Case Study: Roto-Rooter Increases Productivity Among Field Service Plumbing Technicians

Roto-Rooter plumbing technicians perform daily service calls and document all work orders and invoices with pen and paper. Once completed, the documents are taken to the office where they are scanned and the data manually entered into the billing management system. The challenge was that often forms were left at customer sites, forgotten to be turned in or would require information follow up to get the complete information. This would negatively impact account receivables. The paper based process also made managing parts inventory and usage difficult. Each truck is equipped with a range of parts for different types of jobs. Technicians are required to manage their truck's parts usage and inventory — tracking and documenting parts by job and determining reorder points. This task was for technician and often a low priority as successfully finishing the job was their primary objective. Inventory inaccuracies led to some vehicles with excessive inventory and others with deficiencies requiring parts to be shuttled around or jobs being delayed.