Track the current location of field service agents - hide home location

[Community Alums]

We would like to utilise the ability to track a field service agent to improve overall customer experience. However, we need to be able to hide the exact home location of our agents as this is data not important or appropriate for our customers to have access to.

This is something we have seen in applications such as Strava, and I hope that ServiceNow has something similar, that is hidden in a system property I have not yet been able to locate.

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/sandiego-field-service-management/page/product/field-service-mana...

Track the current location of field service agents

San Diego

View the current location of agents to track their estimated time of arrival.

Before you begin

Role required: sn_customerservice.customer and sn_customerservice.consumer

About this task

Procedure

1. Log in to the Customer or Consumer Service Portal.
2. Click Support > Work Orders in the portal header to view a list of work orders related to your account.
3. Click a work order number to view its related work order tasks.
4. To track the current location of an agent in the work order task record, click the work order task number.
   The map refreshes automatically to display the latest location of an agent.

[Community Alums]

I've had confirmation that this is not possible at the moment in the platform. It is possible to amend the widget, which hides the map entirely, but nothing covering the start and finish location being obscured. 

I have logged this as an Idea on the portal after speaking to our account team.

https://support.servicenow.com/now?id=view_idea&sysparm_idea_id=214cd5b6db3ce910e3a1c4be13961959&sys...

[peterkahan]

To enhance customer experience by tracking field service agents in ServiceNow while hiding their exact home location and where am i, explore ServiceNow's built-in location tracking feature, which allows you to monitor agent locations without revealing sensitive information, and consult the platform's documentation or support resources for detailed configuration guidance.

[meeranair]

Hi Aaron,

It’s great that you’re looking to enhance customer experience by tracking the location of field service agents. Your concern about protecting the home location of agents is valid and important.

ServiceNow does offer the ability to track the real-time location of field service agents, which is particularly useful for providing customers with accurate ETAs. However, to ensure privacy and security, especially regarding the agents' home locations, you can implement a few strategies:

1. Geofencing: You can set up geofencing rules that only track and display an agent’s location when they are within a specific work-related area. This way, any movements near their home or non-work-related locations won't be recorded or shown.

2. Location Masking: Similar to what you've seen in Strava, ServiceNow can be configured to hide or mask the agent's location when they are not actively on a job. You can customize the system to exclude location data when an agent is off-duty or near their home.

3. Data Anonymization: Another approach is to anonymize location data when it’s within a predefined radius of an agent’s home. This ensures that even if the agent's location is tracked, it won't display their exact home location.

Additionally, you might consider using tools like Workstatus, which is designed to provide detailed location tracking while offering features that respect privacy concerns, such as hiding or masking personal locations when agents are off-duty. Workstatus integrates well with various systems and can be customized to align with your privacy requirements.

You might want to explore the Field Service Management settings in ServiceNow to configure these options. Additionally, if you haven’t already, consulting with your ServiceNow admin or developer team can help tailor these settings to meet your privacy needs.

If you’re using the San Diego release or later, check the documentation or system properties related to location tracking for any new privacy features that might have been added.

Hope this helps!

[Community Alums]

Thanks @meeranair could you please point me in the direction of some ServiceNow documentation around the three suggestions that you have put forward? 

Cheers,

Aaron