ViryaNet (News - Alert) Limited a provider of software solutions for enhancing the full cycle of scheduling and dispatch processes for field service management announced that General Electric’s Field Force Automation or FFA product based on ViryaNet’s G4 Workforce Management Platform has achieved “ecomagination” status.

A product is evaluated for its ability to improve a customer’s environmental and operating performance which is quite significant in order to earn the ecomagination approval. The review-process is rigorous and multi-tiered and is followed with an independent third-party audit which can ensure accuracy and thorough documentation of technological performance, said official sources.

According to GE sources, “Utilities using FFA report their crews fix problems faster, perform maintenance that prevents problems before they happen and are more efficient on the job thanks to more accurate, immediate status information and direction. At the same time, FFA achieves these performance improvements while reducing the travel, personnel requirements and time spent in the field.”

GE sources added that FFA was able to earn the ecomagination status by delivering optimum performance in three areas. It features significant reduction in service crew times. A utility with 27 crews can reduce traveling time by 69 percent. This actually reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 2700 metric tons considering 1000 field crews for a one year period.

FFA features automatic balancing of multiple objectives like crew times, work load balance and preference for high priority work orders. A utility of 120 crews will help reduce traveling times by 17 percent when compared to other mobile workforce management solutions. Electronic communications were used more which saves a lot on paper. A utility of 200 crews reduced paper consumption by 70 percent.

Besides these ecomagination benefits, FFA users will also benefit from other business improvements like better data quality from the digitization of processes, increased revenues from capturing previously non-invoiced work and better-informed decisions due to keener insight into their operations.

“General Electric is a highly valued global business and product partner,” said Jeff Oskin, President of ViryaNet. “We are especially gratified by GE’s reports of the compelling benefits their customers have achieved from utilizing their FFA product.”

ViryaNet provides full life cycle software solutions that optimize scheduling and dispatching processes in dynamic and complex service operational environments. The ViryaNet G4 mobile workforce management platform provides priority-based optimization technology, a Business Process Management or BPM-based exception management capability, and a highly extensible, open architecture. This enables field service organizations to continuously meet their operational and business goals with high workforce productivity, low cost of ownership and enhanced client experience.