Field Service Case Study: Commercial HVAC Service Company Speeds Billing and Streamlines Work Order Management with Service Pro

After switching their ERP system to Viewpoint and selecting integrated mobile solution, Service Pro Mobile, one HVAC service company eliminated paper and data re-entry, sped payroll, and achieved same-day billing.

For one Southern California-based  commercial HVAC contractor, superior customer service and satisfaction is a top priority. Providing high levels of customer satisfaction and selling service contracts for repeat clientele is how they grew their business from four employees in the early 1990's to over 80 workers today. In order to maintain that high level of customer service and reliable product support in their full-service mechanical company, they knew they needed a mobile field service solution that could manage the complex work service technicians documented in the field. They also knew they needed the mobile app to integrate with the back office and ERP systems they use for scheduling, payroll, and billing.

BACKGROUND

One of the top priorities their VP & CIO identified early on was the need for a mobile service app for their technicians working in the field. “The core accounting system we were using had its own service management module, but it had no way for us to allow our technicians to do their work on a device. They were still using paperwork orders, then having to mail or fax them or take a picture on their smartphones to get us the work order in the office. We wanted to change that so they could use their device to capture the entire work order.” - VP & CIO, Commercial HVAC Service Company Because there weren’t any mobile field service integrations for the accounting system they were using, the company decided to switch to Viewpoint’s ERP solution, which integrates seamlessly with MSI’s mobile app, Service Pro. Learn more about MSI's partnership with Viewpoint; request a demo today.

CHALLENGES

Leading up to the decision to switch accounting systems and add a mobile component to their service operations, the company was experiencing a number of challenges, including:

• Juggling paper in the field

Paper is cumbersome and easy to misplace, not to mention the hassle of reentering hand-written job information. Another one of their top priorities was eliminating all paper forms from the field.

• Double data entry

Going hand-in-hand with eliminating paper, they wanted to make sure its back-office workers didn’t need to reenter work order detail collected in the field.

• Getting information in a timely manner from technicians

When technicians have to hand write and hand deliver work orders, getting all the detail the company needed was a challenge. They needed a solution that could deliver information from the field to the back office in real time.

• Invoicing customers quickly

With paper forms floating around and back office workers scrambling to enter data into the accounting system, billing for service was a nightmare; it often took two weeks or more to invoice the customer.

• Trying to use an old ERP system for work order management

“Before we switched systems, we were using the construction job cost module in the old ERP system. It was troublesome, problematic, and time consuming just to track all the work orders and their statuses, making sure they’d been billed and nothing slipped through the cracks.” - VP & CIO, Commercial HVAC Service Company

ACTION TAKEN

Once they heard about Viewpoint’s mobile partners, the company quickly decided to go with Service Pro due to the product functionality, appearance, and deep integration with Viewpoint. One leader chose Service Pro because he liked the user interface and functionality for technicians. And, of course, the Viewpoint integration was essential, which eliminated the need for manual double data entry for fieldwork detail. Today, the commercial HVAC company is using Service Pro to manage basic field service management tasks, among the most valuable being the ability to enter tech labor time and all the materials he uses. the VP & CIO says they plan to expand their use of Service Pro soon to include maintenance checklists and other forms and inspection capabilities in the system.

RESULTS

Since adopting Service Pro mobile integrated with Viewpoint’s back office service management portal, the company has realized the following results:

• No more paper or data reentry

With the ability to collect information in Service Pro, then sync to the back office, the company was able to remove all paperwork orders and eliminate the need for back office workers to reenter data from the field. “Now when guys enter a line item – like let’s say labor and material – it comes in as a line item in the accounting system already. There’s no need for double data entry and we’re able to collect a lot more data by all the labor items and all the materials used and all the miscellaneous charges that we have in our line of work.”

• Quicker access to work order information

Without the need to retrieve paper forms floating around or reenter the information on those forms, the service company is able to analyze all work order information the same day it’s collected. “By switching to a service management system to run the whole service management program we were able to get data back from our field technicians faster without having to double enter it.”

• Same-day billing

The company expressed that faster invoicing was their number one goal when they transitioned to the new system. “With Service Pro and Viewpoint, our turnaround time to bill the customer decreased from 2 weeks to less than a week; usually we’re able to bill the same day.”

• Faster payroll process and more accurate technician labor time

"For technician payroll, we treat the guys’ work orders as their time sheets. They enter all their time through a work order so in order to get paid they need to sync the work order to the back office. It’s a good way to incentivize the technician to do their work on time and send it to us because of course they want to get paid for the work." And, because the systems are integrated, the labor item goes straight from Service Pro mobile into the Viewpoint work order. From there, Viewpoint internally pushes it from the work order to payroll so there’s less entry for the people in payroll too.

Conclusion

This commercial HVAC service company's dedication to service excellence shows through in the work they do and in their commitment to providing the most efficient and reliable mechanical contracting solutions possible. At MSI, we’re excited to have the opportunity to help this company, and other commercial & industrial HVAC providers, deliver streamlined service to their loyal customers.

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