In the Salesforce Summer 22 release of Field Service, there is so much exciting new functionality that we don’t know how we are supposed to keep this concise. It is chock full of several impactful enhancements and new functionality that bring even more depth to the application.
The Scheduling of Resources and getting them there on time will be even easier as this release is getting a significant boost in functionality that will be cause for celebration by all schedulers and dispatchers!
Recurring Absences To Add More Versatility
Let’s start with Holiday Management. This much-needed functionality (also known as “Recurring Absences”) will be celebrated by everyone who has had to enter weekly or biweekly team meetings where field teams shouldn’t be scheduled. It works exactly like setting up a repeating meeting in your work calendar- daily, weekly, monthly, etc. What makes it a huge time saver is that you can systematically set different recurring meetings for other territories and include single/multiple field technicians in any number of combinations.
Another win for those managing resource scheduling is Dynamic Breaks. Dynamic Breaks allow for the codification of the work laws for each of the territories your field technicians work in. These rules are then included in the scheduling policies, so when the scheduling optimization engine runs, these policies are enforced.
Travel Modes To Make Scheduling Better
Salesforce Summer22 release of field service scores again by adding different modes of travel for the Mapping features, directions are more reliable for mobile users, and travel times between appointments are better approximated. Cars and Vans can now be directed to use toll roads. Light and Heavy trucks will be directed away from roads they aren’t allowed on. The scheduling engine will enable this change in big cities, where technicians might walk or bike. We would still like to see mass transit, but these rules will significantly improve routing maps and make drive times between appointments much more accurate.
Appointment Bundling, released with much fanfare in the last update, takes another leap forward with Live Bundling. This new feature provides live project bundling during the day. If a technician is on location and someone calls from nearby (or in the same building), the existing work bundle will be modified in real-time. For your customers, this is a big win as they might be able to get a last-minute appointment; for technicians, it makes more efficient use of their time while being onsite, and for the company – it lowers miles and fuel costs. For field technicians, the biggest news is that Offline functionality has been improved!
The number of records that can be saved for offline use has increased from 2,000 to 50,000 and now includes their related objects. You can even choose which related objects get stored!
Other Significant Updates To Enhance Customer Service
- Enhanced optimization allows you to bundle territories with the exact service optimization times, improving overall speed!
- Salesforce’s intelligent buddy Einstein is beginning to stick his toe into the Field Service application, and he’s providing real-time insights into KPIs like Service Productivity and Field Employee utilization, to name two, via the new Tableau Dashboards.
- Usage-Based Preventative maintenance: Maintenance of a copy machine was set for every 10,000 copies, but when your technician arrives, and it’s already at 11,000 – the next maintenance will happen at 21,000 copies. This ensures service isn’t performed too soon!
- Serialized Product (Asset Management): While this is only a beta release, it will be a big win for users. Inventory managers have an end-to-end workflow to manage inventory costs for highly valued discrete products like medical devices, cable boxes, energy meters, servers, etc. It also comes with a purpose-built desktop and mobile UI (for the field technicians), making it easier for Purchasing Managers, Warehouse Managers, and field technicians to ship, track, accept, and disposition inventory in warehouses, trucks, vans, and customers once installed.
As we have mentioned before, the list does not end here. In the Salesforce Summer 22 release of field service, there are many more cool features that Salesforce brought out to improve customer service and increase customer satisfaction. Reach out to us if you have any questions about how these and the other Summer ’22 updates can help your field service operations outperform your competitors.
