Optimize your field service planning Transform efficiency and customer satisfaction with multi-resource planning from Quintiq
7 field service challenges that make or break your operations As you read this, you are probably facing challenges that affect your ability to improve service levels and efficiency. Problems such as undercapacity and slow response times are difficult to anticipate, but have a critical impact on your business. Perhaps you already have a planning system in place. If so, you re well aware that spreadsheets, whiteboards and, indeed, most field service automation software don t give you the insights you need to overcome your most critical planning challenges. So how much better could you be doing? To help you get a sense of what is possible, we ve identified seven common planning challenges that field service companies like yours face. As you read them, please take a moment to consider how you would tackle them. Then compare your response with what is possible with an intelligent multi-resource planning system that integrates all your resources to give you complete business control. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 2
A single system gives us opportunities to cut driver miles and transport costs, optimize the geographic deployment of kit, and react to last-minute changes, all in real time. Matthew Fell, Executive Project Manager SIS LIVE Challenge 1 No way of determining future capacity requirements Your forecasting department has just told you that demand for next year is expected to rise by 20%. Several questions spring to mind. How many additional field service technicians will you need, and with which skills? How are you placed as far as other resources such as vehicles and equipment are concerned? Without answers to these questions, you have no way of closing the gap between the resources you have now and those you will need in the future. You know you ll run into operational problems, but what can you do? Immediate scenario-based insights into future capacity requirements Your planners swiftly create scenarios that enable you to identify gaps between current capacity and future demand. The results show you how many field service technicians you will need, with which skills; as well as the other resources that will be required. An accurate overview of long-term capacity requirements enables you to seize business opportunities while avoiding overstaffing. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 3
Challenge 2 Escalating overtime costs Your manager is asking awkward questions. He wants to know why overtime costs are escalating when employees are under utilized during working hours. You know your planners are creating the best possible schedules based on standard shift types that avoid violations of labor rules and regulations. What else can they possibly do? Intelligent shift generation Instead of relying on standard shifts, you easily explore how various shift types affect utilization rates. Your multi-resource planning system enables planners to add, remove, and change shift types to arrive at the best possible schedules. Demand-driven shift generation enables you to avoid overcapacity and undercapacity, and minimize operating costs. Challenge 3 Figuring out the best combination of resources for a job A new request comes in, and your planners start pulling together resources to fulfil it. There s a lot to consider. What s the best combination of personnel and equipment in the light of service level agreements, training requirements, and commitments to other customers? As resources are planned in different systems, your planners struggle just to arrive at a feasible plan. There s simply no time to look for the best one. Instant visibility into all required resources Your planners have an instant overview of all the required resources and their availability. The system automatically highlights the best combinations based on service level agreements and other requirements. Integrated planning streamlines the planning process and ensures that your customers have the right resources at the right time. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 4
We wanted a single integrated solution for our Dutch and international planning activities that would offer the intelligence to improve our flexibility. In this way we aim to be able to operate in a more customer-centric way. Marcel Blinde, Director Applus RTD Project Services Challenge 4 Improving both customer satisfaction and staff utilization Senior management has yet another impossible demand. They want you to improve both customer satisfaction and staff utilization. You try telling them that these are conflicting goals, but you can tell they re not listening. You have to deliver. Or else. KPI-based optimization that balances competing demands Your planners effortlessly optimize decisions against all relevant KPIs. Instead of choosing between business goals, they simply assign weights to them and watch as the optimizer arrives at the optimal plan that balances competing KPIs. These plans are then fine-tuned by planners based on their soft knowledge of employee and customer preferences. KPI-based optimization gives planners complete control over how their decisions affect competing business goals. Challenge 5 Identifying the best routes among billions of possibilities You suspect that your routes could be improved. In fact you re sure they can. If planning a route for one technician with ten service requests presents a huge range of possibilities, you can t imagine what it must be like to plan routes for all of them. How do your planners know which routes will enable field personnel to complete the most jobs in the least time? You re pretty sure they don t. World-class optimization Every single factor that affects the quality of a route - from customer requirements and time windows, to the location and availability of personnel is considered in order to generate the best possible routes. Powerful optimizers swiftly arrive at the best routes for even the most complex field service situations. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 5
Integrated mobility and field service planning - in action (1) Planner receives and plans a service order Supported by a multi-resource planning system, the planner has immediate insight into whether the right employees and equipment are available within the desired timeframe. All relevant costs such as the cost of overtime, travel time, and the cost of outsourcing orders - are considered. (2) Field service technician receives job and begins work The technician receives details of the job (such as the customer, parts required and route) on his mobile device. He updates his status to job in progress. The technician is able to create additional service orders on the spot. Extra work that used to be done for free can now be invoiced. The planner receives real-time updates on the status of the service order and any additional requests. Any revised schedule complies fully with all relevant constraints, labor rules and regulations. All rules, regulations and constraints are automatically incorporated in the plan. The job is dispatched to the field service technician s mobile device. (3) An urgent service order comes through while the technician is still on the job. The planner knows exactly where each technician is, and can re-optimize schedules swiftly to respond to urgent requests. Urgent requests are fielded to the most suitable technician, based on factors such as travel time, overtime and SLAs. The technician receives the updated schedule immediately. Field service goals Complying with service order requirements and service level agreements (SLAs) Incorporating all relevant constraints, labor rules and regulations Minimizing cost/ maximizing revenue Communication & administration (4) Technician completes the job The technician uses his mobile device to generate an end-of-job report and invoice the customer. Time that used to be spent on administrative tasks can now be used to fulfil more orders. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 6
World record holder for the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) When you choose Quintiq, you benefit from the expertise of the world record holder for the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). The VRPTW is one of the most studied problems in the field of combinatorial optimization. It involves creating the best routes to get delivery vehicles from a central depot to customers who require deliveries of various quantities of a product within certain time windows. The challenge lies in finding a solution that minimizes the total number of vehicles used and distance traveled. The solution that previously held the world record requires 90 vehicles (the optimal number) and a total distance of 39641.46. We set a new world record by uncovering a set of routes that requires 90 vehicles and a distance of only 39468.68, while respecting all time windows and vehicle capacities. This improvement of over 170 points or 0.43% is significant for an optimization challenge that has been around for many years. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 7
Challenge 6 Turning mobility into a competitive advantage While your technicians are equipped with mobile devices, these devices aren t integrated with your planning system. Your planners are still in the dark about delays that could affect schedules or service levels. Another problem: You have various systems that handle time and attendance, orders for spare parts, and invoicing. As none of them are integrated with your mobile platform, your technicians are spending far too much time completing forms and job reports. A fully integrated mobile platform that transforms service levels and efficiency Your technicians use their mobile devices to receive work orders, access the information they need to complete jobs, manage spare parts, file reports, create invoices, and log hours anytime, anywhere. A fully integrated mobile platform enables minuteby-minute alignment between optimal schedules and the realities on the ground. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 8
Challenge 7 Mastering disruptions Two of your field service technicians call in sick. Your planners are scrambling to reassign tasks without violating labor rules and regulations. Achieving business goals, such as minimizing travel time and overtime, is going to have to take a backseat. Our top priorities are to keep our customers happy and ensure the safety of our employees, but we also need to manage our resources with maximum efficiency. Planning is the key to success, which means we have very high expectations for the Quintiq solution in terms of improved resource utilization, SLA compliance, safety, and administrative efficiency. Based on what we saw in phase one of the project, we are confident that our expectations will be met. Santi Copello, Executive Project Manager, Elektro Intelligent decision support and interactive optimization that keep planners in control A disruption doesn t disrupt your ability to achieve business goals. The system automatically identifies the most suitable personnel based on pre-determined criteria such as skills, and re-assigns tasks. Based on how much of the original plan has been disrupted, your planners choose where to apply optimization. Within a few minutes, a new schedule is generated that takes all the relevant rules into account and minimizes the impact of the disruption. Interactive optimization enables planners to react swiftly to unexpected events and fine-tune plans with their soft knowledge. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 9
Field service planning check list Does your field service planning and optimization solution allow you to do the following? Improve the utilization of resources such as employees, equipment, and vehicles Respond quickly and effectively to unexpected events Improve compliance with service level agreements Base your planning around your KPIs Reduce the time needed to create and revise operational plans Improve the quality of operational plans Turn mobility into a competitive advantage Avoid unnecessary investments in employees, equipment, and vehicles Maximize flexibility, visibility, and control The benefits described in this brochure can be found in the powerful Quintiq optimization platform. For more information on how Quintiq can help you streamline your operations, speed up response times, and lower operating costs, contact us or visit www.quintiq.com. Tip: Look for a multi-resource planning system that gives you complete business control. Offices: www.quintiq.com/locations Email: info@quintiq.com Web: www.quintiq.com SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION 10