Field service management (FSM) is the coordination of work performed at customer locations: taking requests, scheduling and dispatching technicians, doing the work, and closing the job out with records and billing.
FSM is also the name for software suites that try to cover all of those steps in one product.
What field service management covers
A typical FSM workflow has six stages:
- Intake. A customer calls, books online or is due for maintenance.
- Scheduling. A date, time and arrival window are agreed.
- Dispatching. A technician is assigned and the day is managed as it changes. See dispatching.
- Execution. The technician travels, does the work and records what was done.
- Close-out. Invoice, payment and job notes.
- Follow-up. Callbacks, warranty and recurring maintenance.
There is no formula for FSM as a whole. It is measured through the metrics of each stage: first-time fix rate, on-time arrival, jobs per day, utilization and revenue per technician.
Why it matters for scheduling
Scheduling is one stage, but it sets the cost structure of execution. The order jobs are promised in decides how far trucks drive, how many jobs fit in a day and whether windows are kept. Everything downstream inherits that.
That is why it can make sense to judge the scheduling part separately from the rest of a suite. All-in-one FSM suites do things CrewLink does not, such as invoicing and payments, and for many companies they are the right fit. CrewLink focuses on the scheduling stage: it is field service scheduling software that builds live travel time into availability, so the only slots offered are ones a crew can reach. A guide to weighing those trade-offs is in Choosing field service scheduling software.
A common mistake
Choosing an FSM system on the length of its feature list. The features used every hour, such as booking a slot and moving a job on the scheduling board, matter more than ones used once a month. Test the daily steps with your own territory and job types before deciding.
Related terms
- Dispatching is the real-time part of FSM.
- Scheduling board is where scheduling and dispatching meet.
- Technician productivity is the outcome most FSM programs are trying to improve.
Common questions
What is FSM software?
Software that supports some or all of the field service workflow, such as booking, dispatch, job records and billing. Products vary widely in which stages they cover well.
Is field service scheduling the same as FSM?
No. Scheduling is one part of FSM. Some products focus on it alone and others try to cover every stage.
Do small field service companies need FSM software?
That depends on volume and complexity. Many start with a calendar and spreadsheets and add software once the schedule gets too complex for one person to hold in their head.