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OPTIMIZED
WORKFORCE PLANNINGAND SCHEDULING
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4 OPTIMIZED WORkFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
After-sales service and maintenance have become
critical components in many organizations offerings to
their customers, the end-consumer. In an increasingly
commoditized world, it is often a key differentiator.
Sometimes, it is the only way to set yourself apart
from your competitors.
There are many proven benefits from automating
and optimizing the scheduling of your workforce.
Success stories with IFS 360 Scheduling include
15% reductions in travel and overtime costs, 40%
improvement in technician productivity, and 20%+
improvements in service level compliance and on-
time service delivery.
The increasing focus on service by companies ismatched by escalating consumer expectations; not
only product performance, but also the speed and
efficiency of recovery. The logic is simple. If the
product is not working, the consumer is not getting
any value; the very reason they purchased in the
first place. Every day, your customers are measuring
you against their best service experiencesacross
all product categories.
That means higher demand for ever faster
responses and more effective service delivery
tighter Service Level Agreements (SLAs)and less
tolerance of failure. Getting it right, first time has
become a business imperative for all service organi-
zations.
Delivering field-based service is a major cost,
whether you opt to use a directly-employed work-
force, or to use third-parties to perform it on your
behalf. Doing it well can make a significant differ-
ence to both the companys brand perception and
financial results.
Plus, managing a mobile workforce is a multi-faceted challenge. The need to react quickly to real-
world events, deal with uncertainty and cope with
constant change are all characteristic of todays ser-
vice environment. And, the trend is towards ever-
increasing complexity.
THE BUSINESS CASEFOR OPTIMIZATION
BEFORE WITH 360
INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT10,000 TECHNICIANS
Calls i SLA 48% 87%
Tec utilitiatio 61% 78%
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5OPTIMIZED WORKFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
Today, optimal service delivery performance must
be part of any organizations key objectives if they
want to retain customer loyalty, repeat purchasing
and a positive word-of-mouth reputation.
The adoption of new technology to improve
service delivery has been patchy to say the least.
Partly, this has been due to the lack of supporting
infrastructure and connectivity, but the increasing
ubiquity of wireless networks means real-time
interaction with the field is now a cost-effective
realitydispensing with the need for an endless
stream of paperwork.
This puts pressure on the back office to auto-
mate more processes that deliver instant responses to
real-time events that are communicated immediately
from the field.Early scheduling software was only able to
deliver a start-of-day, or static, schedule. This batch
process takes all of the outstanding work and churns
out schedules based on available technician resources
using a basic set of business rules and route opti-
mization to reduce travel time and mileage between
jobs. But, this approach cannot take into account the
day-to-day dynamics of the business.
Todays service environment demands more than
to simply take care of basic performance parameters,
such as the number of calls a technician can complete
in a day. Now, the focus must be much more on
delivering a great consumer experience.
A more strategic approach is required. This means
a better understanding of the demands on the service
team and every aspect of their work, in order to
make the required changes and plan effectively for
both current and future business requirements.
Moving forward aimlessly is not an option.
For an increasing number of organizations, a real-
time scheduling toolset is the only way to sustainservice performance, to meet burgeoning consumer
demands, and to grow the business. Being able to
satisfy planned demand is only half the battle; being
able to respond to, and satisfy, unplanned demand
is key.
Ca ou forecast plaed/uplaed demad?
wat are our ko costraits?
Do ou ae eou tecicias/eieers?
Are te i te rit locatios?
Do te ae te rit skills?
Do te ae access to te required parts?
Ca te be sceduled effectiel?
Ca te be resceduled i a timel a?
Ca ou do all of tis profitabl?
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6 OPTIMIZED WORKFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
IFS 360 Scheduling supplies a suite of workforce
scheduling and optimization tools. Nothing else. We
dedicate our time to developing the worlds best tools
to support and deliver our customers business objec-
tives for more effective and agile service delivery, and
better end-user/consumer loyalty.
Our best in class, real-time scheduling and work-
force planning technology, plus components for easy
integration into existing fleet management, work
order management, mobile data and CRM/ERP
systems, means rapid return on investment for you;
making you a consistently reliable partner for your
customersa promise made can be a promise kept,
every time.
SERVICE MARGIN
The question as to whether service should be a cost-
or a profit-center has been around for twenty yearsor more, and the argument rages on. Our take on
this is very straightforward. We believe that the
best measure of success in field-based service is the
margin delivered by the operation. That is, simply
the difference between the value delivered to end-
user customers and the cost to deliver that service.
Now, customer value can be measured in many
ways. For example, it might be revenue; it might be
customer satisfaction ratings, or lifetime customer
value. However you measure it, we use that value
as an important baseline factor when calculatingschedules and in determining priorities between
different activities.
We match that with the cost of technicians travel,
plus their on-site costs, to determine the highest
margin we might achieve for each individual job.
We aggregate that for all of the jobs in the plan and
evaluate many thousands of alternatives to determine
the best possible schedule.
MANAGEMENT BY EXCEPTION
We believe that management by exception is a better
way to work. What we call Radical Automation is a
presumption that all routine or repetitive tasks
should be automated, enabling the users (planners,
schedulers, dispatchers) to focus on higher-value
work, with the software using accumulated know-
ledge and insight to make well-informed decisionswithout manual intervention. Automating 80% of
scheduling decisions is simply not good enoughwe
are aiming for 95%+. When we say management
by exception, we really mean it.
This is only possible if the calculation engine
utilizes mathematical techniques that are suited to
the real-time, dynamic environment, especially if
there are many hundreds or thousands and techni-
cians to be scheduled. General purpose optimization
algorithms are simply not suitable for solving this
kind of puzzle. The power of IFS 360 Schedulings
proprietary algorithms, coupled with advancedheuristics, delivers highly optimized schedules blis-
teringly fasteven for the largest and most complex
scheduling problems.
RIGHT-TIME DECISION MAKING
The world of manufacturing has been revolutionized
by lean and agile thinking, and a key component
of these approaches is the notion of just-in-time
(JIT). That is, delaying making procurement and
production decisions until the last moment. This
improves the quality of the decisions as they arebased on the latest information and situational
assessment, improving the frequency of them being
right, and leading to less waste.
We apply the same principle to mobile work-
force scheduling. Trying to deliver against a plan
that was formulated hours, maybe even days, ago
leads to waste and inefficiency. On the other hand,
the quality of plans can be dramatically improved
THE 360 WORLDVIEW
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7OPTIMIZED WORKFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
by making JIT decisions. And the chances of actual-
ly delivering whats on the plan increase equally
dramatically. A good decision can only be the right
decision if it is made at the right time. Maximum
technician utilization and maximum customer satis-
factiondeliver both at minimum cost.
ALWAYS OPTIMIZINGWe are never satisfied that we have got the best, or
optimal plan. Our Dynamic Scheduling Engine is
constantly evaluating the problem, seeking alterna-
tives that might deliver a higher service margina
better plan. This constant cycle of calculation and
evaluation means that we always have an up-to-date
plan available, one that has taken every input into
accountevery piece of feedback from the field,
every new and amended job detail, every GPS fix
from a vehicle, and including the impact of passing
time on factors such as SLA compliance.
And we are always looking at the bigger picture,by evaluating the whole problem all of the time.
We also believe the same of our software and are
constantly striving to enhance our tools and improve
their performanceso that you can improve yours.
A GOOD DECISION CAN ONLY BE
THE RIGHT DECISION IF IT IS MADE AT THE RIGHT T IME
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8 OPTIMIZED WORkFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
DELIVERINGWORLD-CLASS
Your customers want you to deliver excellent service
both planned and reactiveusing your specialist
knowledge and expertise to keep their equipment
running at peak performance; after all, that is what
they are paying for. All the while, benchmarking you
against other service experiences and your word-of-
internet reputation.
We are sure you feel the same towards IFS 360
Schedulingwe need to deliver too. To meet your
expectations of a partner, jointly focused on enhanc-
ing your business, we have to perform reliably and
consistently over time to earn your trust.
Developing the best software tools is not
enough; just having the applications installed will not
get you world-class performance. The technology
needs to be complemented with a complete range of
specialist services to support you through the initial
business change and software implementationand
into the future; making sure that you continually
get value from your investment for years to come.
Success requires the commitment and involvement
of your staff and resources, and of ours too. Our
team of experienced consultants will bring you a
wealth of expertise about schedulingincluding tips
and techniques for optimizing technician performance
and work alongside you through the transition;
transferring skills and knowledge through formal
training and everyday interaction. We are as com-
mitted to your success as you are.
We will help you assess the impact of introducing
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10 OPTIMIZED WORKFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
Whether you choose to run our software on-premise
or in the cloud, as an independent application or
integrated with IFS Applications, the features and the
improved results you get are the same. The compre-
hensive software suite offers a range of tools to suit
different situations and business needs, ranging from
long-term strategic planning to instant responsiveness
to emergencies. All of them are built to the same
exacting quality standards, delivering every minute of
every day.
THE SCHEDULING ENGINE
The Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE) is a world-
class optimization engine and the heart of our tool-
set. Using a blend of sophisticated mathematicaltechniques, and algorithms developed over 20 years
that are finely tuned for mobile service, the DSE is
capable of solving extremely large scheduling prob-
lems overlaid with multiple business-defined con-
straintsfor example skills, SLAs, parts requirements
and delivering highly optimized plans within
seconds.
But, it does not stop there. The DSE implements
our unique always optimizing philosophy, meaning
it continually searches for a better solutiona
schedule that can deliver improved service margin. If
it finds one, it will change the part of the plan that
has not been committed to reflect the improvement,
re-allocating work to resources in a just-in-time
decision-making approach. The right decisions, at
the right time.
The DSE is designed for unlimited flexibility in
modeling business policies and objectives, with
numerous parameters designed in response to real-
world requirements, refined through numerous
implementations and a relentless focus on the needs
of service providers. The comprehensive setup and
configuration options reflect the reality of increasing
customer expectations, more demanding Service
Level Agreements and your commitment to service
delivery consistency and reliability as a competitive
advantage.
THE USER INTERFACE
Much of the work done by 360 software applications
happens automatically, without the need for user
interaction; for example, calculation and evaluation of
plans, and communications with other applications
and technicians/vehicles. But, that does not mean
we have forgotten the importance of an intuitive,
powerful interface for those tasks that do need
human help.
Quite the opposite, we lavish as much care and
attention on the user experience as we do on other
aspects of our products. Browser-based, the
THE IFS 360SCHEDULINGTOOLSET
IN BENCHMARK TESTS AGAINST OTHER SCHEDULING ENGINES, THE DSE CAME TOP IN SPEED OF
PROCESSING, ROUTE EFFICIENCY AND CONSTRAINT MATCHING (MEETING BUSINESS RULES) ON
DATASETS RANGING FROM 50 TO 50,000 RESOURCES.
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12 OPTIMIZED WORKFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
planning and rostering of human resources over
time. This can be based on predicted workloads or
specific projects, or might simply be used for shiftplanning. Resource management policies and legis-
lative constraints (e.g. Working Time Directive)
plus shift patterns, skills, and breaks are enforced
when building the plan.
The results can be sent to the DSE to enable
dynamic scheduling of the reactive work alongside
the planned commitments.
REPORTING AND ANALYTICS
Like transaction processing systems, e.g. ERP or
CRM, an automated workforce scheduling and
optimization environment is rich in data. Unlike
such applications, scheduling data changes rapid-
lyliterally second by secondand this is an addi-
tional difficulty for reporting and analysis. How
can you measure the performance, and provide
action-ready insights in such a fluid situation? We
respond to this challenge with a multi-layered
approach, to match the needs of different user com-
munities. Some users need real-time reporting and
insight, whilst others need to look at data and trends
over longer periods of time.
For example, the Exceptions Board is providedfor the scheduler/dispatcher and reports potential
service problems or jeopardy situations in real time.
This focus on exceptions enables proactive man-
agement to eliminate issues before they escalate and
impact customer satisfaction.
Other analyses provide managers with insights
into actual performance by monitoring Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). Real-time access to,
for example, SLA hit rates, time on-site and dis-
tance travelled can be critical to making intra-day
adjustments that fine tune service delivery and
ensure that KPIs are met; rather than a post-mor-
tem to try and understand what has already gone
wrong.
The 360 Data Mart populates a business intelli-
gence database with snapshots of the planned and
actual performance. This enables analytical report-
ing via many 3rd-party toolsyou may already
have these in placeas well as standard IFS 360
Scheduling reports and dashboards.
Actio-read isits i
user-cofiurable iteractie
dasboards tracki critical
serice KPIs.
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13OPTIMIZED WORkFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
Automated scheduling systems do notindeed
cannotoperate in isolation. They form part of an
ecosystem of applications that cover the end-to-end
service processes, making ease of integration an
important consideration. Not only must any scheduling
system comply with your technical environment today,
you want the reassurance that it will continue to do
so. This is best achieved by conformance to standardsand a commitment to future compatibility.
The IFS 360 Scheduling product set is web-based
and built on the Microsoft .NET framework to
ensure maximum performance and flexibility. The
DSE integrates quickly and easily with complemen-
tary applications (e.g. mobile data, vehicle tracking,
service management) through an XML-driven, SOAP
implementation of web services that utilizes WCF.
There is a standard integration to IFS Applications,
using the OAGiS-compliant IFS Connect broker
module.
IFS 360 Schedulings applications are already
Software as a Service (SaaS)-proven, giving you the
choice to host the software on-premise or in the
cloud.
The applications can be dynamically scaled,
enabling computing power to be added or removed
as required, without stopping and restartingto meet
changing demand levels for scheduling computation.
The performance scales linearly, in line with theavailable computing power. This means that the DSE
is capable of scaling seamlessly from scheduling
tens of technicians to scheduling tens of thousands.
Multiple scheduling problems can be handled
simultaneously across many organizations, using
the same configuration and underlying architecture.
The comprehensive, extensible data model allows
for user-defined, customizable business rules to meet
the most complex needs of a service organizations
scheduling requirements. The system is entirely
data-driven, continuously improving the scheduling
in response to real-time updates. Once initialized,
only data changes need to be sent to the system and
only changes in allocation are returned.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Service Oriented Architecture
THE 360 DYNAMIC SCHEDULING ENGINE
360 DYNAMIC SCHEDULING ENGINE
Travel
Manager
IFS 360 Scheduling
Workbench
Activities/Resources
Updates
Call
Centre
Business
Rules
Database
XML
Web
Services
OPTIMIZATIONENGIN
E
INPUTMAN
AGER
TECHNICIAN/
PDA
BROADCASTMA
NA
GER
BACKOFFICEAPP
LICA
TION
Mobile
Data Network
Internet
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14 OPTIMIZED WORkFORCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
PIONEERS IN SCHEDULINGIFS 360 Scheduling has its roots in complex
numerical analysis. In the 1990s the companys
founders developed a sophisticated mapping and
scheduling application for use by the emergency
services. The system helped them make efficient use
of their resources and meet legal SLAs measured in
minutes. Ambulances waiting in strategic locations
rather than remaining in their stations became a
common sight as a direct result.
360 was founded in 2002 to take its world-class
scheduling expertise into a new software environ-
ment, and focusing on field service. Since that time,
we have been working with field service organiza-tions around the world to schedule more effectively
and optimize their resources to meet an ever-wid-
ening spectrum of SLAs. More recently, the focus
has been expanded to include other complex, but
non-mobile, scheduling environments and resourc-
ing for project-based working.
Today the team at IFS 360 Scheduling continues
to include top mathematicians as well as scheduling
experts and service specialists. Its products are
available stand-alone and as a fully integrated com-
ponent of IFS Applications.
LEADING PROVIDER OFWORKFORCE SCHEDULINGTECHNOLOGY
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ABOUT IFS AND IFS APPLICATIONSIFS is a public compa (OMX STO: IFS) fouded i 1983 tat deelops,
supplies, ad implemets IFS Applicatios, a compoet-based
exteded ERP suite built o SOA tecolo. IFS focuses o aile
busiesses ere a of four core processes are strateic: serice
& asset maaemet, maufacturi, suppl cai ad projects.
Te compa as more ta 2,000 customers ad is preset i
50+ coutries it 2,700 emploees i total.
If ou are iterested i furter iformatio, e-mail [email protected]
or cotact oe of our reioal offices or isit our ebsite
www.IFSWORLD.com
AMERICA S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +1 888 437 4968
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ESTOnIA, FInLAnD, LATvIA, LIThUAnIA
AMERICAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +1 888 437 4968
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IFS 360 SCHEDULINGFor furter iformatio, email [email protected] or isit our
ebsitewww.360scheduling .com
www.IFSWORLD.comThIS DOCUMEnT MAy COnTAIn STATEMEnTS OF POSSIBLE FUTURE FUnCTIOnALITy FOR IFS SOFTwARE PRODUCTS
AnD TEChnOLOgy. SUCh STATEMEnTS OF FUTURE FUnCTIOnALITy ARE FOR InFORMATIOn PURPOSES OnLy AnD
ShOULD nOT BE InTERPRETED AS Any COMMITMEnT OR REP RESEnTATIOn. IFS AnD ALL IFS PRODUCT nAMES ARE
TRADEMARKS OF IFS. ThE nAMES OF ACTUAL COMPAnIES AnD PRODUCTS MEnTIOnED hEREIn MAy BE ThE TRADEMARKS
OF ThEIR RESPECTIvE OwnERS.
IFS AB2012