For most organisations that have a fleet of field service agents, the most complex task is managing and billing each agent efficiently. It should come as no surprise, because of numerous variables involved in the process including miscommunication, delays, incorrect information, etc. This is undoubtedly frustrating for the stakeholders responsible for effort estimation, managing, and reporting.
The Field Service mobile app by Microsoft Dynamic 365 solves this problem for you completely. It comes with a comprehensive array of services that helps you manage your frontline workers while they are onsite on duty. The service offers a 360- degree view of the workforce scheduling, delivery, productivity, and attendance. But to make the most of this service, here are some interesting, highly rewarding hacks regarding the setup and deployment of the Field Service app.
Tip 1: Assign the Field Service-Resource security role
To enable appropriate view and control, it’s important to assign the right roles to the Field Service resource. As a best practice, it is important to assign each frontline worker Field Security Profile. By doing this, you ensure that the required permissions are available to the resource.
Enhancing the role of the Field Service Resource
To add and assign more permissions to the Field Service Resource, it is important to create a new role allowing access to the permissions you want to include. Thereafter this new role needs to be added on top of the Field Service Resource Security role.
Lowering security privileges
Sometimes you might have to strip a few privileges from the ones your Field Service Resource is enjoying. The process to downgrade privileges is quite simple. Just copy the Field Service Resource security role, make amendments as per your preferences, and re-assign the copied and amended role to the resource. Next, in order to view scheduled jobs, give access to the Booking and Work Order form to the newly created copy of the security role.
Performance
Test your application for any performance lags like longer sync times after assigning the security role permissions.
Tip 2: Field Service Mobile App – Forms
Microsoft has introduced forms and controls in the Field Service mobile app that are optimised for performance and usability on mobile devices. It’s important to add relevant sections to the form instead of overloading it to ensure app performance.
Tip 3: Offline profiles – things to remember
Offline profiles are significant features of the Field Service mobile app because they manage the data downloaded to the device. As you know, using offline data already downloaded on the device is faster than using the data on the server. So, in order to enjoy better app performance, set up an offline profile and assign it to the appropriate users. Here are some other ways to optimise offline profile performance in the Field Service app.
Make the most of the offline profile features included within the Field Service App. Customise them as and when needed.
Refrain from deleting the default features from the offline profiles. Adding the entities that you need is a great way to customise the app, but deleting the default ones isn’t a good idea.
Since the role of the offline profile is to control the amount of data downloaded to the workers’ device, you should avoid using the ‘all records’ filter.
In order to run uninterrupted workflows on mobile, use offline JavaScript.
Tip 4: Use devices that are compatible enough to support the Field Service App
Although Microsoft Field Service App supports any device running on Android and iOS, it is always advisable to ensure that your field agents have newer, updated mobile phones and the latest version of the operating system.
Tip 5: Make the best use of Microsoft Power Platform
The revolutionary Field Service Mobile App has the foundational support of Microsoft Power Platform, so your workforce’s devices can benefit from a range of new features, like Power Automate and Power Apps component framework.
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