Successful and efficient service execution is not possible without accurate equipment data. The more complex or sophisticated the equipment, the more service planners, dispatchers, and technicians, especially, depend on knowing the make and model, the configuration, system report, status of key parameters, and service history for each piece of serviced equipment. But who has such accurate data about the equipment as-maintained?

Well, you won’t find that data in your CRM system. Sure, CRM is the system of record for all your customer information and having that customer data is important. You might have even captured the make and model of equipment that the customer called about, but you won’t find the type of information that a technician needs to prepare for a field visit in your CRM.

You won’t find that kind of information in your ERP either. ERP is your system of record for business transactions, where you probably keep data about which products were sold to which customers, when, and at what price. You might even have information about serial numbers for each product sold and perhaps even the ‘as-sold’ configuration. Congrats if you do because many organizations don’t have any such data. But since you sold the products to your customer five years ago, that product has gone through a variety of changes. A couple of parts have been replaced with newer parts, some after-market components have been added and the software has been upgraded and patched several times. In short, that “as-sold” product data doesn’t describe what the equipment looks like today.

For technicians, that data is critical. Accurate data about “equipment as-maintained” is really important to make sure you are dispatching the right technicians, with the proper tools, and the most likely needed parts. The data is also critical to determine the correct diagnosis and to select the right solution to any problem. In short, you need a system of record for equipment as maintained.

A core part of the ServiceMax architecture is what we call the installed base database. This is a set of data objects that extend the objects ServiceMax inherits from the underlying Salesforce platform (i.e. customer data). These ServiceMax specific data objects contain a rich hierarchical structure describing the serviced equipment with all its components, subcomponents, properties, latest sensor readings, and even rich media records such as documents, images, and recordings.

Accurate data about “equipment as-maintained” is really important to make sure you are dispatching the right technicians, with the proper tools, and the most likely needed parts.

In addition to the data store, the ServiceMax mobile app also enables technicians to quickly and easily capture and update the installed base records. That’s often the only and most reliable way to capture those records and to keep them up to date. After all, the technicians see firsthand what the equipment looks like and they can capture what changes have been made by them or by any third-party technician. They can even capture important readings from key meters, gauges and counters — data that can be used to trigger condition-based events for equipment that is not yet connected via the IoT.

The ability to capture and update accurate equipment as maintained data makes ServiceMax a powerful system of record for data that’s otherwise unavailable. It’s no wonder ServiceMax customers, such as Enphase Energy, heavily use this functionality — with many companies capturing hundreds of thousands and even millions of equipment records.

“By using ServiceMax as the system of record for our installed base, we are able to provide business-critical service data to internal business partners including sales and marketing, customer service and field service teams, as well as third-party contractors and partners,” said Vineet Kapoor, CRM Application Manager at Enphase Energy. “Over a number of years, our business model has changed and we need service execution management software that is adaptable, scalable, and flexible. With ServiceMax, we can deploy internal and third-party teams to provide a consistent level of service across more than 895,000 residential and commercial systems in over 125 countries around the world.”

Last week, we have announced a major milestone in our history. There are now more than 200 million assets under management in the ServiceMax system across all our customers. Two hundred million records of equipment as maintained in the field! And, they keep growing fast. Just think about 200 million medical devices, HVAC systems, food processing machines, elevators, jet engines, industrial printers, solar installations, oil wells, water treatment systems, and industrial machines all being serviced by technicians equipped with accurate equipment data from ServiceMax.

At ServiceMax, we truly keep the world running!

ABOUT Lubor Ptacek

Avatar photoLubor Ptacek is a former SVP of product & solution marketing at ServiceMax, the leader in Service Execution Management.