Mihir Joshi

In project-based manufacturing, service inherits assets without their history such as warranty terms, commissioning data, configuration, because no one owns both sides of the handoff. Mature organizations send technicians to physically audit sites, but that only answers “what’s here,” triggering a tedious admin scramble to piece the rest together. The real fix uses the ERP as the single source of truth.

Manufacturers have gotten sophisticated at selling service contracts, yet when a customer calls, dispatchers still juggle six systems to answer one question: is this covered? The contract exists. The entitlement decision is still manual. Here’s why that gap persists, what it costs, and how to actually fix it.

FSM platforms get bought on what they promise in a demo, not on whether they fit your actual process complexity. This article traces a real implementation where that gap surfaced mid-project and lays out a pre/during/post framework for catching it before it costs you months and a vendor rebuild.

When a service leader spots a technician gap on the roster, the response is almost reflexive: open a requisition, raise