SAP Field Service

Field Service Defined

Field service is the action of dispatching workers or contractors to a specific location to install, maintain or repair equipment or assets. It is a coordination of a company’s resources, including employees and equipment, for work activities off the company property.

Common Activities in Field Service are:

Scheduling: Arranging employee scheduling and expected work times
Dispatch Management: Coordinating when a specialist is sent out on assignment
Work Order Management: Tracking from creation to completion, to customer invoicing
Inventory Management: Keeping track of parts and supplies, consumption, adjustments etc.
Contract Management: Managing customer contracts and service level agreements

Innovative technology is available for service management and helps to create a deeper understanding of needs. To boost customer satisfaction, software solutions are available with mobile tools, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and Internet of Things. They are inclusive of cloud deployment, customer self-service processes, simulated scheduling and dispatching, along with real time analytics and reporting.

SAP Field Service Management Solution

Field Service Defined

Common Activities in Field Service are:

Scheduling: Arranging employee scheduling and expected work times
Dispatch Management: Coordinating when a specialist is sent out on assignment
Work Order Management: Tracking from creation to completion, to customer invoicing
Inventory Management: Keeping track of parts and supplies, consumption, adjustments etc.
Contract Management: Managing customer contracts and service level agreements

SAP Field Service Management Solution

Key capabilities include:

Real-time field service metrics. Make decisions and recognize issues quickly with standard or custom reports, observe KPIs for performance tracking, and meet requirements of service agreements.
Mobile and desktop reporting. Complete view of customers, products, and service staff in one hub and access to dashboards or reports on mobile services, desktops, or offline sources.
Individualized reports and invoices. Complete service reports online; ability to upload invoice reports into ERP software automatically and send invoices to customers automatically from the ERP system.
AI-enabled scheduling. Prioritize service calls and schedules, optimize scheduling in real time with AI-based tools, and customize your planning list.

Employing software that can automate certain tasks will help to reduce the strain on your workforce, improve knowledge transfer, and provide capabilities supporting technicians in the field. Digitalize the entire network of processes to build your service on agility, safety, and efficiency.

Benefits are:

Improve first time fix rates: Mobile technology and AI to locate the right technician and parts
Harmonize field service operations: Processes enabling effective collaboration, keeping customers informed
Cut field service costs and increase revenue. Boost production time and make decisions with real-time analytics

Vendor partners available to provide seamless field service interactions include: ServiceNow, SAP, and Microsoft.

- SAP Cash Management
Using SAP Bank Communication Management: Enhancing SAP Functionality with Custom Developments

Published: 11/March/2016

Reading time: 34 mins

This article expands on the topics in the Financials Expert article “SAP Bank Communication Management: What You Need to Know.” It outlines a number of nice-to-have custom developments around payment processing using the SAP standard provided alerts messages. Key Concept SAP Bank Communication Management is a relatively new module of SAP’s Financial Supply Chain Management...…
- SAP ERP
A Step-by-Step Guide for Using the LSMW Tool for Personnel Actions

Published: 16/December/2015

Reading time: 19 mins

Learn about the Legacy System Migration Workbench (LSMW) tool. It allows users to easily upload the required master data that results from a common restructuring of a business’s organizational hierarchy through customizable personnel actions (transaction code PA40) in an SAP system. Using this standard SAP tool, combined with a step-by-step user’s guide for creating an...…
- SAP Cloud Platform
Introducing SAP Cloud Platform Credential Store

Published: 20/November/2019

Reading time: 8 mins

Most organizations today are somewhere along the journey toward becoming a digital business, with meeting high expectations for the customer experience a central driver. One of the keys to creating an exceptional experience is the ability to access data in back-end systems in real time, which means that robust integration is critical. This article introduces…
- SAP Business Application Studio
Take a Serious Look at the “A” in SOA and Gain Flexible, Adaptable Architecture

Published: 12/February/2010

Reading time: 24 mins

Understand what the ideal architecture for an enterprise-ready composite application should look like. Discover the pitfalls involved, how to avoid them, and how your decisions influence the overall complexity of the final application. By following these recommendations, you can develop applications that are well prepared for your always-changing IT landscape. Key Concept The basic idea...…
Create a “Plug-and-Play” Standardized Data Change Detector

Published: 15/August/2004

Reading time: 14 mins

The structure/data comparison process (also referred to as change validation or difference checking) is often an important requirement for many HR interfaces and audit reports. These reports are usually required to check current and previous data values to help minimize the amount of data being manipulated, transferred, or exported. This in turn reduces overall interface...…
Creating Metadata Framework Objects in SuccessFactors Employee Central

Published: 12/March/2014

Reading time: 37 mins

Learn how to create objects in the Metadata Framework to extend your SuccessFactors Employee Central system with custom objects, fields, rules, and screens. Get an overview of what the Metadata Framework is, how it is used, and how to use it to bring more value to your SuccessFactors system. Key Concept The Metadata Framework is...…
Pull Data More Easily with SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3 and SAP Data Services 4.0

Published: 09/December/2013

Reading time: 16 mins

This step-by-step guide demonstrates the integration between SAP Data Services 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3. With the introduction of Data Services as a new source system in SAP NetWeaver BW, data flows from SAP BusinessObjects Data Services can now be integrated to create a complete data model for Analytics. Key Concept A new type...…
- SAP APO
How to Setup Demand Planning in SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization

Published: 21/May/2020

Reading time: 21 mins

SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization, demand planning allows a business to perform forecasting of their materials while considering all the factors that affect the demand. Demand planning is periodic and contains multi-step processes such as data gathering, statistical analysis, reviewing market intelligence reports, and performing adjustments against budgeted forecast to drive material requirements planning. SAP…
Easily Report Headcount Data with a Calculation Query

Published: 15/May/2007

Reading time: 7 mins

Learn how to report headcount data using SAP Query to save time. Key Concept An InfoSet is a grouping of data or fields that you may find in multiple databases within R/3. Using an InfoSet restricts the amount of data a query examines, thus reducing the amount of processing time required to execute a query....…
Visual Composer 7.0’s BI Extension Kit Offers New Data Modeling Capabilities

Published: 01/January/2007

Reading time: 31 mins

Understand what’s new in Visual Composer 7.0. The BI Extension Kit, part of Visual Composer, includes many new design-time and run-time features that allow functional consultants to create analytical applications without coding. Key Concept Visual Composer is a model-driven development tool that allows business experts to create and adapt analytical and free-styled applications without writing...…