Field Service UI & Functionality Enhanced for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Field Service for Microsoft Dynamics 365 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, November 29, 2016.

Below are the new features in the latest release of Field Service for Dynamics 365.

1. New Schedule Board UI
   The schedule board has been redesigned and has an enhanced look and feel that more closely matches Project Service Automation. The map clearly shows the scheduled route of technicians for their daily work orders and images can be added for each technician. Additionally, the schedule assistant and schedule board have been combined and recommendations for best technicians and travel time for a work order are displayed as options on the schedule board.
2. Schedule more than Work Orders
   Beyond scheduling work orders, dispatchers can now also schedule project service tasks, cases, sales opportunities as well as custom entities on the schedule board. A scheduled entity can have a location associated to it and deemed on site or not and simply take up time.
3. Third Party Map Services
   In the past, some users have had difficulty locating work orders or resources on the map because Bing maps did not recognize the address. The geocoding function will be opened up to allow third party map services such as Google Maps or other geographic information systems (GIS) to geocode address. However, the schedule assistant and Resource Schedule Optimization (RSO) will continue to exclusively utilize Bing Maps API.
4. Integration with Outlook
   With simple out-of-the-box configurations, any booking, whether field service work order, project service task, or personal time off can be synced to a Resource’s (User’s) Outlook calendar. This is a one-way sync and edits made in Outlook are not sent back to Dynamics 365.
5. Adding Sales Cycle to Agreements
   Field Service Agreements in the Fall release will relate to the CRM entities: Opportunities, Quote and Order, where previously the only sales process built into Agreements was a status field that contained “Estimate” as a status. In short, on an Order, customers will be able to create multiple agreements, each to a different service account, as line items.
6. Field Service Mobile
   The Microsoft Dynamics CRM mobile app (MoCA) will be available for use with the Field Service solution with limited functionality.

While these are not all of the changes of Field Service in Dynamics 365, it is worth noting these new additions can open more doors to greater flexibility of Field Service setup and customization, add cohesive UI experience with Project Service components, faster and easier management of resources, and more options to maximize Field Service efficiency across your business operation.

Interested to kick start your Field Service Setup or want to know more about how Field Service can leverage your business operation? RSM US LLP’s experience and expertise offers a full range of services from implementation and optimization to development and support to help guide you through a successful upgrade. Contact our professionals for more information on our services at 855.437.7202 or crm@rsmus.com.

by Hien Tieu for RSM

Hien Tieu