What is Salesforce Field Service?
Field Service Lightning, now known as Salesforce Field Service, is a Service Cloud extension that enables a holistic approach to workforce management. This solution facilitates tracking the location and tasks of service personnel, as well as the materials they carry in their vehicles, such as cables for installing cable services. Salesforce continuously enhances the product, frequently incorporating new features with each release. Salesforce Field Service encompasses various components that make up its functionality.
Standard FSL Business Flow
- Service Appointments: The core element of the field service puzzle is the Service Appointment records, which integrate standard Salesforce Service functionalities, along with territory and scheduling features (which are explained later).
- Field Service Mobile App: with offline functionality.
- Field Service is highly integrated with Salesforce Service Cloud: utilizing the same “Work Order” object.
- Territory and scheduling: are crucial components that involve related objects and aid in appointment booking, scheduling, and optimization.
- The Field Service Dispatcher Console: is the user interface for managing field service operations.
- The Field Service Mobile App: provides offline functionality and is intended for use by field service professionals while on the job.
The relationship between Service Cloud and Field Service can be depicted through a data model diagram:
Case Management Tools in Salesforce
| Queues | Create lists from which specific agents can jump in to solve specific categories of situations to automatically prioritize your support team’s workload. |
|---|---|
| Assignment Rules | Assign incoming cases to specified agents automatically so that the proper individuals work on the right cases. |
| Escalation Rules | When problems are not resolved within a particular time frame, they are automatically escalated to the appropriate people. |
| Auto-Response Rules | Send personalized email responses to consumers depending on the circumstances of each instance. |
The Service Setup Assistant’s Features
The Service Setup Assistant helps you implement key Service Cloud features, including Email-to-Case, Quick Text, Omni-Channel routing, Knowledge, Help Center, Chat and Messaging enablement, default queues, permission sets, profiles, and more.
Which individuals or entities utilize Salesforce Field Service?
Organizations that have mobile field technicians supporting their customers can greatly benefit from Salesforce Field Service. The value that FSL provides to such organizations increases as the complexity of their service delivery involving multiple specialized individuals in a coordinated sequence increases.
For instance, consider a premium door installation company where the installation process requires several steps, including the creation of space for the door, structural reinforcement, delivery of the door, and finally fitting the door. Additionally, the customer’s approval is also needed during the installation process. In such cases, the use of FSL can be highly beneficial.
These service scenarios involve multiple people:
- Dispatchers: These individuals respond to customer “work orders” for service call-outs and assign the most suitable person for the job based on proximity, availability, and skill.
- Field Technicians: They are specialized professionals responsible for carrying out the service, such as the installation team.
- Service Agents: This personnel handles communication with customers when they request a service call-out. They determine whether a call-out is necessary or if there is a simpler solution.
- Service Managers: They monitor service call-out volume, and service efficiency, which includes facts and rs like how long the technician spent on-site and travel time, and customer satisfaction.
Each of these people uses Salesforce Field Service in a different way:
- Dispatchers: need to access multiple pieces of information, simultaneously, in order to make a call on who is best for the job. You’ll find Dispatchers using the “Dispatcher Console”.
- Field Technicians: use the Field Service Mobile app, as they are always “on the move” and also need offline capabilities to not disrupt their work.
- Service Agents: will initially work with a “Case”, to attempt to reach a resolution. When they validate a call-out visit is required, they then create a “Work Order” (which the dispatcher works on). You’ll find Service Agents using the “Lightning Service Console”.
- Service Managers: to monitor service efficiency and success, they will use a combination of Salesforce reports, list views, and other Salesforce platform analytics.
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Instances of applying Salesforce Field Service
- Service Visits: Attending customer sites to perform repairs, which may involve one or multiple visits, and may require specific skill sets and physical equipment according to the work order.
- Routine Maintenance: Scheduled visits that follow a consistent pattern each time.
- Sales Visits: Sales representatives who visit prospects and customer sites, particularly those that require coordination of multiple single visits. Field Service can be easily synchronized with opportunity records.
- Healthcare Visits: Regular or irregular visits for medical care.
Salesforce Field Service Terms
Work Orders vs. Service Appointments
These two objects sound similar, but each plays a different role:
Work Orders: what ****work needs to be performed.
Service Appointment: when and where representing the visit the technician will make.
Contract Line Items and Entitlements: Contracts are a standard object used across Salesforce. Line items are the content of the contract. Entitlements are a Service Cloud object that enforces service-level agreements, so you can “give your customers the level of support you’ve promised them”.
Work Type: templates that can be applied to work orders and work order line items to standardize field service work that’s carried out for multiple customers.
Service Territory: “where” teams can perform the work. Geographic territories come to mind, as the location is a fundamental factor in delivering efficient service. Territories can also be used for other types of divisions, such as distinguishing between sales vs service boundaries.
Operating Hours: allowable times for “when” teams can perform the work and when accounts can be serviced (taking their Entitlements and service contracts into account).
Resource: any of the terms with “Resource” included indicate describe the “who” of the Work Order. This brings together service technician’s level of expertise, hourly or job-based capacity, and more.
Scheduling Policy: these bring together “where”, “when”, and “who” factors in order to guide dispatchers when making a decision about which resource to send out. Example factors that could be taken into consideration in your org include business priorities, travel time, and customer preferences. Four standard scheduling policies come out of the box.
I highly recommend you review the Salesforce Field Service data model to solidify your understanding of these terms, and how they work together, like “cogs” that power the FSL “machine”!
Salesforce Field Service Scheduling and Optimization
As I mentioned, the FSL objects make a robust data model and optimized, guided usability that informs dispatchers to make the best decision on who to send out at any given time.
Dispatcher Console
Scheduling in Salesforce Field Service is managed by the dispatcher, using the Dispatcher Console UI. Dispatchers need to access multiple pieces of information, simultaneously, in order to make a call on who is best for the job. The Dispatcher Console has been designed with a split panel (showing the Gantt chart on the right-hand panel), tabs, and selectors to toggle between policies.
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Ways to Schedule Appointments
There are multiple ways appointments can make their way into the Dispatcher’s Gantt view – from manual to part-automated, to fully automated.
1. Book Appointment action 2**. Get Candidate’s action**
3. Auto-create Appointments (using the Work Type)
4. Auto-create Appointments (using the Maintenance Plan) 6. Custom Appointment Booking
Service Territory Design
Service Territories define the “where” teams can perform the work. Geographic territories come to mind, as the location is a fundamental factor in delivering efficient service. Territories can also be used for other types of divisions, such as distinguishing between sales vs service boundaries.
A lack of attention to territory design can seriously impact the dispatcher’s satisfaction with the system. Serious thought is required in the initial design, and ongoing maintenance – even minor changes can vastly improve or damage user productivity.
What are Service Territory Types?
Service Territories are categorized into three types, evolving around a field technician:
- Primary Territory: A field technician’s “home patch”. This is where the majority of their work is carried out.
- Secondary Territory: A territory next to the primary territory, where the field technician sometimes has appointments.
- Relocation Territory: A territory far from the primary/secondary territory, where the field technician is sent for a period of a day or more. This would apply to long work orders, and/or ones that require highly-skilled individuals.
Field Service Mobile
The Salesforce Field Service Mobile app is a core part for mobile workforces, on the move. Technicians get the information they need to optimize their jobs and travel between. Improve “first visit resolution” by supplying diagnostic information, and technicians can report back their progress with little friction. Plus, it’s built to be offline first so that capturing data isn’t dependent on a reliable connection.
#Summary
This comprehensive guide provides an overview of Salesforce Field Service, formerly known as Field Service Lightning (FSL), and its capabilities. FSL is an extension of Service Cloud that offers a comprehensive view of workforce management, making it a valuable addition for organizations with mobile field technicians that support their customers.
The guide covers various aspects of FSL, including Service Appointments, Salesforce Service Cloud, Territory and scheduling, the Field Service user interface, and the Field Service Mobile App. Each of these components has a unique role in delivering efficient service to customers.
The guide also delves into the different personas that use FSL and how they use it. Dispatchers use the Dispatcher Console to access multiple pieces of information simultaneously, making an informed decision regarding who is best for the job. Field Technicians use the mobile app, which has useful features such as offline capabilities to not disrupt their work. Service Agents use the Lightning Service Console to validate whether a call-out visit is required, and Service Managers use a combination of Salesforce reports, list views, and other Salesforce platform analytics to monitor service efficiency and success.
This guide goes further to highlight various use cases of Salesforce Field Service, including Repairs, Maintenance, Sales, and Healthcare. It also explains the different Salesforce Field Service Terms such as Work Orders, Service Appointments, Contract Line Items, Entitlements, Work Type, Service Territory, Operating Hours, Resource, and Scheduling Policy.
The guide emphasizes the importance of Service Territory Design and how it can impact the dispatcher’s satisfaction with the system. It categorizes Service Territories into Primary Territory, Secondary Territory, and Relocation Territory, each revolving around a field technician.
Lastly, the guide explains how the Salesforce Field Service Mobile App is a core part of mobile workforces on the move. Technicians can optimize their jobs and travel between them, improving “first visit resolution” by supplying diagnostic information, and reporting back their progress with little friction. Plus, it’s built to be offline first, so capturing data isn’t dependent on a reliable connection.
In conclusion, Salesforce Field Service can be a complex yet rewarding product to work with. This guide covers all aspects of Salesforce Field Service, from its technical components to its different use cases, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in using FSL to improve their organization’s efficiency and customer satisfaction.
