It can be so disappointing when you run a business and have a lot of work orders stacked up, customers are complaining about the poor services, and your technicians miss their deadlines and don’t do their jobs well.
This is not what you want for your business.
So How can you avoid such a situation that can bring your company down? The best solution is knowing what KPIs can do for your business.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, businesses using KPIs were able to reduce maintenance costs by 20% and increase their asset reliability by 35%. This helped businesses to save more money, boost efficiency, and get the work done without any extra costs.
In this blog, you will understand how you can make use of KPIs, why they matter for your business and how you can track job efficiency and Return on investment (ROI).
What Are KPIs in Field Service?
Ask yourself this question. “How do you know if your business is growing or not?
Well, KPIs tell if every 1% in your business counts or not; they act as a standard map for your business. KPIs mean Key Performance Indicators; with these terms, you can easily identify and know what to focus on for better work efficiency.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that show you how effectively a team or individual achieves their business goals. In the space of work orders, KPIs will be able to track every activity in the business sector from completion of tasks to customer satisfaction. Without these indicators, businesses would struggle to identify problems, improve processes, and maximize ROI.
When it comes to work order, not all KPIs are equal, some metrics matter more than the other, but knowing the right KPIs would help your business work more effectively.
5 Must-Track KPIs for Field Service Business
Here are five essential KeyKPIs that can change the way you manage your operations:
1. Completion Time
This falls to how long your employee is able to complete a work order from start to finish. If they are unable to work within the time assigned, it shows inefficiencies, resource shortages, or workflow holds.
With the use of KPIs, you will be able to identify the areas where delays occurred and provide solutions that would lead to a shorter completion, leading to faster delivery, happy customers and quality service.
2. First-Time Fix Rate (FTFR)
If you want your customer to be satisfied with your work. FTFR is a very important KPI. This allows you to be able to measure the percentage of work orders on the first attempt.
Let’s say you called a technician to fix an issue, and they showed up, took a look and said to you, “I’ll have to come back later”.
This doesn’t sound professional. To avoid scenarios like this, you need to incorporate FTFR; this means your technicians will be well-prepared, upskilled, and have all the equipment to work well and complete a task at once. This not only improves customer satisfaction and experience but also lowers operational costs.
3. Customer Satisfaction
Your services impact customers and put a smile on their facesHow is your work order process?
If your customer is unhappy with the service, the business will struggle. To avoid this, make use of KPIs to get star ratings, feedback surveys or Net Promoter Scores (NPS) – this is use to tell how well your customer are happy with the company services and if your services keep getting poor ratings, it is a sign that you need to upskill your technicians. This would improve your customer satisfaction and give your business a solid reputation.
4. Work Order Backlog
There are a lot of green flags in work orders, but a growing backlog of undecided work orders is a red flag.
This means that your team are understaffed or there is an inefficient process.KPIs can track how many work orders are pending, but if your backlog keeps growing, it is a sign that:
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- You may need to assign more resources
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- Your team will need a better prioritization strategy.
By consistently checking the KPIs, you will avoid delays, reduce the work stress of your team and promote productivity.
5. Cost Per Work Order
Are you spending too much? Your answer can either be yes or no because every work order comes with a cost – labour, transportation, materials and more. KPIs can be used to measure how much it costs to finish a complete work order, but if your cost keeps increasing with no improvement in service quality, you can look into the number of times your technicians use to work, the total resources to use to be sure you are not overusing it.
How To Track and Measure Work Order KPIs
It is important you know how to track and measure work order the KPIs so you can be able to track and
With this, it would help build business efficiency, reduce extra and unnecessary costs, and leave your customers a bright smile. Below is how you can achieve that by properly tracking and measuring work order KPIs:
1. Identification Of KPIs
The first step when it comes to effective KPIs tracking starts with identification – how well the metric can have a direct impact on business operations because not all KPIs provide practical insights, so organisations need to know which can provide a comprehensive view of performance to drive efficiency, service quality and cost control.
2. Utilize a Work Order Management System (WOMS) or CMMS
Making use of WOMs and CMMS will ensure accurate tracking and allow businesses to make data-driven decisions based on extensive insights. The manual tracking method, like a spreadsheet, can have errors, so it is best advice if you implement a Work Order Management System (WOMs) or a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This will provide an automated approach to data collection and analysis.
3. Establish Performance Benchmarks and Targets
Do you know that setting benchmarks will allow your business to be able to measure their progress and adjust the strategy accordingly, Making use of tracking KPIs will be effective if organizations have a performance benchmark and a targeted value.
Below are examples of benchmarks and target values – this table will help you understand business evaluation and how operations are improved over time or if corrective measures are needed:
| KPI | BENCHMARK | TARGET IMPROVEMENT |
| Completion Time | 5 hours | Reduce to 3 hours |
| First-Time Fix Rate | 75% | Increase to 85% |
| Customer | 4.2 – star rating | Improve to 4.5 stars |
| Work Order Backlog | 15 pending orders per week | Reduce to below 10 |
| Cost Per Work Order | $150 per job | Decrease by 10% |
4. Regularly Monitor and Analyze KPI Data
You must always monitor the KPIs to be sure that they align with the operational goals. Businesses should lay the foundation of using a schedule for reviewing their performance data; this can either be done daily, weekly or monthly, all based on the organization’s needs.
Here are the key actions to consider during the performance review:
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- Compare current KPI values against benchmarks.
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- Identify trends in work order efficiency, cost fluctuations, or service delays.
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- Detects recurring issues that may indicate process inefficiencies.
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- Assess technician performance to determine if additional training is required.
5. Implement Corrective Actions and Optimize Workflows
Once KPIs have been analyzed, organizations must take corrective actions to address inefficiencies and improve performance. The following strategies can be applied based on KPI insights:
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- If Completion Time is too long → Optimize scheduling, assign tasks based on technician availability, and reduce workflow bottlenecks.
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- If the First-Time Fix Rate is low, → Ensure technicians have access to the correct tools, training, and diagnostic procedures.
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- If Customer Satisfaction is declining → Improve response times, enhance communication, and provide better service documentation.
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- If the Work Order Backlog is increasing, → Hire additional personnel, automate routine tasks, and implement priority-based scheduling.
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- If the Cost Per Work Order is rising, → Identify cost-saving opportunities, reduce material wastage, and negotiate better supplier rates.
How To Calculate Work Order ROI.
To be honest, every business wants to save money and increase its profits, right? But if you do not evaluate what is working and what is not, you will not be able to tell if your efforts are paying off or not, so this is where ROI (Return On Investment) comes in.
What Is ROI ( Return On Investment)?
Return on Investment (ROI) is a simple formula that helps businesses measure how much money they gain or save compared to what they spend. In the world of work order management, ROI tells you whether your maintenance and operational strategies are making financial sense.
A high ROI means your work order processes are efficient, and you’re getting the most value out of your investment. A low ROI? Well, that’s a sign of wasted resources, inefficiencies, and lost profits.
The ROI Formula (Simplified!)
Here’s how to calculate ROI:
ROI = Cost of Investment
Current Value of Investment−Cost of Investment
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- Total Work Order Benefits → Money saved or revenue gained from optimizing work orders.
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- Costs → The total amount spent on maintenance, labour, materials, and tools.
For example:
A Company that spends $500,000 annually on maintenance.
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- They don’t track technician efficiency, so work orders take longer than necessary.
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- They don’t measure first-time fix rates, leading to costly repeat visits.
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- They lack data on work order delays, causing customer dissatisfaction.
Now, they have decided to track essential KPIs:
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- Completion Time → They speed up repairs by improving scheduling.
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- First-Time Fix Rate → They train technicians to reduce rework.
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- Work Order Backlog → They introduce automation to process jobs faster.
After optimizing these areas, they save $100,000 in reduced waste, downtime, and inefficiencies.
Now, input the ROI formula:
ROI= 100,000 X 100 = 20%
500,000
This means that the company earned back 20% of what they spent on maintenance just by tracking and improving their work order KPIs. That’s real money saved—$100,000 that can be reinvested into business growth!
Now, ask yourself:
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- What if your company could save thousands of dollars with a few simple tracking strategies?
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- Is your maintenance process costing you more than it should?
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- Wouldn’t you want to know if your team is working efficiently?
How Swivl Helps You Maximize ROI.
When running a field service business, your margins can be affected due to schedule mix- ups, missed job cost and lack of visibility into what is bringing in profits.
“How can this be solved?”
There are different software tools that would help you control your operations and this would help you make smarter financial decisions, and ultimately boost your return on investment (ROI), like a plumbing business that take on cost-plus pricing and saw a major shift in profitability after switching to Swivl their margins became impactful clear, data-driven pricing can be.
Here’s how:
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- Accurate Job Costing: Tired of not knowing if your jobs are truly profitable? Tracking labor, materials, and overhead in real-time means you always know exactly what’s going into each job. With cost-plus pricing, you ensure every job is priced to cover all costs and leave room for profit.
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- Simplified Operations: Say goodbye to chaos. When your entire workflow from scheduling to invoicing is automated, it not only saves time but reduces errors. You can focus more on what matters most: delivering great service.
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- Data-Driven Decisions: No more relying on gut feeling or guesswork. With built-in reporting tools, you get a clear picture of your business performance, making it easier to make informed decisions and keep things on track.
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- KPI Tracking: What gets measured, gets improved. By monitoring key metrics like job duration, technician productivity, and profit margins, you ensure your business stays aligned with its goals and continues to grow.
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- Improved Efficiency: With all your operations in one place, your team can work smarter, not harder. This means faster job turnarounds, better customer satisfaction, and a more efficient business overall.
FINAL THOUGHT:
At the end of the day, what gets measured gets improved. Tracking work order KPIs isn’t just about data—it’s about boosting efficiency, cutting costs, and keeping customers happy.
By monitoring key metrics like completion time, first-time fix rate, backlog, and cost per work order, you can identify inefficiencies, optimize operations, and increase your ROI.
So, the big question is: Are you ready to take control of your work orders and increase your profits?
