. That’s where Field Service Mobile comes in.  
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• A cross-platform mobile application, field technicians can use Field Service Mobile to check their daily schedule, get directions to their appointments and complete their work orders at customer sites.  
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• As they start and finish tasks, technicians can update the booking status to identify when they have started the job and completed it, follow a list of service tasks, complete inspections, take photos and capture signatures; this information will be visible to those back in the office, and can help with closing work and billing.  
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Inventory management

• Field Service’s inventory management functionality offers an effective way to manage products and parts related to activities that happen during site visits. 
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• Employees can track which parts are used during a service call as well as making updates for adjustments during stock checks and transfers from main warehouses to replenish the used stock. Field Service can also help with customer returns by managing return merchandising authorisation (RMA), goods receipting and, ultimately, the purchasing of replacement stock when minimum stock limits are breached. 
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• For those opting to integrate Field Service with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, this can offer a rounded approach to inventory management; Field Service enables tracking of the field technician’s stock, while Supply Chain Management lets you take care of items held in the main warehouses and manages a seamless integration between the two systems. 
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Automation

• Connected Field Service links to the Internet of things (IoT) Azure hub. Here, you can have customer devices sending messages – known as IoT alerts – about their status and performance. By setting up parameters, work orders can be generated automatically if devices send back anything of concern, for example, if they reach over a certain temperature. 

Underrated feature

Resource schedule optimisation (RSO)

• RSO is a simple feature and one Microsoft are making more accessible as it has the ability to save organisations valuable time and money by automatically updating workers’ schedules to ensure they follow the most efficient route at all times. 
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• If a member of your team is out visiting customer sites, for example, and a last-minute appointment gets booked in, their planned route for the day (provided to them via the mobile app) can update automatically to ensure their order of visits remains logical and efficient, even as more work gets booked in throughout the day. 
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• As the product owner, you can decide how often you would like schedules to automatically update.