Custom Field Service Management App for Locksmith Client

Challenge

The system the client was using at the time had very limited functionality. It could only store customer information, and dispatchers had to add jobs manually upon receiving each call. Since the implementation of the old software the company had grown, more processes needed to be automated, and the necessity of analyzing vast amounts of data emerged.

In particular, the existing software wasn’t integrated with the company’s accounting system; there were no possibilities of tracking the effectiveness of marketing efforts and no automated affiliate marketing.

What We Did

We decided that it would be more efficient to build a new Field Service Management (FSM) system, as the old one had a lot of errors and was difficult to extend and improve.

We have developed a new FSM app from scratch and integrated it with the company’s Asterisk Call Center (to capture orders and client details), Google AdWords (for tracking ad campaigns), Textlocal (for SMS notifications to technicians), and PostcodeAnywhere (for address validation).

Here is a brief description of the main features.

Order Processing

Besides capturing client data during a call, the system also assigns jobs to appropriate technicians and automatically notifies technicians about jobs with SMS.

Accounting

The FSM app automatically exports data to the accounting system to generate bills, run payroll calculations, and account for affiliate commission payments.

Traffic Sources and AdWords

In addition, the system tracks traffic sources, such as direct, organic, paid, and referral links. Integration with an AdWords account makes it possible to estimate the effectiveness of PPC campaigns.

Affiliate

The system includes affiliate marketing so that partners can receive their commissions automatically.

Statistics and Analysis

There is also a statistics module for tracking and analyzing conversions, as well as the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Now the client can see how many visits, calls, and jobs, and much revenue, was brought in by a specific keyword or a certain affiliate.

Multiple Access Levels

The new app has multiple access levels: administrator, dispatcher, marketing manager, technician, accountant, partners (affiliate), and technicians.

Mobile App

We created a mobile application for Andriod OS. When a request comes from a client, the manager sees in the system what technicians are available nearest to the location via GPS and sends to them the order. The technician gets the order, photos, and details on their mobile app via API. After fixing the problem he can checkmark the tasks, change the status, and create the invoice for the job. The info got to backend CRM.

Outcome for the Client

The new FSM app possess all of the functionality required by the client. Thanks to this solution, a lot of unnecessary man-hours have been eliminated and it has become much easier to estimate marketing ROI.

Recently we finished a mobile version of the app for the technicians.

Disclaimer: This project has been developed along with Primenet Ltd, our UK partner.