Sept/Oct 2003

What comms system does a mobile phone network choose to manage the activities of its own field service team? It's a telling question, and in the case of Orange, the company has chosen a package put together jointly by Aspective, a specialist in Web-based applications for sales, marketing and customer service, and ViryaNet, a specialist in service applications.

The solution adopted by Orange is based on the ViryaNet Service Hub, and will provide a GPRS-based mobile workforce management solution for Orange UK's 250-strong field service force, which has responsibility for maintaining the network infrastructure in the UK, including more than 10,000 base stations.

The system allocates planned and unplanned maintenance requests to the most appropriate engineer, taking into account their location, the priority of the job and the equipment needed to complete it.

Jobs are received automatically by engineers on GPRS-enabled PDA units, together with all the information they may need to complete the task, including priority, fault detail, travel directions, site access, health and safety checks and site history. Engineers then provide status and completion reports back to planners in real time and can continue using the PDA when network coverage is not available.