Auditing field services and industrial processes
Technicians know the process better than anyone, but they spend their days at customer sites or on the shop floor. TellMeHow fits their schedule: interviews in several sittings, voice-only on a phone, with photo uploads.
By process or industry
A process lived away from the office
A service request comes in, a scheduler assigns a technician, checks parts, and plans the route. On site, the technician fills in a work order, sometimes on paper, sometimes in a mobile app. The report goes back to the office, gets re-keyed, and is then used for invoicing. Billing delays and poorly tracked parts often start in these back-and-forths, which technicians rarely describe because nobody asks them.
Why this process is hard to audit
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Technicians are hard to reach
Booking an hour with a technician who goes from job to job takes weeks. The usual result: you interview their manager and hear the office version.
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No computer, no screen sharing
In the field, the only tool is a phone, and the work order is sometimes a carbon copy form. An interview that assumes a shared screen leaves out the very people who do the work.
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Office and field describe different processes
The scheduler believes reports come in the same evening; technicians submit them at the end of the week. These gaps explain billing delays, provided you bring them to light.
The approach, in four steps
The guide is still your method’s; it is the interview format that adapts to the field.
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1
Prepare a guide in short chapters
Create populations for scheduling, technicians, and back office. For technicians, split the interview into short chapters and plan sessions ahead, for example one chapter a week.
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2
Interview them where they are
Technicians open their link on their phone, between jobs or at the end of the day. Without screen sharing, the interview switches to voice-only mode, and they upload photos of the work order or screenshots of the mobile app. Schedulers in the office share their planning screen.
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3
Compare field and office
The analysis assembles the end-to-end service process and sets the office and field versions side by side when they diverge. It suggests follow-ups of a few minutes, easy to handle from a phone.
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4
Deliver the real process
Publish under your brand the process map, from request to invoice, with the re-keying, delays, and opportunities you selected, each linked to the audio excerpt or photo it rests on.
Example: a multi-technical maintenance provider
Illustrative example, not a client case.- Audited company
- Maintenance provider with 140 employees, about a hundred of them mobile technicians, three regional branches.
- Populations interviewed
- Schedulers Field technicians Spare parts store Back office and invoicing
- Guide topics
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- Receiving and qualifying requests
- Scheduling and assignment
- On-site work and work orders
- Spare parts and restocking
- Reporting and invoicing
- Show me
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Assigning a job in the scheduling tool
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Showing a completed work order in a photo
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Example findings
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Re-keying
Paper work orders are re-keyed into the invoicing tool at the office, at the end of the week, by the branch assistant.
Uploaded artifact, technicians 3 · work order photo -
Business rule
A job under contract can only be invoiced once the customer has signed the report, which blocks the invoice when the signature is missing.
Audio excerpt, back office 1 · 09:12 -
Good practice
One branch photographs replaced parts and attaches them to the report, which prevents billing disputes.
Audio excerpt, technicians 5 · 04:37
What you deliver
- The service process from request to invoice, as described by both office and field.
- The gaps between the office version and the technicians’ version, resolved through follow-ups or kept as findings.
- The re-keying and delays that hold up invoicing, with their evidence.
- Good practices from one branch to extend to the others, and opportunities quantified as ranges.
Frequently asked questions
Can a technician take the interview on their phone?
Yes. On a phone or tablet, screen sharing is not available: the interview runs in voice-only mode, and participants can upload photos or screenshots. For an on-screen demonstration, participants can continue later on a computer.
How long does an interview take?
There is no fixed length. The interview is split into chapters that participants complete in one or several sessions. The consultant can schedule chapters over several weeks to fit around field rounds.
Is the audit used to measure technician productivity?
No. TellMeHow evaluates processes, never people: no ratings, no rankings, no comparisons between individual technicians. Published evidence is attributed by role, and the manager who commissions the audit does not see full recordings.
What if the site has a poor connection?
Participants do not have to take the interview on site. They can do it whenever and wherever they choose, and resume later if a session drops: the AI interviewer picks up with a recap of what has already been said.
The features involved
- Voice interviews Each employee talks to the AI interviewer when it suits them, in their browser, across several sittings.
- Interview guide Your method, tailored by engagement, team, and person: the AI runs your audit, not its own.
- Process map Processes rebuilt step by step, with actors, tools, volumes, and pain points, each one sourced.
Other use cases
- Order to cash Audit the sales chain from quote request to overdue invoice follow-up, one team at a time.
- Procure to pay Audit purchasing from requisition to payment, and spot the approvals that are missing.
- Employee onboarding Audit how new hires are brought on board, a process where everyone sees only their own part.
See a complete audit in thirty minutes.
A voice interview with screen sharing, the process map it produces, the deliverable the sponsor reads: on a demo engagement, with your questions.