What’s new in Dynamics 365 Field Service in the 2022 release wave 2?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service is a connected field service solution that leverages IoT technology, mixed reality, and machine learning to enhance technician productivity and customer satisfaction. Microsoft releases updates and enhancements to Dynamics 365 Field Service twice a year. In this post, we will highlight the key updates and enhancements included in the 2022 release wave 2.

To read about the new features and updates released in the 2022 release wave 1, read our overview here. 

In January 2023, users will have the ability to set up not-to-exceed limits for project contracts and quotes, with the option of enforcing them at invoicing. This new capability helps service providers stay within the preapproved price of their customers and ensure frontline workers remain within the preapproved cost for work orders. Users will be able to set up not-to-exceed values for both cost and price on work orders. Additionally, users can set up notifications that ensure services managers and frontline workers receive a warning when the not-to-exceed value is near or exceeds the limit so they can take action. Users will also be able to track when a not-to-exceed value was exceeded.

Included in the Dynamics 365 Field Service 2022 release wave 2, is a new feature that allows users to create categories of work called “trades.” This categorization feature will be available in January 2023 and will help businesses save time and money by allowing them to organize the types of services they provide. Examples of trade categories could include plumbing, roofing, electrical work, air conditioning services, and much more.

Additionally, this new feature will simplify the work-order creation as only incident types related to the selected trade will be displayed. With this new feature, users can associate trades with specific locations and accounts. This allows users to filter what types of trades they are allowed to provide based on agreed-upon services.

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Resource Scheduling Optimization is an add-in capability for Dynamics 365 Field Service that enables you to automatically schedule work orders for the most appropriate resources by optimizing bookings for the shortest travel time, available work hours, and many other constraints. It automatically considers the requirements of the job and the unique attributes of the resources, such as if the job requires an experienced manager with specific skills in the same area.

In this release, the Resource Scheduling Optimization add-in received enhancements to help organizations avoid overlapping bookings. Previously, some users experienced overlapping bookings that had to be manually updated due to configurations. In this release, the intelligent add-in has been improved to avoid overlapping bookings due to association with soft-booking lock constraints.  

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In the 2022 release wave 2, Microsoft continues to enhance the schedule board to improve service delivery. The legacy schedule board is planned to be retired by April 1, 2023. In this release, the new schedule board received the following updates:

• The new schedule board is now defaulted for all deployments
• In-app videos provide users with an overview of the new functionality
• In-app surveys were added to give users a chance to provide feedback on the new schedule board
• Performance and usability were improved
• Improved booking tooltips for daily, weekly, and monthly views
• The ability to select multiple bookings and bulk change booking status was added
• Auto-refresh requirements list with schedule board refresh

Microsoft implemented enhancements to the Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app in the 2022 release wave 2. These enhancements were designed to streamline common user experience patterns on mobile. The time spent on the mobile app to perform repetitive tasks is reduced which increases worker efficiency. The mobile usability enhancements included in this release are:

• Users can now switch tabs in a form even when they’re at the bottom of the form. Users will not have to scroll all the way back to the top of a form to change tabs.
• The mobile command bar was updated to contain only functions relevant to the specific form and view

If you are interested in learning more about the new features and enhancements in the 2022 release wave 2 of Dynamics 365 Field Service, contact our team today.

Are you ready to implement Dynamics 365 Field Service? From configuration and data migration to training and user adoption, Rand Group is your partner to ensure a smooth implementation of Dynamics 365 Field Service that is tailored to your users and processes. Learn more about Dynamics 365 Field Service implementation and get your business on a comprehensive cloud-based field service management solution.