What is a field service?

Field service refers to a business model and set of activities focused on providing on-site services or support to customers. It involves sending skilled technicians or service personnel to the physical location where a product or equipment is installed or used, in order to perform maintenance, repairs, installations, or other service-related tasks.

Field service is commonly associated with industries such as manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, healthcare, and utilities, where complex systems or equipment require regular maintenance or occasional repairs. Field service technicians are typically trained professionals who have expertise in specific products or technologies.

The primary goals of field service are to ensure customer satisfaction, minimize downtime, and optimize the performance of products or systems. Field service personnel may be dispatched based on customer requests, scheduled maintenance plans, or in response to equipment failures or emergencies. They often carry specialized tools, spare parts, and diagnostic equipment to diagnose and resolve issues efficiently on-site.

With technological advancements, field service management software and mobile applications have become essential tools for optimizing field service operations. These tools help streamline scheduling, dispatching, route optimization, work order management, inventory tracking, and communication between the field technicians and the back-office teams.

What is a field service report?

A field service report is a document to be filled out by field technicians involved in a service task, inspection, or site visit upon completion. The report provides dispatchers and technicians with a summary and results of every service task.

Customer information, equipment specifications, and inspection summary, are just some of the details covered in this report. The purpose of field service reporting is to convey complete information about each work order and provide insights into the field team’s performance.

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What is a service report?

A service report, also known as a service documentation or service record, is a document that provides a detailed account of the services performed during a field service visit or customer support interaction. It serves as a record of the work done, including any repairs, maintenance, inspections, or other service-related activities.

What should be in a service report?

A service report should include the following key elements to provide a comprehensive and accurate account of the service performed:

Key elements of a field service report

1. Customer and technician information
The first couple of sections in the report usually cover details about the customer and the engineer assigned to the work order. Customer information typically includes name, address, contact information, company information if required, and other essential details. Technician information will have similar fields and additionally a category specifying if he or she is a third party contractor or part of the in-house field team.

2. ‘Inspection report’ and ‘work to be done’

These sections are the most important in the report because they describe details about the following:

  • The reported issue 

  • The inspection report including visuals

  • The repairs/replacements required

  • Actions to be done by the technician

  • Follow up audits, if necessary 

The above fields form the crux of the field service report and give teams the most critical insights into the overall job and performance.

3. Sign off from all parties.

Finally, this section is the acknowledgment that confirms the service request was successfully completed. Usually, the customer, the technician, and the service manager have to sign off on the document to show that the task met the customer’s and the organization's expectations.


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Benefits of a field service report in FSM

Analyze process and workflow efficiencies:
The Field Service Report, or FSR, gives you a better understanding of how seamlessly your field operations are running, and where you might need to make improvements in terms of the processes being followed.

Generate insights into technician performance
Using SLAs and time logs combined with the field service report can help you figure out how well your technicians and field engineers are doing, what additional resources they might require, and what they need to improve upon.

Develop comprehensive documentation
Field service reports are records of all your team’s service requests completed to date and serve as references during audits, reviews, regulatory compliance checks, etc.

Educate team members and build transparency
Field service reports can help inform your team on how they are progressing, set performance benchmarks, and enable them to learn from other technician’s service delivery.

Reduce costs and improve profitability
Reports help you gain insights to improve your processes and technician productivity and can lead to faster resolutions & fewer site visits, resulting in lower costs and improved profitability.

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4 Essential feature ideal field service software

Manage all service tasks in place

With a great field service software, service tasks can be captured, managed and updated all in one place. You can view each job’s essential details, such as the problem description, status, priority, and technician assigned. Instead of clunky inboxes and switching  between tabs, a mordern field service software helps your service team stay organized and efficient

Schedule and assign jobs seamlessly 

You no longer need multiple spreadsheets and paper-based systems to track technicians and their tasks. Field service software offers a scheduling dashboard which is a powerful feature that lets you assign service tasks with ease. It provides service managers and agents with an integrated view of every technician’s schedule. To attach a new service task to a technician, you can simply drag and drop the job from the menu into an available time slot on the technician’s calendar.

Enable technician mobility with the FSM app

Field technicians can now view, track, and update all their upcoming tasks in real-time with the field service mobile app. The app contains details about every request, including customer name, contact details, and address. They can also find the fastest way to the site location by opening the route view on Google maps from the app. It also allows engineers to capture data from the field through photos and notes to keep service agents updated about their  progress.

Obtain digital sign-offs and track time spent on tasks

Once the job is complete, you can obtain the customer’s digital signature on the app as their official acknowledgment. Technicians can also track the amount of time they spent on each service task on the app. These logs can be used by the service manager to create digital timesheets and for invoicing.

How do I create a field service report?

Creating a field service report involves several steps to ensure accurate and comprehensive documentation of the service provided. Here's a general guide on how to create a field service report:

FAQs about field service reports