Managing field service has changed a lot since the time of Ghostbusters. And yet, companies are finding it challenging to manage their team of service technicians or field agents efficiently. Read More.

1. The Most Comprehensive Way to Manage Your Field Sales – Salesforce Field
Service Lightning
Introduction
Managing field service has changed a lot since the time of ghostbusters. And yet, companies are
finding it challenging to manage their team of service technicians or field agents efficiently.
There was a time when the dispatchers used legacy field service applications and spreadsheets to track
technician activities and field workers completed their work orders using paper and pencil. It was
tough for organizations to keep up with increasing customer demands and remain competitive in
today’s world.
Though the scenario has changed a bit, field service leaders still face problems in ensuring their
workforce is operating at optimal efficiency. It’s difficult for organizations to deliver high-quality field
service work within the specified time and budget.
Field service has got no room for miscommunications, delays or even incomplete information. All
thanks to Industry 4.0, which helped in eliminating the inherent challenges of the traditional process
and allowed communication through various devices. As a response to the technology advancement,
came in the Field Service Management.
What Is Field Service Management?
Field Service Management manages the organization’s end-to-end field activities like scheduling,
invoicing, billing, optimization, customer portals, vehicle tracking, and customer information.

2. There are three critical users in Field Service Management:
1. Field Service Agent/Call Center Executive:
Service Agent is the first point of contact for clients. Once the agent receives a service request from
the client, he/she will create a case on a particular request. From the case, the agent will create a work
order and service appointment.
2. FSL Dispatcher/FSL Admin:
FSL Dispatcher deals with the records, work orders, and service appointments. The dispatcher will
have the dispatch console access to dispatch service appointments to the right Technician at the right
time. The dispatch console plays a major role here to dispatch service appointments more efficiently.
3. Field Service Technician:
 The Field Service Technician uses Field Service Lightning mobile app on their
mobiles/iPads to receive service appointments. The first task of the Technician is to
inspect the work order if it needs any parts. If yes, the Technician needs to check for
those parts in his inventory/ van location. If the Technician doesn’t have the required
parts, he’d need to request the parts from a nearby warehouse or from other
technicians. Once he receives the required parts, he adds them in the line items for
the work order.
 While the technician adds parts to the work order, the list price automatically
populates from the price book, which is associated with the work order’s work type.
 Once he adds line items to the work order, the Technician will generate a service
report and take a signature from the customer and complete the work order.
Introducing Salesforce Field Service Lightning
Salesforce Field Service Lightning is an additional feature of Salesforce to expand the Service Cloud
offerings.

3. Field Service Lightning deals with Service Cloud, adding functionality for dispatching, monitoring, and
reporting field service representative’s activity.
It helps to dispatch the right Technician in the right place, at the right time. It optimizes and automates
the core business process.
Benefits of Field Service Lightning:
 Recommends the right time to customers based on existing schedules and travel time.
 Assigns work based on skills and availability.
 Allows field service reps to complete their work orders right from their job location.
 Allows Technicians to capture electronic signatures for work orders or service reports.
 Supports around 3,000 and more field service reps, including contractors.
 Provides the ability to supervise by viewing and managing work from their Gantt
charts or even map views.
 Provides the ability for admins to configure and manage specific work rules to manage
territories, service level agreements, or business priorities.
Significant features of Field Service Lightning:
 Field Service Lightning Configurations
When we install the Field Service Lightning package, we get three major users – FSL Agent, FSL
Dispatcher, and FSL Technician. Based on each user type, corresponding permissions need to be
assigned. For instance, we need to assign the mobile settings to get notifications on the Calendar of
an FSL.
 Work Order & Service Appointment Management
1. Work orders are the heart of the Field Service Lightning as they represent the work to
be performed by the Technician for customers.
2. Service appointment represents field service visits to customers; service appointment
describes the information related to scheduling, assignment, and work order details.
3. Technicians will get notified by Service Appointment to view customer information,
work order, and asset-related information.
 Asset tracking & Management
1. Asset tracking will be used to track the information about products that customers
use. If customers installed sensitive/competitive products, a preventive maintenance
plan may be created to plan, schedule, and track work on the asset.
2. Preventive Maintenance plans can be generated automatically from service contracts
with the required duration according to requirement. Work orders will be created
automatically depending on the set frequency.
 Schedule and Work Dispatching :
1. Schedule Management will play a major role in Field Service Management.
Dispatchers will schedule service appointments to technicians at the right time and
the right place and for the resource with required skills.

4. 2. In the Salesforce FSL, Dispatcher Console allows to manage and monitor technicians’
workload from one place in real-time and is available as a map or a Gantt chart.
 Field Technician Mobility via FSL Mobile App:
Technicians will get an opportunity to access and update the crucial information in customer location
with this app, like work orders, Service Appointments, inventory, and parts. The important advantage
of the mobile application is it’s also available in offline mode.
 Parts/Inventory Management
1. Parts/Inventory management is used to track and manage parts/products which are
available for storage, request, transfer, and consumption to complete the work order
by the Technician.
2. The Technician should take care of maintaining parts/products in the warehouse.
 Service Report output Document:
1. The Technician will generate a service report after completion of the work order. The
service report will have all the information related to work orders like customer
information, pricing information, product details (related to parts like a discount, list
price, unit price, tax, and total price).
2. The Technician will take customer acceptance/signature while generating the service
report.
 Resource Management:
Resource management plays a key role in field service management. It will help you track resource
availability, absence during the dispatching service appointment.
Conclusion
Salesforce Field Service Lightning meets the core business process of companies in different domains
of industries, and it also helps resolve Field Service calls quicker, increases worker productivity in the
field, and digitizes the appointment-scheduling.
Field Service Management will place the right employee at the right place and at the right time.

5. About Solunus:
Solunus is a dedicated Salesforce partner organization, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Our
unrelenting focus on comprehending the unique needs of our clients coupled with our unrivaled
expertise of the Salesforce platform enables us to deliver the perfect solutions that create the best
value for IT and business analytics firms.