One of the biggest hurdles in a field business is managing employees’ tasks and workflow. Everything from task planning and scheduling to assigning has to be done remotely. This can pose a challenge to optimising workflow and maintaining employee productivity.
The solution, you must be wondering? Well, implementing field workforce management software can solve all your employee management troubles. It can significantly simplify your employee scheduling and resource allocation processes.
Let’s take a look at how field workforce management works and how you can reap its benefits.
8 Ways to Improve Employee Scheduling With Workforce Management Software
Here are all the features in field workforce management software that can help you with task planning and scheduling.
Real-time employee visibility
This is the primary feature of any workforce management software. It allows you to monitor field employees accurately. You can track their location, activity, and performance all in real time. This overseeing is done in a non-intrusive manner to ensure employees don’t feel stressed or invaded.
Employee time tracking apps like TrackoField come with advanced dashboards can also display employees’ attendance, availability status (idle, busy, travelling), total expenses or orders of the day, and more. You can even track the battery and network status of employees’ devices. The GPS location tracking ensures that employees are being tracked even when offline.
Optimised task management
Field service scheduling software can optimise employee task management. By knowing the status of employees, the managers can assign tasks based on their proximity to clients, expertise or availability. They can also use the GPS tracking feature to find the shortest and safest routes to traverse to task sites. This ensures fast customer service, reduces the workload of employees and boosts their productivity. The real-time status updates also allow for ad-hoc task allocation.
Calendar Scheduling
Imagine being able to assign tasks weeks or months in advance. Well, you can do so with calendar scheduling. Plus, the feature consolidates all the task-related data into an uncluttered and intuitive layout like a calendar. You can view, track the status of or modify tasks with just a click.
Barcode scanner and order inventory
A scanner for barcode/QR code can be used to simplify the POD process. It can be used to track the order quantity, verify products delivered and enable auto-task completion updates.
Most workforce management software also helps maintain a comprehensive order inventory. It contains the list of products, their prices, available quantity and important information. You can add or edit the inventory anytime.
Employees can access it to check the available product quantity and sell accordingly. This reduces resource wastage by preventing repeat orders or overbooking.
Task and Attendance Linking
Workforce management software can link attendance with tasks via geofencing. This is an effective way to prevent buddy punching and ensure accurate attendance recording. Here’s how this works. Now, the employee will only be able to mark his attendance if he’s present in the geofence at a designated task site.
Insightful Task Reports
Field workforce management software is always recording data and analysing it. You can use it to manually or automatically generate reports to gain insights about your workforce. These reports can help you spot trends, identify patterns and study your employees’ habits. Here are some reports the software can generate.
Target vs achievement reports
Task completion rate
Employee productivity
Distance travelled reports
Bulk Uploads
Software like TrackoField lets you create custom task templates. This way, you can upload tasks in bulk or clone existing tasks to save time and effort. You can upload your own templates and automate allocation using the bulk tasks upload feature.
Custom forms and attachments
Every business has different needs and so do its customers. You need a flexible software solution that lets you:
Create and modify forms as per your business requirements
Add custom fields in order creation forms or task forms
Create tailor-made forms for every customer
Add product, expense or leave categories
Additionally, the software also lets employees upload digital attachments like images, documents, videos or voice notes.
Conclusion
Field workforce management software is essential to optimise task and order management operations. It can immensely help your business, especially if you employ field executives. The benefits of the software include simplified workflow, improved staff scheduling and efficient resource allocation. All these can lead to higher sales, more revenue and better customer service.
Plus, software like TrackoField’s employee tracking software can even manage your payroll, employee attendance and HR duties. So, if you want to upgrade your business as per modern standards while maintaining workforce efficiency, do try workforce management software.
