Raw

Decision to make: Extend Fieldbook to the North and Islands regions in Q1, but only after redesigning the onboarding process to ensure rapid, full‑adoption similar to Central and East.

Context:  
Fieldbook has been live for two quarters in four of six regions (Central, East, South, West). Adoption is high overall (83 % of work orders in the system) but uneven: Central and East reached full adoption in six weeks, while South took eleven weeks to hit 80 % and West is still at 71 % after nine weeks. The main blockers are a single two‑day classroom session per region, leading to missed training, ad‑hoc shadowing, and downstream support and data‑integration gaps that increase operational friction and hidden costs.

Question: Should we roll Fieldbook out to the remaining two regions (North and Islands) in the upcoming quarter?

Answer: Yes – extend now, but first implement a structured, multi‑session onboarding program (including repeat classroom slots, on‑the‑job shadowing plans, and early integration fixes) to replicate the fast adoption seen in Central and East.

Why (four same‑kind reasons, ranked by impact):

1. **Operational gains outweigh current frictions** – Scheduling density rose from 4.6 to 5.3 jobs/technician/day and travel time fell 18 % in the four live regions, delivering measurable efficiency and overtime savings.

2. **Financial upside is clear** – Licence and hosting cost (£31 k/mo) is already covered by overtime and fuel savings in Central/East; extending adds £13.5 k/mo but, if adoption mirrors Central/East, the net ROI becomes positive within the first quarter.

3. **Risk of repeat adoption delays** – The South/West experience shows that a single classroom session leads to 30‑40 % of technicians missing training, higher ticket volume (44 % password resets), and lost route time (≈380 technician‑hours). Without a revised onboarding plan, the new regions could remain underwater for two quarters.

4. **Data‑integration gaps are manageable** – Missing asset‑register feed and invoicing code mismatches affect all regions but have vendor‑provided solutions awaiting Kestrel action. Addressing these early (evaluating connectors, setting up mapping tables) will prevent reporting inconsistencies and manual re‑keying.

Risks / guardrails:  
- **Adoption risk** – Mitigate by scheduling at least two classroom sessions per region, tracking attendance, and assigning dedicated shadow mentors.  
- **Integration risk** – Prioritize evaluation and implementation of the asset‑register and invoicing connectors before go‑live.  
- **Budget risk** – Monitor licence cost versus realized overtime/fuel savings; pause if adoption falls below 80 % within six weeks.  

Recommendation: Approve the Q1 extension to North and Islands, contingent on the onboarding redesign and integration work outlined above. This balances the clear operational and financial benefits against the documented adoption and data‑integration risks.