A hammer, a brush and an app...

There are now many such systems available on the market, so it might seem that clients enjoy a wealth of options. However, this does not mean the choice is easy. The IT system must be perfectly adapted to how the enterprise operates and even in such a specialised industry as FM there is a wide variety of different operations.

Small steps

Inwemer decided to use an IT platform for order servicing a few years back. “We tested a number of the systems available on the market but none of them matched our needs,” recalls Artur Morawski, the director of real estate technical service at Inwemer. “The development of a tailored system by a specialist R&D company would have been hugely costly – we received estimates of as much as PLN 1 mln and this is a considerable expense even for a large service company. So we eventually decided to commission a small firm for the task, together with which we developed an application especially for us.

The first of these was a module for processing orders and invoices. However, the system was eventually extended to include the processing of employees’ working hours and the warehouse service. The system currently comprises 20 different modules. “They are logically integrated with each other, which makes the system fully functional. As a result of this, it has been possible not only to link around fifty of our technical teams up to it but also our subcontractors,” explains Artur Morawski. “Importantly, we can continue to develop the system to suit clients’ arising needs and requirements. For example, one of our service providers recently asked us why he cann’t confirm the completion of a task by signing our technician’s tablet. This has become the standard for courier companies, so we are preparing to add this function,” he adds.

Nevertheless, cooperation with a small company can also have its pitfalls. “For example, when fixed values in the accounting system change – say, as a result of new regulations or a change in VAT rates – a large producer can perform a remote upgrade for their products and all their clients’ systems are updated. We, on the other hand, have to commission our IT firm to do this,” admits Inwemer’s director. He also reveals that the implementation of the system by the company was resisted by some employees – they mostly needed to be convinced that the system was not being introduced just to monitor them. “However, they eventually came to appreciate the usefulness of the IT platform themselves, because the numbers spoke for themselves,” says Artur Morawski. “It turned out that the system enables transfers between properties to be coordinated better, thanks to which technicians can receive more orders and this in turn translates into more money for them,” he argues.

The most hated task for each FM company is probably the obligation to document each step of the performance of the order in detail – it is often the case that they are not paid until this confirmation is given. Technical staff usually hate this task because they waste over 20 pct of their time on paper work. After the IT platform is introduced, this falls to 8–10 pct,” claims Artur Morawski.

Qualification check

A new way of organising work has been introduced for technical staff by the GPEC group. In order to streamline its work, the company now employs the Field Force Automation (FFA) system, which includes modules for planners and administrators of the system as well as a mobile app for field staff. The system supports the work of 26 teams of heating specialists, who service almost 4,000 heating centres. “The FFA system is an innovation in the heating industry. It streamlines the information flow between all the participants of the process, starting from the employee working in the customer service centre, to the planner, the dispatcher and on to the technical field worker,” explains Anna Jakób, a member of the board at GPEC. “Planners can manage the work of technical teams using one system and one screen. The tasks can be allocated manually as well as semi-automatically or automatically. Urgent orders become the top priority and the system takes into consideration the current location of the team. If they are nearby, they can be given responsibility for the task. However, the planner can always adjust the order. They always have the latest information about the availability and location of individual field workers and the status of the work being carried out by them,” she adds. The system works on mobile devices equipped with NFC (near-field communication). A notification including the details of the order is sent to the employees’ smartphone or tablet. The system might suggest the best route to the client’s location while taking into consideration the situation on the roads. NFC tags are placed in heating centres and heat distribution nodes serviced by GPEC. When they are scanned it is possible to introduce or select a work progress status. Employees can describe the situation on their devices in a note made on the site, they can also take a picture or attach an existing photo. After a while the data can be viewed by planners at the company’s headquarters who are then able to react appropriately to the situation. “Thanks to the system we can react swiftly as well as collate and analyse information about our infrastructure,” points out Anna Jakób.

Smaller can also do

However, systems that are specially designed for the specific needs of an organisation are a costly investment. Fortunately, the market also offers simpler, universal solutions, which as a result are much more accessible. The quick and easy documentation of orders in the form of notes or pictures taken on a mobile phone or tablet is offered by the Mobilny Serwisant app developed by Vertica Technologie Internetowe. The app has been created for service companies that process orders outside their headquarters, such as installation or renovation companies. “To confirm the completion of an order, the employee simply photographs the serviced device and the place where the task was performed and then e-mails the photo to their company or delivers it on a data storage device. This is an effective documentation method, but it is definitely time-consuming and additionally requires equipping the employee with the basic equipment and software. The photos have to be ordered, described and archived, which can be a difficult task for some existing staff members,” explains Łukasz Rutkiewicz, the managing director of Vertica Technologie Internetowe. “However, you cannot escape this, because the thorough documentation of the order’s completion is usually a condition for being paid. A lack of documentation could be a source of even more serious problems if the completed work, such as installations, is to later get covered up by plaster.

But how does it work? After receiving the order, the superior or system administrator enters it into the system, entering the address and a description of the work, and then allocates it to a specific person or sends a notification to them. The employee has a smartphone app through which they receive all the necessary information and confirm the receipt of the order. The same app allows them to take picture and make notes as well as send them to the company’s server with a single click, which makes it possible to document subsequent actions easily and quickly. The history of the work is available to any authorised person around the clock and can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet, so in the case of a complaint or malfunction it is possible to check what work has actually been performed and the condition the place was left in by the employee.

An assistant called Wanda

The Wanda system goes further. This is a digital assistant developed by Unit4, which automates routine operations and learns users’ preferences to help employees carry out their tasks. Thus it could represent as an interesting extension of the systems described above. “Wanda is the first system of its kind in the world. It allows users to communicate with business systems using natural language,” explains Łukasz Wierzchowski, the director of Unit4 Polska’s R&D centre in Wrocław. “This intelligent assistant talks to the user and recognises their work-cycle and regular activities. It automates routine procedures and tries to predict the information that will be needed to perform each task,” he explains. The ”paperwork” for the working time and roster can be entirely handled by the assistant. Based on information received from the employee, the digital assistant is able to register, adjust and calculate the payment for a given period of work. But time will only tell whether Wanda turns out to be FM staff’s favourite HR officer….