*** Open Source Integrators - OCA Platinum Sponsor Blog Post *** 

First Contact with Field Service

My first contact with the Field Service Management world goes back to the time I started working with Odoo (OpenERP at the time). 

Indeed my first Odoo project was a field service implementation for the company I was working for to manage service operations for electronic security system installations on customer sites.

Back then, the landscape of commercially available tools was not convincing. And the need for two-way, tight integrations with other company applications was not easy to meet using off the shelf software.

Building a Robust Field Service Solution

In order to solve this problem, a prototype was built (validating the approach). The key building blocks were there – the development framework was productive (allowing us to quickly turn ideas into working software), and the openness of the platform made it easier to connect to all the other applications and systems needed to meet our technical requirements. Back in 2012 we did a presentation at OpenERP days, you can see it here. 

Fast forward to the current day, and while there are more and better options available for Field Service Management, there are still many challenges that make it difficult to deploy these solutions.

Cloud-only SaaS services dominate the current market. These can be convenient, and even efficient, when the features fit the needed use cases and technical requirements.

But the case is harder to make once there is the need for more complex flows or for tighter system integrations. Indeed customizations will be harder, more expensive, or even impossible to deploy within existing frameworks. On top of this, we can add the operational risk from the lack of proper controls for running your business on a platform you don't have the necessary degree of control over.

The World Needs Open and Flexible Field Service Software

When talking to our different field service customers, we can see how different the business flows can be between sectors, companies, or even inside the same company.

Consider for example Artisent Floors, going from the planning and measurements of a floor installation, to the cutting and order preparation flow, up to the installation in the final homes. Or Orr Protection, specialized in fire protection systems, where the new installation, preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance flows are very different.

To be able to adjust the user experience to the specific needs of each type of work is critical for the operation by all the involved people, including the frontline workers, many of them being outside contractors and not employees.

Another important topic is how the delivery of these services are not standalone, and need to be tightly connected to all the other parts of the business. Think of sales, customer service, warehouse operations, purchases or workforce planning.

Community Powered Odoo Field Service Management

At Open Source Integrators we believe that an effective field service solution needs to be flexible to adapt to all the different flows, and do so in a way that is closely integrated with the other business functions, from customer service to accounting.

For that we invested a lot of time and effort in the OCA Field Service project, providing a set of building blocks that can be used to configure your unique solution. These blocks are battle tested, having been built and deployed to solve real business use cases. 

Open Source Integrators - Field Service Management

If you are interested in learning more on how the OCA Field Service application works and its potential, please come and talk to us.