Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen (MR) operates in the energy technology sector and specializes in the control of power transformers with on-load tap-changers. Worldwide, over 250 certified service technicians from 20 service locations carry out over 6,000 assignments per year. This begins with the installation of new transformers and extends to oil treatment measures and the maintenance of on-load tap-changers for in-house and licensed products as well as third-party products. MR's technical service is reliably available around the clock.

In 2015, MR decided to introduce a mobile solution in order to standardize, optimize and digitalize order processing for service technicians worldwide and thus increase the quality of service processes. This was also intended to speed up invoicing and reduce manual rework by the office staff.

Digitization of order processing

Until 2016, MR's service technicians were commissioned directly from SAP CS, a combination of SAP SD and various Office documents or completely outside of the SAP system, depending on the location. The technicians recorded their feedback in Excel-based service and deployment reports. As part of the global standardization and digitalization of service processes, service execution was also to be standardized and mapped using mobile software.

In the course of a tender, MR opted for the mobile solution MobileX-MIP for Field Service from MobileX. The decisive factor was the adaptability of the software to MR's individual requirements and processes as well as the ability to maintain the application itself, especially the extensive checklists.

Since January 2017, MR's service technicians based in Germany have been using the MobileX software for their worldwide assignments, which usually last one or more days. The mobile solution provides them with all relevant information about upcoming trips - including travel documents, order data, device data and equipment history - directly from SAP CS to their notebooks.

MR service technicians at work. © MR

During maintenance, the service technicians record the data for the confirmation directly at the site, so that it can then be reported back directly and automatically in SAP CS. They also use the solution to report material consumption from advance deliveries or from the technician's warehouse and thus also maintain the installed base in SAP at the same time. The feedback and service reports can be entered in multiple languages and take into account the different time zones. Before posting in SAP CS, the office staff check the data for correctness using the MobileX release monitor, thus avoiding incorrect postings and calculations. Following its introduction in Germany, the solution is now being rolled out successively in other countries. The service experts in the USA have also been working with it since January 2018. Currently, 170 MR service technicians are using the MobileX-MIP for Field Service software.

Travel expense report and checklists

With the Travel Expense Manager module, technicians can quickly and easily record their expenses digitally, including photos of paper receipts, per diems and kilometers driven in a private car. The trips are created in the module and filled in with the technician's confirmation data. Using the MobileX SAP ERP add-on, the data is transferred to the SAP travel expense transaction PR05 for internal billing and posting. This simplifies and accelerates the invoicing of orders. The trip number generated during posting is written back to the technician's client, giving him a better overview of his expense reports.

A particular challenge in the project was the digitalization of the extensive measurement and reporting system for the service objects, which were previously recorded in macro-based checklists. There are different subforms for each machine type, which the technician has to fill out depending on the job. With the additional module Dynamic Forms from MobileX-MIP for Field Service, MR was able to digitally map the numerous lists and forms for the objects and integrate them into the new service process. Instead of Excel, the technicians now fill out the forms in the mobile application, from where they are transferred to the back office and archived together with the feedback. The relevant forms are automatically preselected depending on the Ibase data and partially filled in with information about the product. As most of MR's technicians carry out their orders abroad, the forms are available in nine languages. This means that technicians can fill them out in their native language and send them in the customer's language. The MR specialist department maintains the existing forms and develops new ones independently.

Stefanie McRae, Manager Process Performance CRM. © MR

"We opted for MobileX because MobileX-MIP for Field Service is the best way to map the complexity of the characteristics of the objects recorded on site with the subsequent posting via the release monitor in SAP CS," says Stefanie McRae, Manager Process Performance CRM at Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen. "By introducing the solution, we were able to achieve a sustainable improvement in data quality. It has also reduced the processing time for invoicing from up to 30 days to a maximum of five days."

The mobile solution will soon be rolled out for technicians in MR's other national companies so that technical service can then work with a standardized application worldwide. The introduction of the mobile service app MobileX-CrossMIP is also under discussion. This would allow technicians to process orders and record travel expenses on their smartphone or tablet.

Patricia Dittmar, Senior Marketing Manager at MobileX / am