SAP has released an update of the SAP Field Service Management software. The FSM Release 2008 is available since August 15, 2020. Probably the most important new feature is an app extension that allows users to develop their own solutions to enhance SAP Field Service Management. In addition, 3rd party solutions that offer functionalities that are not included in the FSM standard should be able to integrate smoothly thanks to the extension.
The FSM Release 2008 provides some performance improvements. For example, the mobile app can be synchronized with FSM tenants that contain up to 10 million data records. The workforce management supports up to five million service calls, activities, business partners and equipment in the scheduling view.
Customers can cancel appointments with service technicians when they are no longer needed.
With FSM Release 2008, SAP is also introducing a batch upload for customers. Customer accounts can be created via CSV file and the corresponding activation e-mails can be sent to the customers as mass mailings. In addition, the self-service assistant was revised. Its new design optimizes usability and provides a clearer structure.
It is now possible to form teams of several service technicians and plan them together according to the system. Joint activities can also be assigned to them. A team leader can also be defined.
Furthermore, the FSM Release 2008 has the functionality to schedule an activity that requires the deployment of several technicians. For this purpose, supporting technicians are simply added to the activity, whereby they do not necessarily have to belong to a team.
Activities can be automatically assigned to partner technicians. However, the release of these activities is not automated, since their acceptance must first be coordinated with the external partner technicians. If a partner technician rejects the activity, he will not be assigned it again in the near future.
The improved overview of partners and partner technicians increases efficiency and increases user acceptance.
The FSM connector supports replication of smart form templates, which can be used for reports in SAP C4C (SAP Cloud for Customer).
SAP has revised the user interface for qualification management. Since the new UI follows the Fiori guidelines, the interfaces now correspond to the familiar design of other SAP apps.
For business rules, a time offset can be scheduled with FSM Release 2008 if required. This means that the rule is not executed directly at the event, but with a certain time delay.
In addition, the system indicates possible improvements for a business rule via a notification field.