Moving from disjointed paper processes and unstable sync tools to a unified, native Salesforce Field Service infrastructure with faster billing cycles.
Executive Summary
WH Scott & Son Engineers utilised Salesforce as a core operational engineering tool to seamlessly bridge the gap between office administration and field-based engineering teams. By replacing a legacy paper-based process and overcoming severe data synchronisation failures from a previous third-party app setup, the company partnered with Performa to build a highly reliable infrastructure. The strategic collaboration boosted operational data visibility by 80%, completely mitigated data loss risks and restored full confidence among engineers in the platform.
The Core Metrics
- 80% Improvement in data visibility within Salesforce, eliminating missing appointments and providing data-driven visibility into field operations.
- 100% Risk Reduction via advanced security enhancements, restricted user report access, and automated data backups using Gearset.
- 100% Resolution Rate achieved across nearly 250 operational support cases handled by Performa.
- Zero Paper Reliance, down from a fractured split in which 50% of the engineering workforce had completely abandoned the original broken system.
The Challenge: Endless Paper Trails & A Support Vacuum
Before modernising, WH Scott relied entirely on manual, disconnected processes.
“Everyone had a pad, and they would write down their activities, get the customer to sign the bottom, and then that comes back into the office… it then becomes a massive admin task to administer that to ultimately get the invoice out to the client.”
— David Courtney, Operations Director
To digitise operations, they built an asset management layer onto their CRM. However, their internal technical support unexpectedly migrated to Australia, leaving the business facing a major service vacuum.
Compounding this gap, the company relied on a third-party application to transfer data between Salesforce and field-based mobile units. This application suffered from severe synchronisation errors between online and offline modes.
“There were endless problems with trying to make [the third-party application] usable for the engineering team… 50% of the business was still doing pen and paper, and then the other 50% were inefficiently trying to get the system to give us what we needed as a business.”
— David Courtney
The Solution: Strategic Salesforce Implementation
Recognising the urgent need for structural help, David Courtney reached out to Performa.
“Salesforce gives you the house, and then you’ve got to build the furniture that goes in it. Performa really helped us improve efficiency, the way the flows worked, and how information was transiting. Once Performa came on board and ironed out and worked with us to fix some of those activities, it became a very slick, usable tool for us.”
— David Courtney
Performa guided WH Scott away from the troublesome third-party plugin and migrated them entirely to the native Salesforce Field Service app. Together, we ironed out the complex data transit flows, built custom reports, and eliminated recurring database errors.
The optimised platform successfully unified several key workflows:
- Integrated Asset Management: Client assets were fully mapped directly into the system, allowing field engineers to pull asset-specific reporting and compliance histories (such as LOLER inspections) instantly via the app.
- Field-to-Office Automation: Engineers receive instant service appointment notifications, complete site maintenance reports, and securely capture customer signatures to close out jobs in real time.
- Data Protection: System security was hardened by restricting access to user reports and deploying Gearset to ensure zero data loss.
Business Impacts: Precise Accounting & Faster Billing Cycles
The transition to clean, reportable data structurally upgraded WH Scott’s commercial capabilities:
“Everyone knows that a database is as good as the information that’s in it. And if there’s good information in it, it’s only good for a business if you can use that data to make change.”
— David Courtney
By optimising billing fields and integrating operations with automated rate tables and Microsoft Business Central, the business radically streamlined its financial tracking.
The Cultural Transformation
The most critical outcome of the partnership was a profound cultural shift. When technicians were given a native application that worked robustly, trust was completely restored.
“The shift was twofold. It was confidence that the system worked for the on-site engineers, and it was confidence that the office could use that system robustly across the entire platform of our activity. If we knew it was going to work, it was easy for us to rely on it and to then develop it as well to make it even better.”
— David Courtney
The engineering team moved from 50% platform abandonment to collaborating directly with Performa to pitch, design, and roll out continuous feature updates.
“Performa understood exactly what we needed. They understood what we were trying to get to and how, but they made a complicated subject easy for us to understand. They took the complexity out of the way it works and made it what we needed.“
— David Courtney, Operations Director, WH Scott & Son Engineers