MB2-718 Certification: (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service) – Field Service, Mobile Application

February 26, 2018

As I revise for the MB2-718 exam (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service) I’m creating blog posts detailing all aspects of my revision. I hope these posts will aid anyone who is also revising for this exam. In this post I will look at the Field Service mobile application.

The skills measured statement for the Field Service section of the exam is shown below, I have highlighted the points that are specific to the mobile application;

The Field Service applications is all about enabling companies to support services connected with repairs, installations and servicing work onsite for the customer. As the work will typically be completed at remote locations the ability to access data from a mobile application is essential. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the Field Service mobile application is included in the skills measured for the MB2-718 exam.

Field agents use the mobile application to review their bookings and update the work order to reflect the work completed. As they update the work order the details are seen back in the office by the dispatcher. For example altering their status on a job to travelling or in progress will change the colour of the booking on the schedule board.

Installing the Mobile Application

Let’s begin by looking at how to install the mobile application. You will probably be aware that Dynamics 365 does include a mobile application, sometimes called the MoCA application (Mobile Client Access Application). Field Service uses a different mobile client which is based on RESCO’s mobile application.

You will need to install the Field Service mobile application from the store appropriate for you device. Below you can see that I am downloading the Field Service application from the Microsoft Store. You can obviously also down load it on Apple or Android devices.

Supported devices include Windows 10, IOS 6+ and Android.

Having downloaded the Field Service mobile application, your first task will be to connect it to you Dynamics 365 instance, to do this select the “Setup” option. You will then need to select the “Connect” option for Dynamics 365.

Tip: You might benefit from reviewing some of the other settings available! As the settings option allows us to control how / when eth mobile client will go off line etc.

To connect the application, elect the user mode “Standard User”, then enter the url, username and password for you Dynamics 365 application. If you want to avoid having to repeatedly enter the password, also select the save password option.

Once these fields have been entered, click the refresh icon. You may get a message asking if local data should be cleared. If you do, opt to delete the data.

After a short pause the application should be ready to use. To test this I typically select the Accounts option. If you can see your Dynamics 365 account then you should be ready to start using the mobile application.

Installing Woodford

If you get this kind of message or need to amend the Field Service mobile application….. you’ll need to install the Resco Mobile Dynamics 365 Woodford Solution.

You can find instructions on how to do this by following the link below.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/field-service/install-the-mobile-app

The process is that you download the Woodford solution and import it. Once published you then download the Field Service mobile project template.

Having downloaded the Field Service mobile project template you need to import it. And then publish (at the correct version).

NOTE: Publishing the correct version of the template is important. If you run your mobile application you can use the about option to find its version. You will then need to publish the corresponding version of the Woodford solution.

Having published the correct version of the Woodford template, reload the mobile application. It will now sync the new version and show operate correctly.

Using the Mobile Application

I am not going to attempt to describe the full detail of now to navigate in the mobile application! Your best way to understand that is to install it and try it for yourself. Which should be a key part of your revision.

You will need to be aware that the RESCO mobile application supports online and offline modes. Whilst online data is continuously synchronised with the server, meaning there is no need to complete a manual sync. With offline mode, information is stored on the device and then the data is synchronised to the server on next sync.

When off line you will see an icon like this ….

When you go online the icon changes as shown below. Additionally once on line you can select the “refresh” icon to force any changes made off line to synchronise.

On a tablet or laptop the mobile application displays as shown below. On a phone the screen layout will adjust to fit with the smaller form factor of a phone. On the left hand side of the screen I have a menu with a number of options. The most important one being bookings! As an engineer I can use this option to view my bookings.

In the centre of the screen I can see my bookings. These can be displayed as a agenda list, as shown below. Or in a calendar view by selecting the day, week or month options.

On the right hand side of the screen you can see information about the currently selected booking. As this is the main focus of servicing the customer it will pay you to look at this in detail.

As you can see above the booking / work order contains a number of tabs. Including;

Booking – this tab gives a summary of the booking. Including the field called “Booking Status”, the engineer would update this to show they are travelling, on a break etc etc.
Info – The info tab contains the header information about the work order. Including the customer’s address, work order summary and any work order instructions.
Other – contains any addition header detail not shown on the info tab. Including the price for the job.
Map – shows the work order location on a map. (FYI: We also have an option to start directions to the location which will make use of whatever navigation software is installed on the mobile device.)
Incidents – this option lists any incidents that make up the work order.
Service Tasks – the step by step instructions associated with the work order are listed until service tasks. The engineer may be required to open these and mark as complete during the job.
Products – this option lists any products that need to be installed / consumed. Additionally the field agent could add products manually. (For example to record any parts used to repair a broken piece of equipment.)
Services – shows the services to be completed.
Payments – N/A (out of the box payments are not taken on the mobile device.)
Notes – gives the ability to record notes and take pictures. Which will show as notes with attachments on the work order.
Activities – any Dynamics 365 activities recorded against the work order will be shown here. And the field agent could add more as required.
Bookings – the field agent will see their booking on the booking tab. But they might not be the only resource assigned to this job. In that case the engineer can see all the bookings on this tab.
Signature – It maybe essential to capture the customer’s signature as the end of the job. If so the agent can record that information here.

There is also an option that allows the field engineer to create follow-up work orders directly in the mobile application.

Tip: You may also need to be aware that it is possible for Field Engineers to make time off requests directly from the mobile application.

I hope this post has given you a flavour for the mobile application, as I said earlier my intention wasn’t / isn’t to explain every option in the mobile application. I really do recommend you take the time to install the application and experiment with its capabilities as part of your MB2-718 revision.