Unveiling New Zoho FSM Features: Scheduled Maintenance, Time-Based Workflow, and Multi-Day Appointment

At Zoho FSM, the bounty of Thanksgiving continues. We are thrilled to announce the release of some of the most requested features: Scheduled Maintenance, Time-Based Workflow, and Multi-Day Appointment. These are the culmination of our constant efforts to improve our product so that we meet your needs and expectations. All these features will be available in our brand new Professional Edition.

Scheduled Maintenance

Scheduled Maintenance allows you to set up jobs that will be automatically created at specific dates and desired intervals. This feature is useful when you need to provide ongoing services or maintenance on a regular basis without having to manually create the jobs every time. Scheduled maintenance is ideal for field services in various industries, be it pool maintenance, janitorial services, or regular inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems.

Effortlessly Create a Scheduled Maintenance Plan

With an intuitive UI, you can easily create scheduled maintenance plans so that work orders and service appointments are auto-generated on desired dates as per the required frequency. Refer to the below video tutorial to learn how to create a scheduled maintenance plan.

View Comprehensive Details of the Scheduled Maintenance Plan

You will have visibility of the upcoming work orders and service appointments. This will help you make the required preparations for carrying out these tasks.

The Timeline of a scheduled maintenance plan will provide you with a clear breakdown of all the activities associated with its execution.

Under the Templates tab, you can see the details of the work order and service appointment templates used and edit them if required.

Flexibility to Suspend Scheduled Maintenance Activities at Anytime

At any time, you can suspend the activities related to the maintenance plans by marking it as inactive. Once a scheduled maintenance plan is marked as inactive, then all future records will be removed.

Proper Guidance For a Seamless Experience

To ensure smooth sailing with your scheduled maintenance plan, you will be provided with informative messages about Upcoming Schedules, Upgrade Alerts, and Scheduled Maintenance failure in the event of appointments being used up.

Time Based Workflows

Use Time-based Workflows to automate triggering desired actions based on a specified date or time. Such workflows are helpful in setting reminders, follow-up tasks, and ensuring compliance with service level agreements (SLAs). These will aid in improving customer satisfaction thereby encouraging repeat business. The following examples will help you understand how you can leverage time-based workflows for your field services business:

Maintenance Follow-Up: Using a time-based workflow, you can automatically generate a work order in the future to facilitate maintenance services following the installation of an asset. This ensures that you stay organized and do not overlook any necessary follow-up activities.
Service Appointment Reminder: A time-based workflow can be set up to send a reminder to a field agent a day before their service appointment scheduled date. This can help ensure that the technician is prepared and available for the appointment.
Asset Warranty Tracking: A time-based workflow can be set up to reach out to the customer and discuss warranty extension options when the warranty is about to expire.
Service Appointment Confirmation: To improve customer experience, a time-based workflow can be set up to send an appointment confirmation email or SMS to the customer a day before the scheduled service visit.
Escalation Processes: With the help of time-based workflows, you can initiate escalation processes when certain criteria are met, such as an extended delay in resolving a request. This can help ensure that critical issues are addressed promptly and efficiently.

Refer to the help for details on how to create time-based workflows.

Multi-Day Appointments

You can create appointments that span over multiple days. This will help you schedule appointments for complex or time-consuming services like installation, repairs, inspections, upgrades, or any other service that requires an extended period of time to complete.