White Paper

5 Reasons Why You Should

Give Field Engineers Access to
The Company ERP System

Coresystems AG
www.coresystems.net
White Paper: 5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engineers Access to The Company ERP System

Content
1. Create Ambassadors to Make Loyal Customers 4

2. Faster Service Preparation 4

3. Automatic Reports and Faster Invoicing For

Improved Cash-Flow 5

4. Real-World Usage Data Produces Better Products 5

5. Ambassadors Sell More Products and Services 6

www.coresystems.net 2
White Paper: 5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engineers Access to The Company ERP System

5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engi-

neers Access to The Company ERP System
Advanced Software Automation to Run Service Projects More Efficiently
For the Field Service Executives, COOs and CMOs of large organizations that provide
customer field service management.

For most companies, the central ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is the
sanctuary of corporate knowledge. It has been carefully developed at great expense
over a long period and now sits at the heart of the business. It sucks in all the data it
can, only releasing it to those elevated enough to understand its meaning. For most,
that doesn’t include the regular field service engineer.
It should, here’s why.

www.coresystems.net 3
 White Paper: 5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engineers Access to The Company ERP System

1. Create Ambassadors to Make Loyal Customers

After the big sale has been made and the champagne corks have flown, the hungry
salesman will quickly move on to his next target, leaving the customer in the hands of
the service organization to deliver the goods. In fact, field service then becomes the
primary point of contact between your company and the customer. Up to this point,
the sales-team has been lavishly courting the decision-makers with close attention,
personalized lists of benefit and carefully tailored strategies to transform their busi-
ness. If you want to keep the customer happy and coming back for more, then field
engineers need to live up to that standard of care too.
“Field service The ERP system holds all the information the company knows about your products
and your customers. There is enough information freely available to enable the engi-
becomes the neers to carefully tailor their services to each customer’s particular needs and prefer-
prime point of ences. The engineer becomes an expert not just in your products, but also in how cus-
tomers can best use your products in their business. That doesn’t mean a tech has to
contact.” become a salesperson, but that tech can become an ambassador.
Your customers are concerned with maximizing their productivity, and your experi-
enced engineers know how to get the most out of your products and make them per-
form at their best. Beyond that, they can also offer advice and guidance on how best
to use the machines. To do this effectively, however, they need to know all about the
customer’s installation. All that information that is currently locked up in the ERP
system can be made available in an easy-to-use app on a mobile device that features:
− Tailored checklists that will ensure the right procedures are followed;
− parts checked and measurements taken;
− electronic, up-to-date manuals will ensure quality;
− on-site information will make sure the machines are optimized for each cus-
tomer.

2. Faster Service Preparation

As anyone who has achieved success will tell you, it’s all in the preparation. Large or
complex installations, however, take a lot more preparation. Everything must be con-
sidered and every contingency must be planned. Previous plans, blueprints, require-
ments, and documents must be located and pulled out of archive. Detailed plans must
be drawn to lead each step of the way. Site-specific instructions need to be found and
applied. Lists of skills required have to be matched with available staff, and then the
staff must be scheduled.
Hopefully, these processes are routine, but if there is an unexpected fault and a cus-
tomer is complaining because their production has stopped, then appropriate mea-
sures need to be taken fast. Even without that added pressure, significant resources
are needed to pull everything together and create a dedicated plan. It is much better
if all that information is stored digitally in the ERP system and made available to field
service techs for instant access.
Preparing for onsite services is not just about collecting documents, however. Prepar-
ing a detailed plan takes time and expertise. With the right software, much of that
process can be automated and set up in advance. Templates for generic services can
be used as a basic structure and specifics from the ERP system can be added. Plans,
estimates, and resource scheduling that usually take days or weeks to input manually
can take minutes when automated.

www.coresystems.net 4
 White Paper: 5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engineers Access to The Company ERP System
For example, the active check-
list might request information
on hours worked, parts used,
supplies consumed and general
expenses, all of which is filled in
during the service procedure
and can be used to write a ser-
vice report. The engineer might
also be asked to enter informa-
tion such as:
− Measurements,
− temperatures,
− work completed,
− before and after pic-
tures of parts.
These can be used to write a
technical report. The engineer
simply has to press a button for
the reports to be sent to the
customer for approval.
“Engineers can
be asked to re-
cord data that
will give valuable
insight into the
product’s life in
the field.”
3. Automatic Reports and Faster Invoicing For Improved Cash-
Flow
Once the job is finished and everything is working, all that is left is to prepare the
reports and have the customer sign off in order for an invoice to be generated. Unfor-
tunately, collating information then writing reports can take a long time for a busy
engineer who would rather be fixing broken machines. If it takes weeks to send the
report to the customer, then you are dependent on their memories of the day and the
work done so they can sign off for approval. If there are queries or challenges, then it
can be almost impossible to verify the actual events, leading to even more delays. It is
better to have software that writes the report automatically during the service visit,
enables the report to be approved on the spot, and instantly uploads it to the ERP
system for invoicing.
Checklists can be extremely powerful tools. They can be downloaded onto the engi-
neer’s mobile device and are accessible even if Internet access is not possible on-site.
They are not just a passive list of instructions, but they can actively ask for informa-
tion to be recorded at each step of the procedure. In this way, checklists collate all the
information required for a report as the service progresses.
Once complete, the app can produce whatever reports are needed, correctly format-
ted documents, which can be directly emailed or shown to the customer. It is even
possible for the customer to immediately sign-off on the report digitally. If there are
queries, then the engineer is there to answer them, with all the information still fresh
in his mind. Once approved, the app will upload all the data to the ERP system so an
invoice can be generated instantly for checking.
This system can reduce the time to send an invoice from several weeks to just a few
days. The improvement in cash flow this brings to the entire business is enormous.
4. Real-World Usage Data Produces Better Products
Active checklists connected to the ERP system can also be used in another way. They
can ask the engineer to record measurements, which are not needed for the immedi-
ate customer report, but are useful to product development. When producing any
mechanical product, it is always difficult to predict how it will perform in a real world
setting, where there can be unpredictable production runs and it can be situated in a
very different environment than a development lab. Real life feedback can be ex-
tremely useful.
When visiting customers for even simple routine services, engineers can be asked to
record data that will give valuable insight into the product’s life in the field. For in-
stance, this can be wear and tear on particular parts, operating temperatures, toler-
ances, production counts, and other things. The data will automatically be uploaded
into the company ERP system and then accessed by the developers. Over time, this
data can be aggregated across many customers and sliced however needed. Presented
in a table or graphically, the data will allow the developers to spot trends, identify
vulnerable parts and even isolate external factors, which may affect how well their
product performs and survives in the field. Data such as this can lead to significantly
improved productivity and longevity, as well as help forecast service intervals more
accurately.
www.coresystems.net 5
 White Paper: 5 Reasons Why You Should Give Field Engineers Access to The Company ERP System

5. Ambassadors Sell More Products and Services

Field service engineers are in a perfect position to establish a valuable relationship
with your customers. They have access to the customer’s organization, often at a level
insulated from senior level politic. They are able to offer insight, advice, and guidance
based on technical knowledge and years of experience. As ambassadors of your com-
pany, they can have significant influences, however, they must be supported in this
role by data from the ERP system.
When on-site, engineers can have access to all the information about the site, prod-
“As ambassa- ucts, and history made available on their mobile device. This data backs up their first-
hand experience from other sites. With all that acquired experience, the engineer will
dors of your often spot something in the equipment that is not quite right for that customer, and
company field can offer advice on an improvement. Examples of advice might be:
service techni- − Training
cians can have − Part replacement
significant influ- − Upgrade
ence” − Maintenance service
− New equipment
Similarly, with access to historical data, the engineer might spot that a particular part
has become faulty more than once, and so it needs a more radical solution than just
replacement. Historical data can also show trends that might point to things like pre-
mature wear on a part. The part might not have failed yet, but better to replace it be-
fore it fails and causes an unplanned production outage.
The ‘ambassador-engineer’ is therefore in a valuable position to advise the customer
on ways to improve productivity and uptime, by suggesting lessons learnt from previ-
ous jobs and offering additional goods and services.

About Coresystems
Coresystems is a leading provider of mobile and cloud-based field service and
workforce management software for mid-sized and large enterprises’ field service
organizations. Since Coresystems’ founding in 2006, more than 190,000 users
across the world have utilized Coresystems’ innovative, real-time field service
management software to improve their business and field service processes. Core-
Coresystems systems has also pioneered “crowd service” – which allows customers to leverage
CH: +41 56 500 22 44 an Uber-like platform to find available field service technicians in real-time. Core-
DE: +49 761 887 95 777 systems is headquartered in Switzerland with international offices in San Francis-
USA: +1 (415) 887-1944 co, Miami, Berlin, Freiburg, Shanghai, São Paulo and London.
www.coresystems.net

www.coresystems.net 6