Field Force Management Application is an important tool for all organizations. The workforce who do the ‘Out-of-Office Tasks’ on a regular basis. These can be Sales Staff, Delivery Boys, Service Engineers, Day Care Nursing Staff, Drivers, Runners picking or dropping documents and other items, Accounts Staff visiting Clients/ Govt. Offices, Security Guards, Supervisors, etc.. The list is unending. The common difficulty faced by the Team Leads and Management are:
- Did the Employee actually visit the claimed Location?
- Was he supposed to visit the site?
- What time did he reach there and how much time was spent there?
- Who did he meet and what tasks were completed during the visit?
- Was a re-appointment taken?
- Can he be re-routed?
- Can the Supervisor/Team Lead Schedule the visits of his team?
- Can the Employee’s Attendance be marked?
With today’s Mobile Technology all the above difficulties can be easily solved.
A Field Force Management Application (Mobile App) can be downloaded from the Play Store in the Field Staff’s Smart Mobile Phone. This Mobile App can be linked-to Cloud Software. On nominal monthly charges, both these can be activated. The Mobile App could perform the following tasks-
- Mark Attendance: The Employee can mark his START day by pressing an icon in the Mobile app. Similarly he can END day through this App. To ensure accuracy and genuineness of the IN and OUT time, the Location, Date and Time are captured and sent to the Cloud application.
- Client Visits: The User can select the Client he is to visit and enter the tasks performed. When he submits the records, the Location, Date, Time, next Scheduled visit and Tasks done are sent from his Mobile Phone to the Cloud Server. The Management can view these entries on-line. The genuineness of these records comes from the GPS location capturing.
- Prevent buddy punching: To ensure that the Mobile Phone is with the correct person you can have a mandatory requirement of clicking a self-image in the Mobile phone every time an entry is made.
- Secure data: To ensure that the data is not lost, provision can be there to store the data Offline in the phone itself till the time internet connectivity is available. Once the internet is available the data can be synchronized automatically.
- Low battery consumption: Mobile Apps are available wherein constant usage of the Mobile Phone’s battery is kept to the minimum.
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Other services provided to the user of the Mobile Application are:
- View own attendance
- File leave applications
- Get reminders of visits
- View details on visits made to a Client.
- View the scheduled visits for the day/week/etc.
- Track distances travelled
- A Field force Management Application allows you to geo-fence Offices/Client locations/ Government Offices, etc. This helps in highlighting any deviations made in the visits.
- The Management has the benefit of getting Online Reports based on the data gathered and approvals.
- It is easy to view the geographic spread of all your Sales/Service Teams on the Google Map.
Sanjive Mehta
Sanjive Mehta is the director at RS Barcoders Pvt. Ltd., a multiple award-winning HRIS & Automated Technology company. He is an IIT Delhi Alumni and Pioneer in providing Biometrics solutions in India.