As service companies grow, their need to handle more tasks, greatly extended facilities, crucial infrastructure elements and protection of sensitive data increases. Scaling the organization entails technician visits, very often from external service providers, which demands advanced data security.
When external parties are on the premises, you not only need to control their access to given elements of the infrastructure, but you also have to monitor time spent on tasks, track reports and share information (such as hardware status errors) with on-site technicians.
To ensure business performance and data security throughout the service process, field service companies need to use various technologies. Our implementation combines the Comarch FSM mobile app, system identity access management (IAM) and Internet of Things (IoT) elements. With these systems capabilities merged, businesses may take advantage of an end to end, comprehensive solution which is modular by design and easy to implement.
To facilitate tasks performed on-site by field staff, Comarch enables two types of site management, passive (A) and active (B), depending on the level of technician engagement needed.
With passive site access management, field service workers are able to optimize service visits with automatic assignments sent by beacons or other IoT devices (elements). When the worker enters the range of a Comarch beacon with an active instance of the field service mobile application, they are notified of its proximity. The technician receives a “preventive maintenance” notification, together with a new task visible in their schedule. Field staff can also display a detailed description of the object and perform remote diagnostics, with results readily available in the mobile device.
Moreover, the integrated Comarch IoT beacon management ensures that only authorized personnel can connect with the beacon, and the server is notified when and to whom access is granted. With this solution, you are able to track the time that an internal or external worker spends in a given location, and compare this information with the time expected. All described functionalities can be accessed easily from the back office.
Handling access to many different places can be a challenge without a central management point. Thanks to the FSM system’s integration with Comarch Identity Access Management (IAM), a dedicated person can manage access lists in real time.
The IAM endpoint sends data from the monitored area to the IAM server. Its inputs are connected to a set of access detectors (monitoring motion, temperature and humidity), while its outputs control electric locks and trigger systems. The entry authentication in a facility protected by IAM endpoint is performed by the tPro Mobile token application enabling user verification with PIN or pattern, which is installed on a device with an instance of FSM Mobile. That means the technician’s device is the only thing they need to access any places to which they have authorization. The system, triggered by sensors, can establish whether a person entering a protected area is in possession of the above applications and has the correct access rights, and decide to allow or deny access.
All communication between the modules is secured by elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), in order to maintain a high level of data security. What’s more, having a central management point simplifies auditing and reporting processes.
