Nottingham UK, March 2nd 2009 - 360 Scheduling is at the heart of an innovative field service management system deployed by a&o, a leading independent IT infrastructure services provider. 360’s fully integrated Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE) has enabled significant savings in a&o’s field service operation whilst delivering improved service performance and customer satisfaction.
In 2007 a&o adopted a new resource planning methodology and strategy in order to get a better understanding of its business. As a result a&o decided to deploy a Cognito mobile workforce management solution with 360 Scheduling software fully integrated with its legacy back-end system. At the same time a&o chose to outsource its logistics using rented drop boxes for parts delivery.
The 360 DSE has introduced automated start of the day scheduling, with ongoing real-time dynamic scheduling throughout the day. Taking direct feeds from the back-end service management system the 360 DSE produces schedules based on complex business rules altering schedules in real time, shifting resources as required due to engineers logging on late, activity or travel overrunning or when a crucial SLA is in jeopardy.
4 dispatchers now handle the scheduling task, formerly handled by 12. They are now focussed almost entirely on exceptions that fall outside the established business rules. A field force of 70, deployed throughout the UK, handles about 4000 jobs each month, tasks that were previously carried out by 125. The DSE’s workbench view provides dispatchers with real time visibility of the entire field operation while a map view displays up to date technician location derived from smartphone GPS feeds. Outputs from the DSE are used to feed into a&o’s planning tool in order to streamline the workflow.
“In the service environment it is difficult to differentiate. Being price competitive is key but customers now want more so we are driven both by service level and customer satisfaction,” said Brian Wathen a&o’s Client Services Director. “We have been able to remove significant cost from our operation whilst improving field force productivity and efficiency. We are getting up to two extra jobs per engineer per day and our measure of customer satisfaction has been raised considerably,” continued Wathen.
“This is a fantastic example of a company taking strategic control of its operation, firstly by taking the time out to fully understand how its business operates and then by innovating to bring about real business process change. The results are a dramatic boost to the bottom line, real service performance improvements and of course raised levels of customer satisfaction. We are delighted to have been involved in this highly successful deployment,” said Laurent Othacéhé, CEO of 360 Scheduling.
