Transitioning to FIELDBOSS is a process. Getting your project to the go live stage is an important milestone in any software implementation. At FIELDBOSS, it starts with the initial sales demos that turn into a planning engagement. From there, the initial configuration is established, followed by data migration, testing, configuration adjustments, more testing, training, and, finally, go live.
What does ‘Going Live’ Mean?
Going live is not a “big bang” on a Monday morning. Ideally, training is completed immediately prior to go live. At this point, a specific go live data migration of open service tickets, projects, payables, and receivables happens so the staff can start working in the new system.
The most significant go live event is that service activities begin being dispatched to the technicians’ phones and they start engaging with the system to input timesheets, cost, and service activity data. Office staff will start seeing data flowing in on their dashboards.
During the first week, as service calls, quoted work, and projects are completed, payroll and billing processes commence. For this reason, go live is more of a series of different events that occur daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly.
As data flows into the system and dashboards become more meaningful, users begin to leverage their dashboards. Time spent on processes that were previously manual is freed up and becomes time to manage anomalies and exceptions.
The Stabilization Period
We call the time after go live the stabilization period. Stabilization is the time when processes are cleaned up and organizations attempt to adjust to the new environment. During this period, users start doing tasks faster and faster as they adjust views, create new dashboards, and start realizing that there are further opportunities for workflow automation.
The real work begins when staff start looking at the reports and get real-time field staff, equipment and customer insights that turn into actionable sales, customer service, and staff management experiences.
Managing Expectations
Managing expectations is always one of the highest priorities for all FIELDBOSS consultants as that is usually the key factor in a happy client on go live versus a confused one.
Throughout the process, we continuously remind the client that what they are using in the first week and even month will be a little different to the FIELDBOSS solution they will be using in 3-6 months’ time. The reason for this is based on understanding FIELDBOSS and overall data integrity. We explain to clients (and encourage them to reiterate to staff) that FIELDBOSS is only as powerful as the users operating it. The more testing and critical thinking that is done, the greater the ROI.
Finally, regardless of how much testing is done, nothing will compare to real world scenarios and experiences. It is one thing to learn in a pre-go live environment, it is another thing to learn on the job in a “real world” environment after the go live.
Success is not determined just when you “hit the switch”. In fact, it is just the beginning of opportunities for continuous organizational improvements and the realization of benefits and ROI.
To learn more about FIELDBOSS, please contact us for a free, personalized demo.