Nov/Dec 2005

Log your assets as you go - that's the pragmatic solution adopted by fall protection specialist HCL as it rolled out its job management solution

To plan a field service operation, two of the many things you need to know are what equipment and assets you have out there to be checked and maintained, and what staffing resources you have available to make the visits and do the work.

They're not necessarily one and the same thing. An asset register is likely to be fixed to some extent, although it may change over time as new equipment is added and existing equipment is serviced, upgraded or decommissioned.

The job scheduling and despatch activity on the other hand is dynamic by nature, reflecting servicing cycles, customer demands, acceptance of quotations and so on.

 

Middlesex-based HCL, which specialises in the design, installation, inspection and certification of cable-based fall protection equipment, has combined these two functions in a rather unusual way, and says its approach has already brought a range of benefits, including a reduction in debtor days and a saving in planning time.

The equipment managed by HCL is manufactured by its parent company, the Latchways Group. The business is growing fast, and now operates through ten regional offices. Opportunities to expand were increased in April 2005, when new "Work At Height" regulations came into force in the UK. These not only set minimum safety and health requirements for the use of equipment for work at height, but also lay down a strict regime of inspection and maintenance to ensure equipment remains safe.

The challenge faced by the company was that although it kept good records of all the assets it had in the field, the information was not held in a central register. So in order to set up a job despatch system, it had first to create such a register.

It therefore arrived at the novel idea of implementing a mobile data solution, and getting its engineers to create the register "on the fly" as they went about their business. The more data they relayed back to base about assets and equipment, the more accurate and useful the system would become.

HCL recognised that developing such a system internally would take a lot of resource and IT investment, so instead it decided to opt for an externally-hosted, Web-based system, and chose the ServiceNet solution from Telepartner.

ServiceNet is a mobile solution that integrates with the existing back-end systems in a service department or call centre to provide real-time communication with field engineers.

All that is required is an Internet connection and a suitable handheld device operating over one of the UK's mobile networks. ServiceNet is charged for on a subscription basis, which can include the airtime agreement with the mobile network. Companies can be up and running with it in a matter of days or weeks.

Jason King, HCL's special projects manager, explains more of the rationale. "We wanted to dispense with the paper-based system, remove a top level of administration and broaden the role of our inspection and certification engineers," he says. "By integrating ServiceNet with our Sage Accounting system we realised we could also improve the time taken to invoice our customers."

The only people in the company who had true visibility of what assets were installed and where were HCL's inspection and certification field personnel, so its clever strategy has been to use them to build the central database. They've been issued with XDAII handheld units running over the O2 mobile network, and use these to interact with the system.

When an HCL inspector/engineer logs on to the system, he can see all the active work orders assigned to him. Each work order carries a "method statement", which the inspector has to read and accept before he can access the job details. Once the job is accepted, the central system is updated.

The neat aspect of the implementation is that asset information is added to the central register as jobs are undertaken. If asset data is already available in the system, it will simply be displayed when the inspector accepts a job. Assets are sequenced by area to make finding them easier and to reduce walking time on site.

On the other hand, if there is no entry in the asset register, the inspector creates it by recording exactly what is on site on the mobile device, which then automatically updates the central database (as it does after every inspection).

ServiceNet is hosting the field asset database, which is called the Mobile Field Inspection and Certification System (MFICS). This Web-based solution can be accessed both by HCL's regional offices and by the mobile engineers in real time.

The database is fully searchable via the mobile device. Anyone viewing a site's details will see the latest inspection data. The next inspection date is calculated automatically on the basis of the inspection period for the asset - normally every six,12 or 24 months.

Sage Integration

MFICS can also send and receive messages to and from HCL's Sage accounts system via the Internet, using XML. At the job completion stage, a click on the invoice button prompts MFICS to send data to Sage, enabling it to raise invoices. When a customer's credit status changes, the information is sent from Sage to MFICS to suspend or re-enable work orders.

"In less than six months the new system has contributed to a reduction in debtor days and has freed up many hours of my own work time each month," reports Jason King. "Invoices can be raised on the day of job completion."

Sage also communicates with MFICS when payment has been made, cueing the printing and sending out of inspection certificates; and at that point the work order is closed.

Phase 1 of the HCL implementation is nearing completion, and already the company is planning phase 2, which will be to add a module enabling the company to produce quotations for existing customers. Quotations for the inspection of assets on a particular site will be raised automatically on the basis of the scheduled inspection date, which in turn is calculated by the system from the previous inspection.

Quotations will be administered by regional personnel via the Web interface. Once a customer has accepted a quotation, a new work order can be raised with a single click.

"Once we have the quotation module in place," King says, "we will have a complete end-to-end system, from quotation and inspection right through to invoicing and certification.

"The asset database is updated as we carry out inspections, and enables us to help our customers keep in step with the relevant regulations. In due course we will be able to review our field operations, improve our business processes and introduce further efficiencies."