Service Transformation

Through Schedule Optimization

Executive summary

Service leaders are faced with the combined challenge of generating increased revenue, improving customer
experience and reducing cost for their field service organizations. A data-driven view of service operations
shows that first-time fix rate is a leading indicator of customer experience, workforce utilization and profitability.
Since scheduling and dispatch is at the heart of field service operations, the quality of scheduling can have an
enormous impact on first-time fix rate. Simply by adding a layer of intelligence over scheduling, service leaders
can transform their service organizations reliably and consistently.

First, this whitepaper examines key success business indicators for service organizations, establishing a tight
correlation between these and scheduling quality. Having laid a foundation for the need for intelligent and more
efficient schedule optimization, we’ll go on to discuss how businesses can gain a competitive edge through
automated scheduling as well as what aspects should be considered when weighing the options of various
schedule optimization solutions. The paper then addresses common implementation concerns and offers
practical recommendations for implementing schedule optimization.

The paper concludes by highlighting how the ServiceMax Schedule Optimization solution brings both flexibility
and powerful functionality to address the unique strategic service transformation needs of any customer.
First-time fix, a leading indicator of success

In today’s competitive business landscape, customer expectations have evolved to the point that simply FIGURE 1
meeting an SLA or a schedule window is no longer enough to keep the customer happy. This has made it
imperative that service organizations deliver value with each and every service visit and be adequately Technicians did not
prepared, rather than merely showing up when a customer calls1. resolve the issue
(parts, expertise, etc)
61%
Why Do Customers Complain Waiting time for
Looking at the chief reasons for customer complaints in Figure 1, service organizations should ensure
appointments
(e.g., 3 weeks until 51%
that the technician visiting the customer has the required parts, the skills, and the knowledge to solve the field technician can
be on site)
problem on the first visit. Failing to offer resolution on the first visit implies an unsatisfied (or maybe a lost)
customer, future visits and more “windshield” time, all leading to higher costs. An unsatisfactory first-time
fix rate not only reflects suboptimal field service processes, but it is also an early indicator of disgruntled
Technicians did not
arrive on time 41%
customers, likely customer attraction, and reduced service profitability.
ALL RESPONDANTS

A higher first-time fix implies higher customer satisfaction and revenue FIGURE 2
goals, making it a leading indicator of success
Increase customer 66%
The survey results in Figure 2 demonstrate that organizations with high first-time fix rates, increasing both Satisfaction
46%
customer satisfaction and profitability are the main goals. First-time fix is clearly an important metric that
not only combines several proactive, customer service-oriented and planning goals, but also guarantees 60%
Increase revenue
high profitability. First-time fix rates also play an important role in influencing the next sale, both in renewed 38%
contracts and referral business. Therefore, the future of a service organization depends on fixing issues the
first time, and Chief Service Officers (CSOs) need to ensure they invest in the right solution and equip the Reduce cost - 53%
repeat visits
service team with the right tools and information necessary to solve customer issues the first time. 54%
Improve 38%
response time
58%
FTF 70% AND HIGHER
FTF 70% AND LOWER

Percentage of Respondents, n=182

Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2016
Scheduling & dispatch impacts first-time fixes

The heart of any field service organization operation is scheduling its valuable, skilled workers. Once scheduled
for customer visits, these field technicians represent the brand of the business in the eyes of the customers.

To be successful, the scheduling and dispatch function must ensure that both available and qualified technicians
are scheduled for the customer job, that they have the pre-requisite parts for completing work and that they
arrive on time for the appointment. At the same time, the scheduling and dispatch function needs to take the
operations costs into consideration for ensuring profitability.

Higher quality scheduling and dispatch is more likely to generate high first-time fix rates. Conversely, the inability
to consistently execute scheduling and dispatch with high quality will impact first-time fix rates negatively. Since
first-time fix is a leading indicator of success for a service organization, the quality of dispatching before the
customer visit directly impacts business profitability and the ability to serve its customers in the future.

Scheduling & dispatch challenges

For enterprise field service organizations, the seemingly simple function of scheduling and dispatch can become
a logistical nightmare if not managed and tracked properly. Let’s look into the challenges that schedulers (or
dispatchers) face.

To begin with, dispatchers have to constantly balance multiple business variables and operational constraints.
They need to know who is the most skilled person for a job, whether or not that worker has the right skills to
fix the equipment or is eligible per compliance considerations, how far the appointment is from the person’s
current location and whether the right parts are available in truck or depot stock. While making these scheduling
decisions, the dispatchers also take into consideration service request priority, customer SLAs, working capacity,
customer availability, overtime, holidays and travel costs. In addition, the dispatcher has to accommodate
emergency customer service requests and sick technicians.

As the number of jobs and technicians scale, it becomes increasingly difficult for dispatchers to assess the
optimal scheduling combination for the business’ needs. As an example, for a dispatcher scheduling 60 work
orders and technicians combined, the total number of scheduling combinations works out to be 8.32 x 1081,.
This is more than the total number of atoms in the visible universe! It is scientifically impossible for a human
mind to find the optimal solution from so many combinations.
Automated schedule optimization helps improve
first-time fix rate

As demand and complexity increases, it follows that dispatchers would be more successful with an
automated, intelligent, and scalable system that consistently delivers the optimal work schedule, while
considering business constraints and goals. This is referred to as a schedule optimization system or engine.

Armed with intelligent algorithms, schedule optimization gives dispatchers complete flexibility to configure
objectives like overall costs, service levels and drive times, and assign each a priority on a sliding scale based
on its relative importance. The intelligent engine then creates the most effective schedule, automatically
and in real-time, while taking into account multiple rules around eligibility, availability and skills. Because
scheduling is automated, dispatchers can focus on a 360-degree view of service operations and manage
exceptions. It’s not surprising that service leaders are realizing that intelligent, automated scheduling can
empower dispatchers to focus on higher-value jobs that are more strategic in nature.

Vast improvements in first-time fix rates can be achieved by leveraging schedule optimization to make
strategic scheduling and real-time adjustments to solve for changing business conditions. From a business
perspective, increased operational efficiency can lead to increases in positive customer experience and
service revenue.
The impact of schedule optimization

Here is an example of the utilization that can be achieved through schedule optimization:

Before running Schedule Optimization

Longer, inefficient travel route

Poor worker utilization

After running Schedule optimization

Shorter travel route

Better worker utilization

Key benefits of schedule optimization

With schedule optimization, businesses can change the game by sending the right worker for the right job,
every time. They can accelerate their business with increased operational efficiency. Powered by intelligent
and predictive scheduling, businesses experience improved KPIs like first-time fix, customer satisfaction or
Net Promoter Score (NPS), service revenue and profitability, operational efficiency and workforce utilization. INCREASE
Businesses can also drive down overall service costs and customer complaints.
• First time fixes
With Schedule Optimization on their side, dispatchers can take a more active role in delivering strategic • Ontime arrivals
business objectives by having a 360-degree view of the customer. This allows them to focus on higher value
• Utilization
activities like coordinating a large team or manage scheduling exceptions¬– the work requests that can’t be
scheduled by the system due to constraint violations or that need experienced intervention. • SLA compliance

KPIs impacted by schedule optimization REDUCE

Schedule optimization takes scheduling and dispatching to the next level by applying • Customer complaints
an intelligent overlayer, bringing with it a key competitive operational advantage. Now
• Travel cost/time
service organizations can evolve from a traditional break-fix-repair model to a more
profitable, customer-oriented service model. • Overtime

Industry results from schedule optimization

15%
Let’s look at how schedule optimization has positively impacted enterprise scale organizations. After
implementing ServiceMax Schedule Optimization, one customer successfully expanded working capacity MORE JOBS
to execute 15% more jobs daily, reduced drive time by more than 40% and doubled the organization’s SLA EXECUTED DAILY
attainment rate.

These results are in line with those published by Gartner in a recent white paper2, which discusses a gas
distribution company that implemented a schedule optimization solution. As a result, the gas distribution
company was able to proactively execute 10,000 more jobs, reduce its travel costs by 20% and saw 10%
40% MORE REDUCED
DRIVE TIME

better worker utilization.

Key considerations for choosing a schedule
optimization solution

Some key aspects to consider while evaluating

a schedule optimization solution are:
Configurable to business outcomes
A robust optimization solution should offer flexibility to change the relative importance of business schedule
optimization drivers so that businesses can adapt to changing needs. This includes meeting appointment
times, minimizing overall travel costs, balancing drive time between technicians, and minimizing overtime
schedules and cost) on demand., .

Robust rules engine

A schedule optimization solution should take advantage of a comprehensive rules engine with multiple
criteria for matching technicians to work orders. It should take into consideration aspects like skills and
expertise, work eligibility, compliance, equipment availability, customer preferences, MTTR, booking windows,
territories, contract SLA rules and the sample optimization drivers mentioned previously.

Smart algorithms that balance accuracy with processing time

The solution set of possible scheduling combinations tends to be extremely large. In fact, it is a
nondeterministic polynomial or NP-hard problem in computer science terms. This means that a good
scheduling optimization engine must take intelligent passes at the initial solution set and come to an optimal
solution within a reasonable time.

Always-on
A great schedule optimization solution will always keep working for you in the background and accommodate
emergency business needs. This is often referred to as real-time optimization.

Tightly coupled with a comprehensive field service solution

As schedule optimization transforms the operations of field service, it’s a big advantage to have it tightly
integrated with the concomitant field service solution. Dispatchers and your entire service team benefit from
working together from a single system that not only optimizes schedules, but also connects work orders,
customer preferences and asset condition to continually improve scheduling.
Implementation recommendations

Align vision with dispatchers’

As a service transformation leader, it’s important to project a continued, engaged future for the dispatchers ALIGN VISION
WITH
after implementing schedule optimization. It would be ideal to highlight how dispatchers can be more
DISPATCHERS’
strategic, focus on managing exceptions and manage complexities of a bigger team better. This is very
important given that dispatchers will be the gatekeepers and will be in a unique position to give feedback to
the implementation team.

Take a stand and be firm on a “no-going-back” strategy

After implementing a new solution, it is easy to panic when new features don’t make sense and go back to the
earlier way of doing things by disabling the “problematic” features. This is why it’s important to get your team
to buy in on the no-going-back principle by effectively leveraging professional services or post-sales support
“NO-GOING-BACK”
to resolve unexpected results. Mandating a business justification before making manual exceptions or turning
STRATEGY
off features can also be quite effective.

Take an engaged, data-driven approach

In the absence of management oversight and verifiable metrics, dispatchers could be incentivized to turn
off the schedule optimization to solidify their position, which prevents the business from realizing higher
productivity, revenues and customer experience. Therefore, you should not only have a benchmark of
scheduling metrics before the implementation, but also have regular management tracking meetings to
oversee progress.
ENGAGED,
Showcase your results and scale DATA-DRIVEN
As a best practice, once you start seeing a positive return of investment, it’s important to showcase the APPROACH
transformation results with the rest of the organization. Having generated more trust and engagement in
the organization, you should scale schedule optimization across product lines or geographies to reap wider
benefits for the business.

SHOWCASE THE
RESULTS TO THE
ORGANIZATION
ServiceMax, a field service industry leader

ServiceMax is an industry leading3, cloud-first and mobile-first field service modernization solution that
delivers a comprehensive schedule optimization solution to empower manufacturers and service providers to
grow service revenues, increase service efficiencies and improve customer experience.

Configurable business goals

ServiceMax offers flexibility to configure business goals to your needs

ServiceMax Schedule Optimization offers high flexibility to stay in control of business outcomes. Simple visual sliders
allow setting the relative importance of key business outcomes like respecting SLA and appointment offers, minimizing
travel cost (drive time or distance), balancing drive time between technicians. For example, is it more expensive to miss
an SLA, or shuffle the route to drive an extra hour this morning? The relative importance of these constraints can be
changed at any time to address your business priorities.
Multiple use cases

Here are some use cases that can be addressed through ServiceMax Schedule Optimization:

• Specific task based (maintenance, servicing and lubricating etc.)

• Preventive maintenance for businesses per service level agreement

• Machine generated or connected equipment work requests

• Customer appointments within service level agreement

Multiple Dispatching Modes

ServiceMax Schedule Optimization supports multiple modes that can be configured for the size and timing of
the optimization job:

Batch optimization mode

Optimization engine runs overnight and jobs are specific to territories. A typical run could include 2000 work
orders and 50 technicians for a given territory. The batch run utilizes the power of Amazon Web Services
cloud infrastructure on the backend.

Incremental optimization mode

Used alongside batch optimization, the incremental mode injects same day high priority work in the schedule,
while pushing out non-critical preventative maintenance jobs into the near future. The incremental run is a
shorter job that typically runs every 30 mins.

Real time optimization mode

This optimization engine runs continuously, prioritizes emergency work orders and handles change in capacity
on demand. The genetic algorithm constantly runs throughout the day and improves the schedule based on
configurable business goals until the dispatch threshold window for each work order is reached (e.g. three
hours before an appointment).
Conclusion

First-time fix rate is a leading indicator of your success as a service organization. It rolls up several key business
indicators like customer experience, service revenue, utilization and SLA adherence. Scheduling and dispatch is
at the heart of a service organization and its quality and efficiency directly impacts first-time fix rate.

By default, every organization uses some type of manual dispatching, but with rising complexity and scale,
it becomes increasingly ineffective. Adding a layer of intelligent, self-learning and predictive algorithms to
scheduling overcomes these limitations and brings the first-time fix rate for service organizations to a new level.
With real industry results, intelligent schedule optimization is transforming the business by positively impacting
customer experience, operational efficiency and service revenue.

Contact your ServiceMax representative to request a demo or visit servicemax.com.

1 - Aberdeen Group’s recent State of Service Management in 2016: Empower the Data-Driven CSO (March 2016).
2 - How to achieve Scheduling Optimization in Field Service, by Jim Robinson, 14th Mar 2017
3 - 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management
About ServiceMax
ServiceMax is a comprehensive, cloud-based, and mobile enterprise solution that
manages the service delivery process. Connected to Industrial Internet of Things
and APM, the ServiceMax field service management platform enables customers,
such as original equipment manufacturers and equipment owners/operators, to
increase productivity, drive efficiencies, reduce compliance and safety risks, grow
service revenue, and improve customer experience by transforming the way service
is delivered. Field Service transformation is a key component of Industrial Digital
Transformation, allowing customers to implement new business models that focus
on customer outcomes.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with
software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive, and
predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the “GE Store,”
through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets,
structure, and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application
across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE
delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry.

ServiceMax from GE Digital | www.servicemax.com | info-servicemax@ge.com

©2017 General Electric. All rights reserved. *Trademark of General Electric. All other brands or names are property of their respective holdersSare subject to change without notice. 01
2017