Work Standards

Job durations vary based on job code, materials used, and the neighborhood. Your technicians know it, your supervisors know it, and TechInsight knows it!

The Problem

Inherent in the field services world is variability. Most companies recognize the fact that not all jobs are the same and even accommodate high-level differences at the job code level - setting standards by job type and adding some padding to account for drive time.

These standards are typically derived from gross averages or a committe of subject matter experts, supervisors, and  technicians. And the law of averages supports that given a large enough sample size over a period of time the company performance ends up in relative proximity to the standards that were set. Although this methodology provides an indicator that can be used for trending analysis with a large sample (ie. company level over the course of a year), it breaks down when looking at smaller sample sizes such as a single technician, crew, or even an entire division.  This is due to differences in the geography, the outside plant, training, and methods and procedures. The smaller the sample size the less clear it becomes if differences in performance are anomalies or have a root cause.  Performance management is not defensible, and forecasting becomes much less precise.

The Solution

3-Point approaches this problem from a different angle than our competitors.  Rather than ignore the fact that there are significant variables that impact the time it takes to complete an order, we have spent years refining algorithms that allow us to account for differences in the work performed everyday. TechInsight provides job standards that are accurate to the minute and account for:

• Job type
• Task codes
• Geographical differences - down to the neighborhood
• Drive time estimates between jobs using geocoding and road networks
• Material codes and quantities used on an order
• Discounts for multiple orders performed at the same premise at the same time
• Other significant attributes that may be specific to the work performed

All work standards are derived by performing rigorous statistical analysis on company specific historical data. Throughout the process the results are analyzed by our field service experts as well as the experts from the company to validate the results.  From this data analysis, a custom algorithm is developed specific to that company which allows TechInsight to calculate job standards on the fly accounting for all significant attributes for a completed order.

The Advantages

More accurate job standards provide significant benefits in the following areas:

• Performance Management - Defensible standards that employees can be held to.
• Credit for tougher jobs - Technicians that get the tougher areas and the tougher jobs because they have more experience get credit for that work.  It's not just another job.
• Forecasting - The more precise the underlying data, the more precise the forecasting - regardless of the forecasting model used.
• Dispatch Optimization - technician to jobtype, area, and attribute forecasting allows for a significant increase in dispatch optimization effeciencies.
• Root Cause Analysis - By removing the noise from the data, root causes are more quickly identified and acted upon.