Implementation of Field Service, Sales and BC - Norsk Heiskontroll

About the delivery

ProsessPilotene implemented Field Service, Sales and BC – Norsk Heiskontroll for Norsk Heiskontroll AS. The delivery included Field Service, agreements configured with automatically generated work orders and invoices, standard Business Central integration with Dynamics 365 Sales, an equipment register – Assets, resources, and an overview of roles and competencies for booking, and was completed in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

The Field Service solution for Norsk Heiskontroll (NHK) includes work order management, where each inspection of an asset at the same location is a task on a work order.

NHK performs

The client: Norsk Heiskontroll AS (NHK) was founded in 1987 and is authorized by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. The company is an independent inspection body that conducts nationwide inspections of lifting equipment, such as lifts, escalators, moving walkways, stairlifts, and lifting platforms for people with disabilities. Norsk Heiskontroll has its head office in Oslo and regional offices in Bodø, Trondheim, Bergen, Skien, and Hamar.

As part of this delivery, Dynamics Field Service was implemented to replace the Evatic service software.

The delivery consisted of

• Customer register with contact persons,
• Overview of all lifting equipment for which NHK is responsible
• Work orders that structure the assignment to be carried out into tasks based on the number of lifting appliances to be inspected.
• Resource overview of NHK's inspectors and their assignment to work orders.
• Document solution related to the lifting equipment and the assignments performed.
• Service agreements covering all periodic safety inspections, which are generally carried out every 24 months, and the continuation of these agreements that existed in Evatic.

An integration with Dynamics Business Central (ERP) has been set up, where the work order is used as the order basis for the sales orders invoiced in Dynamics Business Central.

Dynamics Field Service was integrated with NHK's customer portal, which customers use to keep track of their lifting equipment and inspectors use to carry out assignments.

Following deployment, the solution was further developed to include Dynamics Sales and Customer Insights Journeys (marketing), which are used to send notifications and reports before and after assignments. The solution has also been enhanced to improve data quality in the system, particularly when recording technical information about lifting equipment, as well as to increase the automation of work processes.

Long version:

• NORWEGIAN LIFT INSPECTION
• Description of the collaboration and what has been delivered

Challenges the customer faced:

• Strategic alignment of CRM investments.
• Introduction of new products in new sales channels.
• Lack of process automation.
• Need for a longer planning horizon.
• Need for structured information about customers and contacts

An integration with Dynamics Business Central (ERP) has been set up, where the work order serves as the basis for the sales orders invoiced in Dynamics Business Central. Dynamics Field Service was integrated with NHK's customer portal, which customers use to keep track of their lifting equipment and inspectors use to carry out their assignments.

Following deployment, the solution has been further developed with Dynamics Sales, a portal for ordering new products, and Customer Insights Journeys (marketing). Customer Service is currently under development. Field Service has been enhanced with more detailed technical information about the lifting equipment, improved handling of service agreements, and the ability to record inspectors' qualifications and safety requirements for assignments.

Dynamics Sales is used to register and manage leads and sales opportunities for the subsidiaries Heiskontrollen and VinderTec. Among other things, the sales solution uses information that customers have registered about new lifting equipment in NHK's customer portal, as well as information from completed inspections, to ensure effective follow-up of new opportunities. Dedicated processes have been set up for the subsidiary NHK Digital, which provides Lilo – a digital logbook for lifts, escalators and other lifting equipment. A portal has been set up where customers can log in and order Lilo subscriptions for the lifting equipment they are associated with in the system.

Customer Insights Journeys (marketing) is used to send notifications and reports before and after assignments, replacing the manual distribution of information related to approximately 14,000 annual inspections.

Overall, the solution is being further developed to improve data quality in the system and increase the automation of work processes.

For lifts that are to be inspected every 24 months, NHK has approximately 13,000 agreements that generate assignments one year in advance. This enables better planning and use of resources, as they can take on more "nearby assignments" than before when travelling.

Customer, order, sales order line with extension, and invoice

Competence for all inspectors and competence requirements for each incident type

Value creation

Generating assignments 12 months in advance provides better planning opportunities, as inspectors can "pick up a nearby assignment" when they are in the area.

In Dynamics 365 Field Service, "agreements" are a feature that provides significant value to organizations that enter into long-term service contracts with their customers.

The value of agreements in Field Service can be described as follows:

- Predictability and planning: Agreements help organizations plan resource requirements, workloads, and budgets for the long-term services they will provide. This helps create more predictable and stable operations.

- Customer satisfaction and loyalty: When the organization delivers services in accordance with the agreements, this increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The customer knows what to expect and trusts that the organization will deliver as agreed.

- Revenue stream: Long-term service agreements provide a stable and predictable revenue stream for the organization.

This can be particularly valuable in industries with seasonal fluctuations or uncertain demand.

Efficiency and productivity: Agreements can help improve efficiency and productivity in field service by standardizing work processes, reducing administrative work, and minimizing the risk of misunderstandings or errors.

Competitive advantage: Organizations that offer good service agreements and deliver on their promises can gain a competitive advantage in the market. This can help them attract new customers and retain existing ones.

Insights and analysis: By analyzing data from agreements and associated work orders, organizations can gain valuable insights into customer satisfaction, technician performance, and opportunities for improvements or cost savings.

Cross-selling and upselling: By maintaining a close relationship with the customer through service agreements, the organization gains more opportunities to cross-sell and upsell its services and products.

In summary, agreements in Dynamics 365 Field Service help improve planning, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and revenue opportunities for organizations that offer long-term service contracts.

Simple, fast, and affordable integration between Dynamics 365 Sales and Business Central.

Enables sales processes to run across the solutions.

Gather all information about the equipment in one place, view its history, and get an overview of all inspections.

If your organization uses Connected Field Service, you can connect customer assets to sensors that monitor the assets and trigger an Internet of Things (IoT) alert when something requires attention.

Can register hierarchies for a better overview, define custom categories, and establish relationships with products, locations, etc.

Proper equipment registration makes it easier to plan and manage preventive maintenance. This reduces the risk of unexpected failures and operational disruptions, which can lead to higher operating costs and dissatisfied customers.

Proper equipment registration gives organizations access to valuable data and insights that can be used to improve service processes, identify trends and patterns, and make more informed decisions about resource allocation and investments.

The solutions

• Field service
• Agreements with configurations for automatically generated work orders and invoices.
• Business Central standard integration with Dynamics 365 Sales
• Equipment Register - Assets
• Resources, role and competency overview for booking

Field service: An overview of some of the key features and modules in Dynamics 365 Field Service:

• Work orders: This feature allows you to create, track, and manage work orders, which describe the work to be performed by technicians. You can assign resources, add service offerings, add tasks with checklists, estimate costs, and set up billing for them.
• Resource scheduling: Using the resource scheduler, you can assign technicians and equipment to work orders based on availability, skills, location, and other factors. This helps optimize resource utilization and reduce travel time and costs.
• Service agreements: You can create and manage service agreements for the long-term maintenance and support of customers' equipment. This includes automatically generating work orders based on scheduled maintenance intervals and monitoring warranties and SLAs (service level agreements). Maintenance intervals can be daily, weekly on specified days, annually, every 36 months, etc. Both work orders and invoices can be scheduled at set intervals.
• Inventory management: Dynamics 365 Field Service lets you keep track of inventory, including spare parts and tools required to perform the work. You can also track inventory across different locations, such as central warehouses and technicians' vehicles.
• Mobile app: With the Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app, technicians can access work orders, updates, inventory, and customer information while on the go. They can also collect signatures, take photos, and add notes directly in the app.
• IoT integration (Internet of Things): Dynamics 365 Field Service can be integrated with IoT devices to collect real-time data from equipment, enabling proactive maintenance and faster troubleshooting. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and reduced operating costs.
• Analytics and reporting: Dynamics 365 Field Service includes built-in analytics tools and dashboards that provide insights into key performance indicators (KPIs), such as technician productivity, first-time fix rate, and average response time.

Agreements configured for automatically generated work orders and invoices: With Field Service agreements, organizations can automatically generate work orders and invoices with predefined details, frequency, and date ranges.

Agreements are typically used for maintenance schedules where an organization needs to perform daily, weekly, or monthly inspections of the equipment.

In Dynamics 365 Field Service, you can create and manage service agreements to automate and streamline maintenance and support processes. Here are some of the key features and benefits of service agreements in Dynamics 365 Field Service:

• Scheduled maintenance: You can define maintenance intervals and schedules for each piece of equipment or system covered by a service agreement. This allows you to automatically generate work orders based on scheduled maintenance times, helping to prevent downtime and extend the life of the equipment.
• Warranty and SLA monitoring: Service agreements allow you to track warranties and service level agreements (SLAs) for each piece of equipment or system. This ensures that technicians are aware of the warranty terms and SLA requirements when performing work and helps the organization meet its contractual obligations.
• Pricing and billing management: Service agreements allow you to define prices and billing terms for maintenance and support services. This may include fixed prices, hourly rates, discounts, and other billing options tailored to the customer's needs and expectations.
• Customer portals: With Dynamics 365 Field Service, you can offer customer portals where customers can log in and view the status of their service agreements, request services, and access important information. This improves customer satisfaction and reduces the workload of the customer service team.

Business Central standard integration with Dynamics 365 Sales: A solution for integrating Dynamics 365 Sales with Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC).

Standard integration between the solutions provided by Microsoft.

This is the sister solution to the Dual Write integration between CRM and FO, but it uses a completely different technology. It does not create the tight coupling between the solutions that Dual Write does.

The integration resides in BC, which consequently means that the BC provider must install and configure it.

This is a standard integration, but in most cases it requires some customization based on how the sales process has been implemented for each customer. At a minimum, the field mapping must be adjusted.

See the documentation link below for details on which entities are synchronized by default.

Sales estimate

The work is carried out by the BC provider.

We will provide a quote for our assistance with the BC provider's setup of the integration.

Typically 40–80 hours

Status: Approved

The solution has been successfully tested in several projects.

Partners

Has been delivered together with Auzilium several times. We work well with them when it comes to delivering this integration.

However, other BC partners can also deliver this, although not all of them are equally familiar with this feature.

Equipment register - Assets: Dynamics 365 Field Service lets you manage customers' assets out of the box.

Assets/fixed assets/equipment/objects in Dynamics 365 Field Service represent the physical equipment, systems, or installations that your organization services for customers. Each customer asset has a range of properties and metadata, such as serial number, model number, installation date, warranty status, and maintenance history. This data provides technicians and service personnel with important information to deliver efficient and accurate service.

The features available in D365 are as follows:

• Asset Hierarchy: For more complex equipment and systems, Dynamics 365 Field Service can manage hierarchical relationships between customer assets. For example, an HVAC system may consist of several components, such as a condenser, a compressor, and a fan unit, each with its own maintenance requirements and service history. The asset hierarchy allows you to organize and visualize these relationships, enabling technicians to understand the full context of each piece of equipment or system.

From the customer's perspective, it may look like this:

From the asset hierarchy in list view:

• Product Links: Customer assets in Dynamics 365 Field Service can be linked to products defined in the product catalog. This makes it easier to track which products and models are installed at customer sites and gives technicians quick access to product information, spare parts, and compatible components. Product links also help ensure that the organization has the right inventory and resources to service the installed assets.
• Maintenance plans and service agreements: For each customer asset, you can create maintenance plans and link them to service agreements. This ensures that the organization automatically generates work orders for scheduled maintenance and complies with agreed service intervals and SLA requirements.
• Location and territories: Dynamics 365 Field Service lets you associate customer assets with their physical locations, for example using addresses and GPS coordinates. This helps technicians locate and navigate to the assets, and allows the organization to assign work orders to technicians based on their territories and proximity to the customer's assets.

In the customer form, you can see an overview of different locations with different assets:

By managing customer assets, hierarchies, and product associations in a detailed and structured manner in Dynamics 365 Field Service, organizations can deliver more efficient, accurate, and customer-centric service. This helps increase customer satisfaction and strengthen long-term customer relationships.

Equipment can also be connected to IoT—there is a separate module for this.

Area and keywords

Field Service

Integration

Field Service

Appointments, booking setup, recurrence

BC, Business Central, NAV, Integration, ERP

Customer assets

Resources, skills, roles, resource groups, calendar, vacation requests, skill scales

Limitations

We had problems using the standard resource field. When we updated it to a different resource, the agreement created additional assignments... We ended up creating our own field for the resource, since there was little built-in logic in it anyway.

ChatGPT limitation:

Complex contracts: Although Dynamics 365 Field Service provides several options for setting up service agreements, managing highly complex contracts with numerous customized terms and conditions can be challenging. In such cases, additional customizations or third-party extensions may be required.

SH: In D365, multiple schedules can be added to the same agreement; for example, one schedule that handles weekly maintenance of an asset at the customer's site and another for semi-annual maintenance. So it is quite flexible out of the box as well.

Limitation from ChatGPT:

Scalability: Organizations with a large number of customers, service agreements, and technicians may encounter scalability issues related to performance and the management of service agreements. This may require further optimization and customization of the solution to meet the organization's needs.

SH: NHK has 10,000 agreements and generates approximately 30 new work orders from them every night.

The solution is well suited for point-to-point integration between Dynamics 365 Sales and BC.

If multiple systems are to be integrated, consideration should be given to replacing this with a service bus integration using a star architecture rather than point-to-point integration between multiple systems. This will, of course, depend on which objects are to be integrated.

There is no standard geocoding of assets based on address, but it is available for work orders, where the address can be based on equipment or a functional location.