Modernizing water fountain and field service management with Zoho One
The client is a company specializing in the repair and maintenance of water fountains for an exclusively B2B clientele. Their typical clients own multiple devices, often around ten fountains per site that require regular interventions such as annual maintenance, filter replacement, occasional repairs, contract monitoring, etc.
With field teams operating at hundreds of client sites, the ability to precisely track each fountain, its location, serial number, associated contract, and maintenance history becomes strategic. Historically, the client relied on a custom application developed in Microsoft Access to orchestrate these operations.
However, this environment was coming to the end of its life: Microsoft announced the end of updates, and the company was dependent on aging technology and the knowledge of a single in-house superuser. The client needed to thoroughly modernize its operational tool without losing the richness of its business processes. With this in mind, the company turned to Tooly to migrate its system to a modern, scalable Zoho One ecosystem.
The challenge
Before Tooly's intervention, the client was facing several major challenges:
Critical dependency on Microsoft Access, a bespoke application that is not maintained and doomed to be deprecated, with real operational risk.
Limited dispatch tool, unable to support the increasing complexity of field service operations.
Lack of segmentation and structure in customer data (sites, industries, equipment, filters, etc.).
Absence of a "mini-CMMS": difficult to know precisely which equipment and parts were installed for which client.
Imperfect management of preventive maintenance: it is impossible to easily extract the list of recurring interventions (e.g. maintenance every three months on a type of filter for a given customer) and to build optimized routes.
Complex tracking of serial numbers and the location of water fountains, especially when devices are moved or rented.
Significant HR risk: The person who was most proficient in the Access application and business rules has left the company, complicating the transfer of knowledge.
The goals
The mandate given to Tooly was to:
- Replace the Access app with a modern solution based on Zoho One, with no loss of functionality.
- Centralize customer information, equipment and maintenance in a single, structured environment.
- Equip dispatch and field teams with a more powerful and intuitive service application.
- Implement reliable management of recurring (preventive) maintenance to generate intervention lists and optimized routes.
- Keep track of serial numbers, location, and contracts related to each water fountain.
- Reduce dependence on an internal power user with a standardized, documented solution supported by continuous training.
The solution
Implementing a Zoho One Stand to Replace Microsoft Access
Tooly first laid the foundations of a new system based on several bricks of Zoho One:
- Zoho CRM to centralize customer accounts, contacts, and sites.
- Zoho Books to connect maintenance operations with accounting and invoicing.
- Zoho Inventory for managing parts, filters, and other consumables.
- Zoho Creator since the FSM tool was not enough to meet the client’s needs.
- Zoho WorkDrive to store technical documents and items related to work orders.
The goal: to rebuild the equivalent and beyond of the Access app in an integrated, robust, and scalable Zoho environment.
Field service and dispatch management (Zoho Inventory + Zoho Creator)
The customer now uses Zoho Creator for field service management (Work Orders, Teams, Planning) as some business needs were beyond FSM's standard capabilities, including:
- the level of detail required on work requests;
- fine segmentation of sectors and customer sites;
- the logic of mini-CMMS (equipment, installed parts, filters to be replaced according to precise rules);
- the generation of recurring maintenance lists with the possibility of building adapted roads.
To meet these needs, Tooly has developed a custom app in Zoho Creator that:
- Takes over and enriches Access’ historical dispatch tool.
- allows you to view the interventions to be planned according to recurrence rules (e.g. every 3 months for a particular filter, at a particular client’s premises);
- provides field teams with all the necessary information before travelling (equipment, history, parts to bring, contract conditions, etc.);
- integrates with the other applications of the Zoho One suite for the field operational part.
The result is a dispatch tool that’s more powerful than the old Access, better integrated with the rest of the ecosystem, and built to scale.
Asset, Parts and Serial Number Management
In addition to the interventions, the customer must know where his equipment (water fountains) is located and at which customer each device is installed, with:
- the serial number;
- the duration and type of contract;
- the date of installation;
- the associated maintenance frequency.
Tooly has structured this tracking in the Zoho Creator app, in conjunction with Zoho Inventory, in order to:
- Associate each serial number with a customer and a contract.
- track the movement of equipment (installation, movement, removal);
- connect the parts and filters installed to each unit;
- Trigger, if necessary, preventive maintenance rules based on this data.
This approach provides the customer with the mini-CMMS that was previously lacking, without the need for dedicated heavy software.
Project process and Tooly support
Tooly's approach was articulated in several structured steps:
Detailed requirements assessment to validate the relevance of the project, clarify use cases and prioritize key features to migrate from Access.
Design and modeling in Zoho Creator: Define the app's data structures, screens, business rules, and "technical drawing."
Intermediate validation with the customer, via functional prototypes, to ensure that the application reflects the operational reality.
Iterative developments and adjustments, with regular check-ups to maintain alignment with objectives.
Targeted training for all levels of the organization: dispatch teams; sales staff; administrators of the new application.
Systematic recording of meetings with the client, making it possible to: capitalize on the decisions taken; facilitate the onboarding of new resources on the client's side; Explain the business logic behind each technical choice.
This methodology was particularly decisive when the client's main "power user" left the company: Tooly had all the history of the project to effectively support the new resource.
Automated information collection with Zoho Forms
Zoho Forms is used to collect all the necessary information from individuals. Once the form is completed, the data is automatically integrated into Zoho CRM, eliminating any manual entry.
This automation helps standardize the intake of requirements and ensure that essential information is requested from the start.
Secure document management with Zoho WorkDrive
For each new folder, a WorkDrive space is automatically created, based on predefined templates including:
- data collection models;
- internal procedures;
- A standardized filing structure.
A secure link is then shared with the client so that they can deposit their documents directly in their own folder, attached to their CRM file. This eliminates information loss and centralizes all files in the right place.
Proactive Automations and Follow-ups
Automatic tasks and reminders are triggered from the CRM according to the status of the file. Reminders for missing documents and status changes help ensure that no step is missed and deadlines are met.
There are several reasons for the success of this Zoho project at the customer's site
- A strong collaboration with the customer, via workshops and frequent exchanges to co-build the application.
- A detailed understanding of the field service business, allowing Tooly to translate a historical Access tool into a structured and scalable Zoho ecosystem.
- An iterative project approach, with regular validations and continuous adjustments.
- A significant investment in training, ensuring adoption by all teams (dispatch, sales, administration).
- Capitalization on meeting recordings, key to managing client-side resource switching without losing context.
With this project, Tooly is establishing itself as a Zoho partner of choice to transform a critical in-house tool into a modern, integrated platform ready to support the client's growth for years to come.
Next steps being considered include:
- the complete deployment of the application on technicians’ tablets;
- Permanently decommissioning Microsoft Access, once adoption is consolidated.
- and continuous improvement of maintenance rules, reporting, and automations, as the customer fully leverages the power of the Zoho One suite.
In the short term, the priority is to generalize the use of the application to all teams: the tool is already functional on the desktop side, and its use on technicians’ tablets and phones is the next step to completely eliminate Microsoft Access from the landscape.
After the integration
Results and Benefits
Even if the project continues to evolve, the customer is already benefiting from concrete gains:
A working application in production
which gradually replaces the use of Microsoft Access for field service management
Reduced technology risk:
The company is no longer dependent on an ageing and unmaintained tool, which is doomed to disappear.
Better visibility into operations:
– Structured monitoring of customers and their sites;
– traceability of serial numbers;
– Clear view of installed equipment and associated contracts.
Improved management of preventive maintenance:
Ability to extract lists of recurring interventions and build consistent routes for technicians.
More powerful dispatch tool
than the old system, providing more flexibility and contextual information for frontline teams.
Facilitated knowledge transfer
through implicit documentation in the Zoho app and meeting recordings.