With the release of SAP Service and Asset Manager, we lay the foundation of a unified native mobile solution for Enterprise Asset and Field Service Management, with persona centric multi-persona support and standardized technology stack using SAP Business Technology Platform Mobile Services.
SAP Service and Asset Manager is developed based on SAP Asset Manager code line, therefore for SAP Asset Manager customers, it is a standard technical upgrade to start with SAP Service and Asset Manager. A separate license is required to run SAP Service and Asset Manager in production. Customer can convert SAP Asset Manager license or acquire new license for SAP Service and Asset Manager.
In this blog, we provide detailed information about standard persona Field Service Technician.
While a field service technician is responsible for maintenance, repair, service, and installation of assets just like a maintenance technician, he typically focuses on customer service scenarios and customer satisfaction. The typical workflow for a field service technician is also different from a maintenance technician. A field service technician is usually assigned work daily, travels to customer location, manages his van stock and obtains customer feedback and approval on completion of service.
Field Service business processes are supported in SAP systems in the following 2 ways:
In the current release of SAP Service and Asset Manager, Field Service Technician persona supports legacy Customer Service module based service execution (option 1 above).
Support for S/4HANA Service based business process is planned in future releases. Please refer to SAP Service and Asset Manager Roadmap for the latest information.
Additionally, if Field Service Management (FSM) is used for scheduling and dispatching, it can be used with SAP Service and Asset Manager but will require additional configuration steps are detailed later in this blog under “Implementation Considerations.”
The picture below shows high level process for field service management with the green blocks focusing on the execution process.
SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile app guides the technician through the main workflow activities required for field service:
Below is a flow diagram depicting how a user would execute an assigned job from start to complete.
Let's take a quick look at the features we have introduced for Field Service persona.
The overview page shows important KPIs, service orders, time records and map view of the service locations for the selected day. The date picker allows technician to change the date.
Service order details provide all service details including sold-to-party info. An activity timeline view provides status history of the order.
The service technician persona also supports the following additional mobile status
The existing mobile statuses – Received, Start, Hold, Complete and Transfer - are still supported as before.
As the technician uses the app to work through his service orders by accepting, starting, and completing the assigned jobs, his geo-location is tracked automatically using the device GPS and synced (provided device is online) with the FSM backend. This allows the scheduler, dispatcher, or supervisor to monitor the job status in the scheduling engine to get a real-time view of where the technicians are located, thereby enabling them in the dispatching of work. The user location tracking feature is configurable, so customers can decide to enable or disable it. The location tracking can be configured to track mobile status changes or distance changes. Additionally, this feature can be enabled even if FSM scheduling engine is not used in the landscape, in which case the user location data is stored in a custom table in MAIF (Mobile Application Integration Framework).
A service technician typically uses his personal or company owned vehicle to travel to the job site. It is important for him to make sure he has all the parts required for the jobs assigned to him for the day. The Vehicle Stock lookup option in the app allows him to easily manage current stock available in his vehicle. It allows him to view all stock and available quantities, add parts to orders he is assigned to if needed, and initiate a transfer of parts from another storage location if he does not have enough in his van.
He can view the available quantity of stock in other plants and storage locations using an online lookup feature before transferring parts.
It is important to record expenses incurred and miles travelled for a particular service order, so that it can be properly accounted for when closing the order. The app allows technicians to manage expenses while on the road, at any time or during completion of the order.
On completion of the service order, the technician can capture his signature on the device, record time and optionally generate a service report in PDF that can be shared with the customer via email/text etc. and saved as part of the service order.
The service report is created from an HTML based template that is configured in the backend. The HTML template can be customized by the customer if needed. The standard template provided with the release already contains most of the important aspects of the report such as order details, customer info, job details, equipment details, materials used, notes and attachments captured by the technician, as well as technician and customer signatures.
Any additional information that needs to be added as part of the service report can be incorporated by modifying the HTML template.
SAP Service and Asset Manager can work with any scheduling and dispatching tools, such as SAP Field Service Management (SAP FSM), SAP Multi Resource Scheduling (SAP MRS), or 3rd party solutions. When SAP FSM is used as dispatching tool, support for SAP FSM planning board integration is provided to allow update of SAP FSM service call or activity status and technician location from SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile application.
Enabling Field Service person in your system is quite simple and involves a few configuration steps:
SAP Service and Asset Manager Field Service Technician Persona has been designed for field technician. It brings easy to use UI and useful information to field service technicians, allows them to perform and record the work done using mobile device wherever they go, whether online or offline.
The 2205 app is now available to download from the App Store or Google Play store with built in pre-loaded demo data, allowing you to check out the new Field Service Technician persona as well as new innovations for Maintenance Technician and Inventory Clerk personas.
Please check out the product roadmap for future innovations in this space. You can provide input and influence the future functionality via Customer Confluence by voting on the existing features or putting in a request for new feature.
Finally, feel free to provide feedback, comments or suggestions that will help us make the product even better.
SAP Service and Asset Manager is developed based on SAP Asset Manager code line, therefore for SAP Asset Manager customers, it is a standard technical upgrade to start with SAP Service and Asset Manager. A separate license is required to run SAP Service and Asset Manager in production. Customer can convert SAP Asset Manager license or acquire new license for SAP Service and Asset Manager.
Multi-Persona Support Benefits
- SAP Asset Manager is primarily a single persona app for asset maintenance execution, SAP Service and Asset Manager comes with a set of standard personas that will support an expanded list of Asset and Service Management related business processes.
- Simplified custom enhancement, testing, and deployment process. Standard SAP Asset Manager Components are merged into SAP Service and Asset Manager standard app. Customer can use feature toggle configuration in the SAP backend system to activate/deactivate functionalities provided by those components.
- Each standard persona is designed with optimized user experience, data model and performance improvement. A user can be assigned multiple personas at the same time, and switch between personas easily through application profile persona toggle from the device.
- New licensing model based on Full Use Equivalent (FUE) Usage Type. Standard SAP persona can be classified as either Professional Persona (1 FUE) or Standard Persona (0.5 FUE). Refer to blog SAP Service and Asset Manager 2205 What’s New, and Configuring Features and Personas in SAP Service and Asset Manager for more information.
Persona Introduction – Field Service Technician
In this blog, we provide detailed information about standard persona Field Service Technician.
While a field service technician is responsible for maintenance, repair, service, and installation of assets just like a maintenance technician, he typically focuses on customer service scenarios and customer satisfaction. The typical workflow for a field service technician is also different from a maintenance technician. A field service technician is usually assigned work daily, travels to customer location, manages his van stock and obtains customer feedback and approval on completion of service.
Field Service business processes are supported in SAP systems in the following 2 ways:
- Legacy Customer Service module in SAP ECC or S/4HANA
- S/4HANA Service (Available in S/4HANA 1909 or later)
In the current release of SAP Service and Asset Manager, Field Service Technician persona supports legacy Customer Service module based service execution (option 1 above).
Support for S/4HANA Service based business process is planned in future releases. Please refer to SAP Service and Asset Manager Roadmap for the latest information.
Additionally, if Field Service Management (FSM) is used for scheduling and dispatching, it can be used with SAP Service and Asset Manager but will require additional configuration steps are detailed later in this blog under “Implementation Considerations.”
Process Flow
The picture below shows high level process for field service management with the green blocks focusing on the execution process.
SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile app guides the technician through the main workflow activities required for field service:
- Viewing the service orders and operations assigned for the day
- Accept or reject service orders
- Indicate travel to and arrival at the job site
- Start and complete orders
- Add expense and mileage reports
- Add time and material confirmations
- Add technician and customer signatures
- Generate service report
Below is a flow diagram depicting how a user would execute an assigned job from start to complete.
Application Features
Let's take a quick look at the features we have introduced for Field Service persona.
UX optimized for Service Technician
The overview page shows important KPIs, service orders, time records and map view of the service locations for the selected day. The date picker allows technician to change the date.
Service Order Details
Service order details provide all service details including sold-to-party info. An activity timeline view provides status history of the order.
New Mobile Statuses
The service technician persona also supports the following additional mobile status
- Accept – Accept service order
- Reject – Reject service order with rejection reason and comments
- En-route – notifies backend that technician is on his way to the customer site
- On-Site – notifies backend that technician has arrived at the customer site
The existing mobile statuses – Received, Start, Hold, Complete and Transfer - are still supported as before.
User Location Tracking
As the technician uses the app to work through his service orders by accepting, starting, and completing the assigned jobs, his geo-location is tracked automatically using the device GPS and synced (provided device is online) with the FSM backend. This allows the scheduler, dispatcher, or supervisor to monitor the job status in the scheduling engine to get a real-time view of where the technicians are located, thereby enabling them in the dispatching of work. The user location tracking feature is configurable, so customers can decide to enable or disable it. The location tracking can be configured to track mobile status changes or distance changes. Additionally, this feature can be enabled even if FSM scheduling engine is not used in the landscape, in which case the user location data is stored in a custom table in MAIF (Mobile Application Integration Framework).
Vehicle Stock
A service technician typically uses his personal or company owned vehicle to travel to the job site. It is important for him to make sure he has all the parts required for the jobs assigned to him for the day. The Vehicle Stock lookup option in the app allows him to easily manage current stock available in his vehicle. It allows him to view all stock and available quantities, add parts to orders he is assigned to if needed, and initiate a transfer of parts from another storage location if he does not have enough in his van.
He can view the available quantity of stock in other plants and storage locations using an online lookup feature before transferring parts.
Expense and Mileage reporting
It is important to record expenses incurred and miles travelled for a particular service order, so that it can be properly accounted for when closing the order. The app allows technicians to manage expenses while on the road, at any time or during completion of the order.
Service Report
On completion of the service order, the technician can capture his signature on the device, record time and optionally generate a service report in PDF that can be shared with the customer via email/text etc. and saved as part of the service order.
The service report is created from an HTML based template that is configured in the backend. The HTML template can be customized by the customer if needed. The standard template provided with the release already contains most of the important aspects of the report such as order details, customer info, job details, equipment details, materials used, notes and attachments captured by the technician, as well as technician and customer signatures.
Any additional information that needs to be added as part of the service report can be incorporated by modifying the HTML template.
Scheduling Tools and SAP Field Service Management Integration
SAP Service and Asset Manager can work with any scheduling and dispatching tools, such as SAP Field Service Management (SAP FSM), SAP Multi Resource Scheduling (SAP MRS), or 3rd party solutions. When SAP FSM is used as dispatching tool, support for SAP FSM planning board integration is provided to allow update of SAP FSM service call or activity status and technician location from SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile application.
Implementation Considerations
Enabling Field Service person in your system is quite simple and involves a few configuration steps:
Assigning Field Service Technician Persona to User
Users with Field Service Technician persona must be assigned authorization object ‘/MERP/FST’ in SAP backend system.
SAP Field Service Management Planning Board Integration
Integration with SAP FSM planning board is implemented using Mobile Application Integration Framework (MAIF). The following steps are required for the integration.
Enable feature FSM_SCHED_INTEGRATION and CA_LOCATION_UPDATE
Setup Connectivity to SAP Field Service Management Tenant
Connectivity to SAP Field Service Management Tenant is defined using Administration & Monitoring tool in (MAIF). Follow the instructions described in standard documentation here.
Implement standard BAdI /MERP/CA_FSM_CROSSREF_BADI for Object Id Cross Reference between SAP ECC or S/4HANA system and SAP FSM
There is no standard SAP connector to support data replication between legacy Customer Service module and SAP FSM. Third party connectors such as Proaxia Connector or customer connector can be used. Standard BAdI /MERP/CA_FSM_CROSSREF_BADI must be implemented in SAP ECC to provide Object Id mapping between SAP ECC (Customer Service Order, Business Partner) and SAP FSM (Service Call, Activity, Employee).Follow the instructions described in standard documentation here and implement method GET_ACTIVITY_ID, GET_SERV_ASSIGN_ID, GET_SERV_ASSIGN_STATUS_ID, GET_ORDER_IDS, and GET_EMPLOYEE_IDS.
Enabling and Configuring Field Service features
The features described above for Field Service persona, such as Location Tracking, Vehicle Stock, Expense and Mileage reporting, Service report etc., can be enabled in the config panel, following the steps outlined in the standard documentation. The configuration steps for these features are also available in the config guide.
In Conclusion
SAP Service and Asset Manager Field Service Technician Persona has been designed for field technician. It brings easy to use UI and useful information to field service technicians, allows them to perform and record the work done using mobile device wherever they go, whether online or offline.
The 2205 app is now available to download from the App Store or Google Play store with built in pre-loaded demo data, allowing you to check out the new Field Service Technician persona as well as new innovations for Maintenance Technician and Inventory Clerk personas.
Please check out the product roadmap for future innovations in this space. You can provide input and influence the future functionality via Customer Confluence by voting on the existing features or putting in a request for new feature.
Finally, feel free to provide feedback, comments or suggestions that will help us make the product even better.
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