Work orders are the connective tissue of Dynamics 365 Field Service. Work orders set the table for your schedulers, dispatchers and field techs to complete jobs correctly and on time. It includes the necessary account and contact information, the work involved, job geo, parts and instructions on how to carry out work. And it’s flexible enough to make changes and additions in real time. Whether we are talking in-home health visits or industrial equipment installs, the work order is the keystone that holds customer service, dispatch and jobs together.
New to Dynamics 365 Field Service? Click here for an introduction.
Events in the work order lifecycle
Creation
The work order includes inputs from other entities such as customer service cases, sales orders, or agreements. It also contains data on the incident type, the model or serialized product, service tasks, parts required, geolocation, etc. Customer, company and contact information can flow natively from sales and service entities in Dynamics 365. For common jobs or incident types, templates can be created to streamline work order creation.
Scheduling
A scheduler or dispatcher puts the work order job on the calendar. Resources are associated with a work order based on skillset and availability. Use the schedule board to check the availability of your resources and book the right ones for the job.
Dispatch
The work order is assigned to a field tech who receives a notification on their Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app. Warehouse staff that prepare parts and equipment see the data as well. The job’s day and time are relayed to the customer too. The field tech enters information about the job and any extras directly into their Field Service mobile app.
Service
The work begins. Work order status is updated. The field tech can make additions and changes such as extra parts to the work order. The customer signs off on the tech’s mobile device. Workflows can trigger actions like customer surveys or alerts for staff back in the office.
Review and Billing
Supervisors or accounting review the work order and make necessary adjustments. Follow up work can be added to the original work order. Send the closed work order to Dynamics 365 ERP via native or custom connection.
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By Mark Abes, Vice President, Dyn365Pros, Microsoft Business Applications partner, San Diego, Southern California.
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