MEASURING

KPIS IN A FSO
WHITE PAPER

www.ServicePower.com
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Measuring KPIs in a FSO .................................................................................... 3

Key Performance Metrics ............................................................................................................ 3

Contracted or On Demand workforces .................................................................................. 5

KPI Trends .......................................................................................................................................... 6

MEASURING KPIS IN A FSO 2

MEASURING KPIS
IN A FSO

Historically field service organizations have measured their success based

upon several key performance indicators (KPIs), included cost of service
delivery, revenue generation and customer satisfaction. As FSOs are
increasingly challenged to optimize every touch point with a customer, as
well as meet cost metrics, additional KPIs become critical to performance.

The composition of a field workforce plays some role in which specific

KPIs a FSO can monitor, however there are many that overlap employed,
contracted or on demand labor channels.

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

Employed Workforce
In an employed workforce, assuming
the FSO is using robust forecasting,
planning and execution tools,
several KPIs can and should be
monitored throughout the field
service process.

Utilization indicates the amount of work
a field tech performs in a shift. Increasing
utilization is critical for profitable FSOs.
Productivity indicates the actual number
of completed jobs versus booked job, and
incomplete jobs.
Depending on the industry, FSOs strive for
between 6-10 completed jobs per day for
an employed tech.
Efficiency is the quality and duration at
which a field tech can perform assigned
work. FSOs schedule job duration based
on efficiency of the tech. How well does
he/she know how to do the work? How
long will it take?
Dispatching efficiency indicates how well
a FSO dispatches work by measuring the
percent of forced and/or fixed jobs on a
schedule. High percentages of either could
indicate a need to review how technician
coverage and skill data is set up, as well as
user adoption of scheduling automation
software.

MEASURING KPIS IN A FSO 3

Schedule adherence uses planned versus
actual travel times to indicate whether the
tech performed his/her scheduled work in
the order in which it was planned by the
FSO, as well as possible variations due to
traffic interruptions.
Route adherence provides a comparison
of the routed schedule versus the actual
route taken according GPS location data.
Mileage cost and fuel utilization can be
used to indicate route adherence as well
as unapproved use of company assets.
ODBC compliant GPS devices, as well
as built in accelerometers can provide
driving behavior reporting. Driving
behavior reports indicate not only risky
driving behavior but vehicle wear and tear.
Overtime utilization indicates how often
overtime is required to completed a
schedule.
Shift adherence measures the occurrence
of shift variations, such as completing a
route early or late, requiring overtime.
SLA adherence measures the FSOs
adherence to contractual SLAs. SLA
jobs often require that a FSO complete
a specific job within a period of time or
between certain business hours. SLAs are
different than regular appointments which
simply require agreement between the
FSO and its customer on a date/time.
Cost of service measures the total cost to
perform a specific type of job, including
labor, parts, overhead, etc.
MEASURING KPIS IN A FSO
Job margin is the revenue from a specific
type of job or overall by the FSO generally.
Availability indicates the number of days
in the future a FSO must schedule an
appointment due to capacity constraints.
In most industries, customers expect a
same day or next day appointment. Most
often FSOs, particularly in the appliance
and consumer electronics industries
during peak seasons, run 4-7 day
availability. Thats bad news for customers
with broken freezers in the Summer!
Though measured differently by FSOs,
turn around time (TAT) or mean time
to repair (MTTR) measures the actual
number of days from the appointment
date to the completion date. Parts
availability and lack of adequately trained
technicians contribute to extended TAT.
Forecasting and monitoring skill supply
versus demand against historical supply
and demand ensures FSO have the
appropriate skills required to perform
forecasted job types.
Geographical supply versus demand
should also be forecast based on historical
data to ensure field technicians are placed
or able to cover the locations where jobs
must be performed.
4
CONTRACTED OR ON DEMAND
WORKFORCES
Managing contracted or on demand
workforces is different than
managing an employed workforce.
Because FSOs do not typically
provide 100% of a contractors
work load, but only a portion, KPIs
like utilization or productivity are
not measurable. FSOs do not have
access to the data required to
perform the measurement.

However there are several important KPIs that FSOs using contractors
must monitor closely. In an employed workforce, assuming the FSO is using
robust forecasting, planning and execution tools, several KPIs can and
should be monitored throughout the field service process.

Jobs
How much capacity is available within
the 3rd party network? Is the FSO able
to schedule appointments 1-2 days in the
future, or is availability extended?
Claims
A FSO must pay claims for jobs performed
by 3rd party contractors or on demand
technicians. Claims have a different set of
KPIs that must be monitored.

Monitor the total number of open calls

to proactively address non accepted jobs,
avoiding potential missed appointments
and customer dissatisfaction.
FSOs should also monitor the percentage
of rejected jobs by contractor. A
contractor that rejects a high number of
jobs may not have set up his/her coverage
profile or capacity correctly, or may
be cherry picking jobs. Likewise a high
percentage of rescheduled or cancelled
jobs may be indicative of the same issues.
A high percentage of rework by an
individual contractor organization may
indicate lack of skills or fraud.
The total number of claims indicates the
number of claims paid. Increasing number
of claims indicates an increase in financial
reserves needed to cover warranty or
product quality issues.
The total amount ($) paid for claims
indicates warranty reserve impact, as well
as a portion of the total cost of service
equation.
Breaking down the total amount ($)
paid by labor cost, part costs, other
costs enable a FSO to analyse costs by
bucket. For instance, in the appliance and
electronics repair space, only roughly

MEASURING KPIS IN A FSO 5

50% of all service calls require parts. If
the total percent of claims paid includes
a high percentage of parts claims (dollars
or quantity of parts used), there may be
training or fraud issues to address in the
network.
Turn around time, including the spans
from a) the original request for service
to the completed service date, b)
service completed date to the claim
submitted date, and c) claim submitted
date to claim paid date, is indicative of
delays within some part of the claiming
process. A longer span from the original
request for service to the completed
service date indicates that there may
be availability or capacity issues within
the network, much as the TAT or MTTR
indicates in an employed workforce.
Extended periods between the service
completed date to the claim submitted
date indicate accounting or process issues
with particular contractor. Many FSOs in
fact limit the amount of time in which a
claim may be submitted for reimburse
KPI TRENDS
Reviewing recent survey data
indicates that several of the
previously defined KPIs have been
most important in todays field
service process.
Turn Around Time (TAT)
As all FSOs continue to monitor and
manage costs and margin, its becoming
increasingly important to manage TAT
such that the organization may meet
customer requirements and expectations
for same day or next day appointments.
MEASURING KPIS IN A FSO
to encourage quick submission for
forecasting and planning purposes. FSOs
with extended time between the claim
submitted date to claim paid date often
struggle to find contractors willing to
perform work on their behalf.
Auditing claims in a 3 party network
is critical. FSOs should monitor the
percentage of claims audited to a) insure
an appropriate population of claims are
audited, and b) ensure that its automated
claim adjudication is set up correctly. One
TPA utilizing the auditing capabilities of
ServicePower was able to save $80,000
per month in claim costs. Therefore, its
also important to quantify and measure
the total amount saved due to claims
auditing.
Lastly, FSOs should monitor the
percentage of claim errors that require the
FSO to review prior to payment. A high
percentage may also be indicative of a
claim adjudication process that requires
improvement.
6
In cases where a FSO, particularly those using employed technicians, cannot offer
appointments within 1 or 2 days of the request, then it should evaluate how to utilize a
mixed labor channel model, using contractors and on demand technicians to provide
supplementary labor.

Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is key to future sales opportunities, as well as image and brand
recognition. KPIs, as well as survey data, ensure a FSOs ability to satisfy its customers
who expect on time arrival, in hand parts, and single trip resolution.

Utilization
For any FSO, achieving the highest utilization possible is necessary to ensure
productivity, cost and margin KPIs. However, seasonal or catastrophic demand variation
is hard to manage. Therefore FSO should employ a mixed labor channel model to
ensure its own technicians are used for the most optimal jobs, while contractors
supplement its labor supply.

ServicePower offers a wide range of planning, forecasting and analysis tools, consulting
services and scheduling products.

Contact ServicePower to find out how our Scheduling and Business Intelligence
products help you decrease the cost of lost time. www.servicepower.com
About ServicePower
ServicePower Technologies Plc (AIM: SVR), is the only company
that provides a complete global, mobile, field management
platform enabling clients to mix labor channels, utilizing
employed, contracted resources, and on demand resources
while controlling all elements of the field service lifecycle, from
planning, to execution to analysis. We offer a range of integrated
software products and services that are used by some of the
leading manufacturers, third party administration, insurance, and
telecommunications companies, world wide.

For more information, email us at info@servicepower.com

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