How to Track a Field Technician

The customer asks where the van is

A tracking link that works all evening after the job is finished shares a location you no longer need.

A ping is stored on a day off because the phone page is still open.

The map is expected to reorder the day’s jobs. It only shows pins.

Why this happens

• Location is collected when the visit is not on the way or on site.
• Share live location is on when you did not mean to show the pin.
• The tracking token is left valid overnight.
• A site has no pin, so arrival distance and the site marker cannot be drawn.

Biznsbook addresses this through Location pings, customer tracking link, map of pins when Field Service is licensed. Customers are parties you already keep. The van is a warehouse. The invoice is one sale invoice for the job.

A second dispatcher, a van, and a deposit are where a private list drifts. Making Biznsbook the place that books the visit, issues the part, and raises the one invoice keeps those three on the same job.

Step-by-step: Track a Field Technician

Built for owners and dispatchers who send technicians to a customer site in Biznsbook Field Service.

1. Put a pin on the site. Type latitude and longitude, or use Nominatim when that provider is configured. The default is no lookup. The map shows sites that have a pin. A site without a pin is not a marker.
2. Collect location only during the visit. Pings are rejected unless that technician has a visit on the way or on site. A phone that is merely logged in does not add a trail. There is no native app keeping a background GPS log.
3. Share the tracking link on purpose. /service/track/{token} shows the visit until two hours after completion. The last map ping is included only when Share live location is on. An hourly job expires tracking tokens as well.
4. Use the office map. The map shows sites with a pin and recent technician pings. It uses a map tile you configure, with a public street map as the default. It does not propose a route.
5. Read arrival distance as a record. When the site has a pin, arrival stores the distance. That distance does not block completion and it does not move the visit.
6. Tell the customer with the on-the-way message. The on-the-way template can include the tracking link. The text uses the allocation window when the visit has one, otherwise the scheduled time. Email sends through the company’s outbound email, and SMS through the company’s own Twilio connection. When the site has a pin, the message can include an estimated arrival time.
7. Stop when the visit is finished. Complete or unsuccessful closes the open time entry and ends the reason to ping. Two hours later the tracking page expires. Do not expect a trail after that.

Review results after the first full weekly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.

Screen names in this guide match Field Service in the product: Home, Jobs, Dispatch, My day, Quotes, Agreements, and Settings.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistake 1: Location is collected when the visit is not on the way or on site. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 2: Share live location is on when you did not mean to show the pin. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 3: The tracking token is left valid overnight. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 4: A site has no pin, so arrival distance and the site marker cannot be drawn. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.

Note each recurring gap in the weekly review. Each one should map to a step in this guide.

Best practices that hold up as you scale

• Put a pin on the site — Type latitude and longitude, or use Nominatim when that provider is configured.
• Collect location only during the visit — Pings are rejected unless that technician has a visit on the way or on site.
• Share the tracking link on purpose — /service/track/{token} shows the visit until two hours after completion.
• Use the office map — The map shows sites with a pin and recent technician pings.
• Read arrival distance as a record — When the site has a pin, arrival stores the distance.

Teams that schedule on the board, issue parts from the van before they invoice, and refuse a second invoice keep the visit and the ledger on the same job.

How Biznsbook supports this workflow

Location pings is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

customer tracking link is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

map of pins is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

Technicians do not quote, invoice, or collect unless those settings are on. Labour cost is for job costing and does not post a wage journal. Email sends through the company’s outbound email and SMS through the company’s own Twilio connection.

Suggested implementation timeline

1. Week 1: License Field Service, add sites on the parties you already keep, and try Location pings on one real job.
2. Week 2: Create a van warehouse, transfer the stock that is in the van, and issue one part on a visit.
3. Week 3: Schedule on the board, including one forced conflict, and complete a visit with the checklist rules you actually want.
4. Week 4: Create the one sale invoice, apply a deposit if you took one, and turn the public page on if customers should request visits.
5. Ongoing: Weekly review of unscheduled jobs, overdue complete-by times, and van items under minimum, using what is not collected.

Related guides

Start with create a field service job, then schedule a field visit and invoice a field job.

Product page: Field Service. Trades: field service trades. Decision: field service software vs spreadsheets.

The tracking token and the pin

The token is for one visit’s public page. It is not a login. After completion it remains for two hours so the customer can see that the visit finished, then it expires. Share live location is a separate switch for the last ping. Leave it off when the customer should see status without a map point.

Office users with the module can open the map of sites and recent pings. Pings from a visit that is no longer on the way or on site are not still arriving. Old pings are purged by the nightly location job.

Metrics to track monthly

• Jobs still unscheduled past the attention window
• Jobs past their complete-by time
• Van items below the minimum you set
• Visits forced past a conflict
• Jobs completed and not yet invoiced

Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.

Spreadsheet or paper day sheet vs Biznsbook Field Service

Compare a typical list of jobs with Biznsbook Location pings and the rest of the field job.

What is not collected

There is no mileage claim, no background GPS trail, and no native iOS or Android app. Geocoding providers other than Nominatim are not called. Azure Maps and Google settings fall through to no lookup.

Write this into the way the office hands work to technicians, and revisit it when you add a van or a second dispatcher.

Frequently asked questions

How this differs by industry