Dashboards: a different level of EAM-ERP interconnection

Shepherd is the only Enterprise Asset Management solution (EAM) built to be native to Oracle’s NetSuite. It provides the industry specialisation for asset-centric organisations that they would not otherwise have, since NetSuite (or any ERP) cannot possibly become a specialist in every domain.

This produces a symbiotic relationship. Shepherd has access to NetSuite’s market clout as the go-to SME ERP solution. And NetSuite can attract customers who lack an ERP but want access to EAM in Shepherd, helping further make NetSuite the natural investment. But apart from an exchange of data at certain “contact points,” the two are separate, distinct products. And so the topic of this month’s newsletter will showcase an exception to that dynamic.

The focus is on Shepherd’s custom dashboards that it has built inside NetSuite, combining native NetSuite data with additional data generated by the Shepherd application, and merging the two in one interface. Furthermore, these dashboards are for an exclusive club, being only available to customers using Shepherd, as they rely on Shepherd-specific features such as time tracking, service planning, and asset management.

Think of them as a tailored presentation layer rather than simply another NetSuite view.

Have a look at the deck below or read on for more insights:

Dashboards by module 

Dashboards come in different forms and are basically aligned with Shepherd’s major functional module range. That is to say:

  • Field Service Management
  • CMMS / Maintenance Management
  • Rental Management
  • Health & Safety
  • Support
  • Project Management
  • Time Keeping
With work happening out in the field, effective, concise, and easy-to-interpret information can be the service manager’s best tool for monitoring performance within the team and department as a whole. Such dashboards can guide equipment distribution, training regimens, and monitor if service contract obligations are being met, and not just planned for.

Given that the time-tracking and support aspects of Shepherd’s solution are integrated within these four main modules rather than standalone products, they do not appear as dashboards in their own right. That said, if the need arises, these additional dashboards could also be built. As far as their function for the end user, the dashboards focus on the most relevant KPIs within that module.

Dashboard capabilities

So what do dashboards actually show? At the risk of sounding flippant, it’s probably easier to list what they do not show. But to give you some idea of what is available, the dashboards include charts, summaries, and visual indicators, designed to give fast, easy-to-interpret, up-to-date overviews, such as the following:

  • Equipment failure analysis, to help see where failures might be endemic to the design, be a sign of a poor product and, therefore, a bad investment. Or, conversely, a good one, as seen through a lack of such failures.
  • Top-selling or highest-revenue rental equipment breakdowns, which, as with the example above, shed light on your most profitable assets. Cross-reference that with the types of customers who order them, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that this could be super-helpful in deciding what to invest in, or where to look for new contracts.
  • Asset condition indicators with color coding, unlike the two examples above, would have more immediate uses for asset managers or rental contract representatives. Knowing what is online, and what is not, what is freshly refurbished, and what is close to the end of its service life, all of which help guide where to put money and where to earn it.
Rental dashboards can be manipulated to reveal all manner of information needed for sound business decisions. You can review profitability or ROI for assets based on where they are, and who retained them. And with that, establishing which are the most profitable units to keep also becomes clearer.
  • Service order counts by status offer similar insight, but into the work of technicians. Where they are, and what their performance is, all of it helping guide promotions, bonuses, or interventions and further training, as well as making certain that there are no threats to contractual obligations regarding when and now those services are delivered.
  • Technician workload and scheduling visibility ensure service managers can fairly and evenly allocate work across the team, or even petition for new hires if the workforce can’t meet demand.

In truth, that is just a snippet of the information they can be set up to prioritize and clarify, strengthened by search and analytic functionalities.

Team performance can be assessed based on preferred criteria and then used to either formulate training plans, promotions, bonuses or employee appraisals.

Users can interact with the dashboards, hover for details, apply filters, and customize layouts, and all the information gives a snapshot picture that might otherwise take far longer to materialize in reports or feedback sessions. Such delays can be the difference between a reputation maintained and one scarred.

Dashboards can also be configured with role-based visibility, ensuring different user groups see only relevant information, whether that delineation is for confidentiality purposes or simply not to drown the viewer in data.

Time Tracking, HSW, and Support

As mentioned, time-tracking is shown in these dashboards, simply not in a dedicated one. Time-tracking data is captured via the Shepherd app and fed into NetSuite, where the system is able to distinguish between billable and non-billable hours, allowing managers to monitor productivity, utilization, and invoicing readiness. Those in field service maintenance, in particular, will recognise these metrics as commonly reviewed.

Given that Health, Safety, and Wellness are part of the procedural steps for technician activities, whichever vertical is being used; Rental, CMMS, or Field Service Management, the HSW stats can be retrieved and analysed.

Shepherd’s Health and Safety solution is often encountered as a procedural step a technician must take, for example, rather than a separate process in and of itself. The Health & Safety dashboard aggregates safety-related data, including logged injuries, completed safety checklists, and customer cases. It will also show compliance, something no doubt welcome if an audit is looming, helping the department heads spot where findings are a risk and addressing them proactively.

There is also support-related information, providing a consolidated view of compliance and incident tracking alongside operational metrics.

Such information can help shape a clear understanding of the user organisation’s ability to either prevent issues or satisfactorily resolve them. If preemption is better than response, an analysis of support cases can highlight shortcomings in the services delivered or the assets used, allowing action to be taken before support cases turn into complaints.

Whereas Shepherd typically feeds costs and revenue data to NetSuite, there is clearly more that the two can achieve for their users, and the dashboards prove it, clearly highlighting that the information stores, as powerful as they are individually, can be even more so when combined.

The CMMS dashboards give the user access to data pulled from NetSuite and Shepherd’s own databases, and can present, easy-to-read breakdowns from all manner of perspectives, be it the technician’s or the asset’s, featuring such analyses as failure rates, and geographic distribution

Featured Blogs:

If the shoe fits: Shepherd seems made for Oil and Gas

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The importance of a good paper-trail. Even if it’s not paper

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Increased rental flexibility, greater business adaptability

If you are in rental, and struggle with managing the demand for assets, as well as associated accessories that work with them, then this blog is for you. Shepherd has developed a means of tracking, issuing and returning parts of a rental agreement inventory without impacting the rental contract as a whole. Parts an be issued and returned without having to change to over-arching rental assets’s status.

Shepherd case studies: your story deserves the spotlight

Publicity need not be overt and in your face. Subtle can be very effective—especially when it’s at no extra cost. Put yourself forward for a Shepherd case study and enjoy the benefits others have seen. A quick visit to the Case Study library will show you what is possible.

A Shepherd case study is as much about how you work and what you do, as it is about how Shepherd has helped. After all, what would be the point of asking you about the Shepherd solution without first exploring the context it is being used in? Want to show potential customers, investors, partners a third party review of your strengths? A case study can be exactly that.

Want a source of quotes for your own communications or promotions. You guessed it, we can even write it to maximize that potential if that’s what you’d like. And as always, there’s the promise to only publish what you’ve reviewed and approved beforehand.

To get started, just email newsletter@shepherdcmms.com with the subject line “We’d like to be a case study”, and we’ll take it from there.

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