Field Service IT workflow example
Summarize
Summary of Field Service IT Workflow Example
This example illustrates how ServiceNow integrates Field Service and IT Service Management to improve issue resolution and operational efficiency in a retail environment. It addresses common challenges such as unclear communication, incorrect parts delivery, and downtime caused by outdated software, which affected transaction systems and customer satisfaction.
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By implementing ServiceNow, store managers and IT support teams gain streamlined processes for incident reporting, work order creation, and field service dispatching. This results in faster resolutions, enhanced visibility into assets and field agents, and better documentation practices.
Key Workflow Steps
- Incident Opening: Store managers use the Mobile Agent to scan equipment barcodes, automatically creating incidents assigned to the support desk.
- Work Order Generation: Support teams evaluate incidents and create high-priority work orders for software or hardware fixes directly from the incident record.
- Technician Assignment: Work orders are assigned to internal or third-party technicians, who receive notifications and provide estimated arrival times to store managers.
- Comprehensive Check and Maintenance: Technicians access equipment history and knowledge base articles via the Mobile Agent to perform thorough maintenance, reducing future issues and costs.
- Work Order Completion: After repairs, technicians document their work and close the work order. Store managers digitally confirm completion, updating the incident automatically.
- Tracking and Audit Trail: A PDF summary including tasks performed, parts used, expenses, and time taken is generated and attached to the work order for reporting and audit purposes.
Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Improved coordination between IT Support and Field Service teams reduces miscommunication and errors.
- Automated incident creation via equipment scanning accelerates issue reporting and response times.
- Mobile Agent access empowers field technicians with comprehensive information and digital documentation tools.
- Enhanced visibility into field operations and asset status drives better resource allocation and productivity.
- Centralized data tracking supports audits, trend analysis, and continuous service improvement.
- Ultimately, customers experience quicker resolutions, reduced downtime, and increased satisfaction, leading to higher sales revenue.
This example describes a coordinated Field Service and IT service management situation.
As a store manager, Joe was unhappy with the quality of IT support and field service. Reporting issues meant many questions and no estimated fix times. Field agents sometimes arrived with the wrong parts due to manual data errors. Outdated software would crash the card transaction system, causing lost sales and unhappy customers.
After implementing ServiceNow, Joe's experience improved.
IT Support and Field Service administrators can create processes to share information and maintenance schedules. Joe can scan equipment to automatically open an incident with IT Support. If a field agent is needed, the IT support rep creates a work order with the necessary details, and Field Service Management routes it to the closest, skilled field agent. Joe receives a notification with the estimated arrival time.
Field agents use the Mobile Agent to review issue details, solutions, and maintenance tasks. They can digitally document and close the work order after completing the tasks.
Field Service Management tracks parts used, expenses, and completion times on a shared platform. Increased visibility of assets, field agent location, and status improved performance and productivity. Reducing documentation time and meeting customer expectations with quicker resolutions helped prevent costly downtime. Better system performance led to increased sales revenue and happier customers for Joe's store.
Field Service IT workflow diagram
IT Field Service workflow steps
The following table provides the steps for the IT Field Service workflow.| Steps | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Open incident | At a store location, the point-of-sale (PoS) systems are having trouble reading cards. The store manager identifies the issue and uses the Mobile Agent to scan the bar code on the PoS system. This automatically creates and populates an incident, which is assigned to the store Support Service desk. |
| 2. Generate work order | The Support team triages the incident and determines whether it requires a software or hardware fix. In this case, the PoS system requires a software upgrade, so the store Support Service Desk opens a high-priority work order directly from the incident with just one click. |
| 3. Assign a technician | The work order can be assigned to either internal or external third-party teams. In this case, the work order is automatically assigned to an internal technician. The technician is notified of the assignment, accepts the task, and starts traveling to the store. The store manager is informed of the technician’s expected arrival time. |
| 4. Comprehensive check | With the Mobile Agent, the technician has access to all the information about the PoS system and its history (for example, inspections, past fixes, and so on), along with relevant knowledge base articles that can help them resolve the issue. Technicians do a thorough maintenance of the PoS system, which helps reduce future issues and travel costs. |
| 5. Complete work order | Once the technician completes the work, they document their work effort, make any notes, and close the work order. The store manager then digitally signs and confirms the work order is complete. This submission automatically updates the incident. |
| 6. Track and provide audit trail | A PDF summary of all the completed tasks, parts used and returned, incidental expenses, and time taken to do the work is automatically created and attached to the work order. All data is tracked in one single platform for future trend analysis, reports, and audits. |