Keep up to date – discover the standout new and planned Dynamics 365 Field Service functionalities.

The Dynamics 365 release plan – for the 2023 release wave 2 – provides customers with valuable insights into a range of Microsoft products, ahead of new features and updates being released. In the first of Telefónica Tech’s 2023 release wave 2 blog series, we take a look at the changes to expect in Dynamics 365 Field Service from October 1st 2023, onwards.

What is Dynamics 365 Field Service?

Dynamics 365 Field Service is Microsoft’s industry-leading field service management application that allows businesses to transform their service operations by connecting people, places and things to deliver customer-centric experiences. Release wave 2 for Dynamics 365 Field Service is due to roll out from October 2023 through to March 2024, launching the next generation of modern task-oriented experiences for service managers, dispatchers and frontline workers.

Copilot for work order experience

The most anticipated feature is a brand-new Copilot for work order experience, integrated into Microsoft 365 applications like Outlook and Teams. This feature will harnesses the power of next-generation AI to assist frontline service professionals to speed up time-to-resolution processes.

Copilot will enhance frontline service professionals’ ability to:

  • Quickly create work orders with the right information
  • Assign orders to the right technicians
  • Equip technicians with sufficient support to successfully complete jobs on schedule
  • Help streamline critical frontline tasks.

Let’s now walk through this Copilot for work order experience.

1 – Copilot for Field Service capabilities will enable frontline workers and service managers to create, review and manage work orders using the power of generative AI.

2 – The AI-Powered work order recap (see figure 1 below) feature provides a succinct, status-relevant summary of a work order and its related contextual data. The recap can be edited, adjusted or regenerated as required.

3 – Copilot will also provide assisted work order scheduling recommendations, by using AI-powered searching to search for available technicians, based on the work order requirements.

4 – Work orders automatically sync to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service. This Autumn’s updates mean Copilot will streamline technician scheduling by offering data-driven recommendations based on travel-time, availability and skill set. Accelerated responses to customer messages – by summarising key details and next-steps in email drafts – will also be shared. Copilot will also become available to assist frontline managers in their flow of work within Microsoft Teams.

D365 Field Service mobile app experience

In October 2023, Microsoft is also introducing the preview of a new Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app experience for frontline technicians to swiftly access all the information they need on the go.

This modern user experience supports familiar mobile navigation, gestures and controls to streamline managing work order tasks, services and products. From changing the status of a booking with a quick swipe, to accessing driving directions to a customer site with one tap, the redesign saves valuable technician time for daily work.

Technicians can not only easily pick, change or complete work order details, but also add notes with multiple inline images. Technicians who need additional support can now also use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides embedded in Field Service mobile. Embedded Dynamics 365 Guides in Field Service provide technicians with step-by-step guided instructions, pictures and videos explaining the immediate task and suggests appropriate steps for successful diagnosis and resolution.

The redesigned work order user experience will be improved with embedded Copilot capabilities and enhanced work order lifecycle management.

Figure 2: Dynamics 365 Field Service in Teams mobile app with work order scheduling and Embedded Dynamics 365 Guides.

Additionally, with the preview of the Dynamics 365 Field Service app in Teams, frontline technicians can now see upcoming work orders at-a-glance. Tasks in their Microsoft Viva Connections home experience can easily drill into details such as location or issue type.

Full work order details can also be shared through cards in Teams with access to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app. With one click, via the home experience in Teams mobile, Field Service Technicians can problem solve with remote experts in real time – using 3D spatial annotations that lock to the physical world.

Figure 3: Dynamics 365 Remote Assist – access remote collaborators and capture and annotate images

A redesigned work order management experience

The final feature to highlight is a redesigned Dynamics 365 Field Service work order management experience, which is now available for early access. This features a simplified web experience that brings important information front and centre, reducing the number of clicks for key tasks by more than a third.

This experience not only offers concise information about the work order but also provides relevant next steps based on booking status, and supports making quick updates in-line or in a side panel to maintain context. Copilot will provide intelligent recaps within this experience to help frontline managers stay up-to-date without having to navigate through all of the data within a work order.

Find out more about Dynamics 365 Field Service here. Stay tuned for more 2023 release wave 2 insights landing soon.