Field service management (FSM)
The scheduling, dispatching, and recording of work done at customer sites, and the software that supports it.
How it works
In field service, the technician goes to the machine, not the other way around. A customer reports a problem or a contract schedules a visit. A dispatcher assigns a technician based on skills, location, and availability. The technician travels, does the work, records what was done, and often gets a signature. The office then invoices the work or books it against a contract.
FSM software supports each of these steps: job intake, scheduling and routing, a mobile app for technicians, parts on the van, and the link to billing.
Why it matters
Travel is expensive and every visit counts. Field service teams care about the first-time fix rate, response times promised in an SLA, and how many jobs a technician can complete in a day.
In practice
FSM and CMMS share a lot: assets, work orders, parts, and history. The main differences are that the asset belongs to a customer, the work is often billed, and the technician may see a machine only once a year. That makes the machine's history even more important, because nobody on site remembers what happened last time.
Related terms
For more, see Field service and in-house maintenance.