Designing Field Service Classifications

When you set up a service point, you must define the operation area(s) that manage its fieldwork. If you have service points whose operation area differs based on the type of field activity, you will need multiple field service classifications (otherwise you'll just need 1 - call it All ). For example, a service point may have one operation area for turn on / off field activities, a different operation area for trouble orders, and yet a third operation area for meter exchanges. We refer to each major category of service for which operation area differs as a Field Service Classification. In this example, you would need to define 3 field service classifications - On/Offs, Trouble Order, and Meter Exchanges.

After you define your field service classifications, you need to associate them with your field activities (each field activity references a field service classification). You also need to define the field offices (i.e., operation areas) that perform work for each classification. For example,

• If trouble orders are dispatched from a central location, the Trouble Order service classification would have a single operation area linked to it.
• If turn ons / offs are dispatched from 4 separate operations area, you have the four operation areas linked to the On / Off field service classification.
• Etc.

If you're struggling with this concept, consider why the system needs to know about field service classifications:

• When a field activity is created, the system must associate it with an operation area. Why? Because operation area is one of the elements that controls the dispatch group to be associated with a field activity.
• The system finds the operation area by: a) extracting the field service classification from the field activity's activity type, and b) extracting the operation area for this classification defined on the service point.
• And finally, once the operation area is known, the system can allocate the dispatch group to the field activity. The other components that dictate the dispatch group are field activity type and service point type.
• Each service classification, in turn, would have its operations area defined.