Frequently asked questions
Answers before you have to ask.
The questions UK field service operators ask us every week, in one place. Pricing, migration, security, Jerrold, integrations and support.
Can't find your answer? Email sales@clockworkit.co.uk or call 03300 577 170.
Product
The platform, in plain English
What is TotalCtrl?+
TotalCtrl is an operational control platform for UK field service businesses running 20 to 150+ field operatives. It covers the full job lifecycle in one system: quote, jobs, schedule, mobile field app, PPM contracts, compliance capture and invoicing. Jerrold, an AI teammate, is built in across scheduling, field execution and commercial intelligence.
Who is TotalCtrl built for?+
Commercial field service operators that have outgrown spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups and disconnected point tools. HVAC and mechanical, facilities management contractors, grounds maintenance, renewable energy operations and maintenance, security and life safety, and specialist maintenance contractors. Typical customer runs 20 to 150+ field operatives with a mix of reactive and planned maintenance work.
What is Jerrold, and is it just a chatbot?+
Jerrold is our AI teammate, not a chatbot. Jerrold monitors your operation continuously: it recommends the best engineer for each job, flags SLA risk before breach, spots missed billables, monitors contract margin in real time, and answers plain-English questions like "which contracts lost margin last month?". Every recommendation is explainable and requires human confirmation. The dispatcher stays in control.
What can I stop paying for once TotalCtrl is live?+
Typically: separate scheduling and dispatch tools, standalone PPM and contract management, mobile forms platforms, compliance capture apps, timesheet software, and often the middleware trying to glue them together. Most customers consolidate three or four vendors into TotalCtrl in their first six months.
Pricing and contract
What it costs and what is included
How much does TotalCtrl cost?+
Pricing is set per field operative per year and reflects your operation size and plan tier. Core, Professional and AI+ plans are available. Every plan includes the full platform: scheduling, jobs, mobile app, PPM, compliance and invoicing. AI+ adds Jerrold across all three capability wedges. Setup, data migration and structured onboarding are included in year one. Contact sales for a specific number for your team.
Are there per-module upsells?+
No. There is one commercial construct: an annual licence per field operative. Scheduling, PPM, compliance, mobile, invoicing and reporting are all included. AI+ adds Jerrold. Nothing else is licensed separately.
What is the minimum contract length?+
Twelve months. Most customers commit for three years to lock in pricing. There is a 30-day exit clause in year one if the fit is genuinely wrong. We have not needed to invoke it.
What are setup fees?+
Setup, data migration from your existing tools, structured user training (typically four days) and go-live support are included on Professional and AI+ plans. There is no hidden implementation invoice.
Migration and go-live
Getting from your current tools to TotalCtrl
How long does implementation take?+
Thirty days from contract to go-live is our standard. Week one is data migration and configuration. Week two is training. Weeks three and four are structured hypercare while your team goes live and Jerrold learns your operation. Larger or more complex operations run to 45-60 days.
What data can you migrate from our current system?+
Customers, sites, assets, contracts, PPM schedules, historical jobs, and field operative records. We have migrated from BigChange, Joblogic, Simpro, ServiceMax, WorkPal, custom Access databases, Excel workbooks and paper filing systems. Our migration templates cover the common shapes; anything unusual becomes a one-off import.
Can we run TotalCtrl alongside our existing system while we migrate?+
Yes. Most customers run parallel for two to four weeks before cutting over. Historical data comes into TotalCtrl day one so you are not looking at an empty system.
Security and compliance
How we look after your data
Where is our data stored?+
AWS eu-west-2, London. No customer data leaves the United Kingdom. This is a hard architectural constraint, not a preference. Relevant for UK GDPR, public sector work and data sovereignty requirements.
Are you UK GDPR compliant?+
Yes. Clockwork IT Ltd is a registered Data Controller with the ICO. We provide Data Processing Agreements for enterprise and public sector customers. Subject access requests are handled within 30 days. Data retention is contract duration plus seven years for audit purposes, or immediate deletion on request after contract end.
How is our data protected?+
AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Keys managed via AWS KMS with hardware security modules. Role-based access controls, SAML 2.0 and OAuth 2.0 SSO with your identity provider, MFA for all administrator accounts. Every user action is logged with timestamp, user ID and IP, and audit logs are retained immutably for seven years.
Do you do penetration testing?+
Annually, by a CREST-certified third party. Test summaries are available to enterprise customers under NDA on request. Backups run every six hours with point-in-time recovery over the last 35 days, tested quarterly, and stored in a separate AWS region.
Integrations
How TotalCtrl fits your existing stack
What does TotalCtrl integrate with?+
Native integrations to Xero and Sage for accounting, Google Maps and What3Words for routing and site location, plus a full REST API and webhooks for anything else. Available on Professional and AI+ plans. Documentation is provisioned on go-live.
Do you have an open API?+
Yes. Full endpoint coverage of jobs, field operatives, contracts, compliance, scheduling and reporting. Rate limited at 1,000 requests per minute on Professional. Webhook events for real-time triggers. Sandbox environment for testing. Auth tokens with scoped permissions. Official SDKs in PHP and Python.
Support and roadmap
What you can expect after go-live
What support do we get after go-live?+
A named customer success contact, business-hours support via email and phone, and a shared operations channel with our team for the first 90 days. 99.9% uptime SLA on Professional and AI+ plans. Status page and planned maintenance windows communicated seven days in advance.
Who else uses TotalCtrl?+
50+ UK field service operators across HVAC and mechanical, facilities management, grounds maintenance, renewable energy, and specialist maintenance contractors. Team sizes from 20 to 150+ field operatives. We can share sector-specific reference customers under NDA during procurement.
What happens to our data if we ever leave?+
Full export in structured format, provided free of charge, retained on your instance for 30 days after contract end for you to draw down. After that we delete it on your instruction, or automatically after seven years for audit records.
Who owns TotalCtrl?+
TotalCtrl is built by Clockwork IT Ltd, based in Coventry, UK. Clockwork IT was founded in 2003 and was acquired by Banyan Software in 2020. Banyan is a long-term operator of mission-critical business software with $1B+ ARR across 150+ companies. Their model is buy and hold, not private equity flip, so the platform is being built for the long term.
Comparison and switching
How TotalCtrl stacks up against the incumbents
What is the best field service management software for UK contractors?+
The honest answer is that "best" depends on team size, work mix and existing stack. For UK contractors running 20 to 150+ field operatives with a mix of reactive and planned maintenance, TotalCtrl is designed as the fixed-price alternative to BigChange, Joblogic and Simpro. £25 to £45 per user per month with everything included, Jerrold AI built in, UK-hosted. Larger enterprises (500+ engineers) usually go to Salesforce Field Service or ServiceMax; sub-20 engineer businesses are a better fit for ServiceM8 or Housecall Pro.
How does TotalCtrl compare to BigChange?+
BigChange bundles vehicle tracking, telematics and job management, priced typically £900 to £1,500 per user per year with per-module upsells. TotalCtrl is fixed at £300 to £540 per user per year (£25 to £45 per month) with scheduling, PPM, compliance, mobile and invoicing all included. Jerrold AI is standard on the AI+ plan rather than an add-on. Where BigChange leads is fleet-first businesses; TotalCtrl leads on commercial complexity and AI-native operations.
How does TotalCtrl compare to Joblogic?+
Joblogic is a solid all-in-one FSM platform with a UK base and mature feature set. TotalCtrl overlaps on core job management but differentiates on pricing (fixed, not per-module) and Jerrold AI, which is embedded across scheduling, field execution and commercial intelligence rather than sold as a separate module. Both platforms cover PPM and compliance well. See /compare/totalctrl-vs-joblogic for a full side-by-side.
How does TotalCtrl compare to Simpro?+
Simpro has deep functionality especially around estimating and project work, and it is priced accordingly. Implementation typically runs three to six months with a specialist implementation partner. TotalCtrl goes live in 30 days with structured onboarding included, and is priced fixed per user per month rather than by module or company size. Simpro fits multi-trade businesses with strong project-work bias; TotalCtrl fits reactive plus PPM operations that want fast go-live and AI in the workflow.
Is TotalCtrl a good BigChange alternative?+
Yes, if you are a UK field service operator paying BigChange £900 to £1,500 per user per year and finding that most of what you use is scheduling, jobs, mobile and compliance rather than the fleet-tracking layer. TotalCtrl typically halves the annual cost, includes AI (Jerrold) as standard on the top plan, and goes live in 30 days. Upload your BigChange renewal to /beat-my-renewal for a written 50% counter offer.
Should we switch field service platforms?+
Switch when three signals combine. One: your renewal cost is rising faster than your business. Two: your team is working around the platform (spreadsheets, WhatsApp, manual re-entry). Three: your commercial data (contract margin, missed billables, utilisation) is not visible or is discovered in arrears. If any two of those are true, a 30-day proof of concept is usually the right next step, not a full RFP.
How difficult is it to migrate from BigChange, Joblogic or Simpro to TotalCtrl?+
Straightforward. We have templated migrations for BigChange, Joblogic, Simpro, ServiceMax, WorkPal and custom Access or Excel setups. Customers, sites, assets, contracts, PPM schedules and historical jobs all come across. Most migrations complete in one to two weeks inside the standard 30-day onboarding. Parallel running for two to four weeks is common so nothing falls through the gap.
AI in field service
What AI actually does in a modern FSM platform
How is AI used in field service management?+
Practically, in four places. One, dispatch: AI recommends which engineer to send based on skills, location, current workload and SLA risk. Two, prediction: it flags SLA breaches, contract margin erosion and PPM slippage before they happen. Three, operator briefings: it summarises the state of the operation in plain English so managers do not have to build reports. Four, back-office: it catches missing billables and pricing errors before invoicing. Jerrold does all four inside TotalCtrl.
What is the best AI-native field service software in the UK?+
TotalCtrl is the UK-built, UK-hosted platform where AI (Jerrold) is embedded across scheduling, field execution and commercial intelligence rather than bolted on. Alternatives typically treat AI as a separate module or a chatbot. Jerrold has 33 tools live today, works over your full operational data, and every recommendation is explainable and requires human confirmation before it happens.
Can AI schedule field engineers on its own?+
Yes, but you would not want it to. In TotalCtrl, Jerrold produces scheduling recommendations in about 90 seconds for a reactive job, factoring in skills, certifications, location, current workload and SLA risk. A human dispatcher confirms with one click, or overrides. The AI handles the load-bearing analysis so the dispatcher can spend their time on the calls, customers and edge cases that a machine cannot judge.
Will AI replace field service dispatchers?+
No, and any vendor claiming otherwise is not being honest about how field service actually runs. What AI removes is the manual analysis that takes a dispatcher two hours every morning: "who is closest, who is qualified, whose van has the parts". What remains is the human work: customer relationships, edge cases, negotiating slot changes with clients, judgement calls. Good AI turns dispatchers from firefighters into decision-makers.
Is Jerrold like ChatGPT for field service?+
Similar underlying technology, very different product. ChatGPT is a general-purpose chatbot with no access to your operational data. Jerrold is an operations teammate with direct access to your live jobs, engineers, contracts, PPM schedules and financials. When you ask Jerrold "which contracts lost margin last month?", Jerrold reads your actual data and answers with specific numbers. ChatGPT cannot do that.
How much AI risk should we take on a business-critical platform?+
The right answer is: keep the human in control. In TotalCtrl every AI recommendation is explainable ("this engineer is closest and has the certification, ETA 47 minutes, £180 saved on travel") and requires human confirmation before it becomes an action. Jerrold cannot dispatch a job, change a schedule, send a customer message or approve an invoice without a person clicking through. AI is decision support, not decision replacement.
Common operational problems
Answers to the questions field service directors actually ask
How do I schedule 30+ field engineers efficiently?+
Three things stop scheduling from being reactive firefighting: live location awareness, skills matching, and SLA-aware routing. TotalCtrl overlays engineer GPS on the scheduler in real time, matches skills and certifications to job requirements automatically, and Jerrold flags SLA risk before you breach. Customers with 30 to 50 engineers typically cut morning planning from two hours to under 25 minutes.
How do I improve first-time fix rate on reactive callouts?+
First-time fix improves when engineers arrive with three things: the right skills for the job, the right parts on the van, and the site and asset history in hand. Pre-arrival briefs and skill-matched dispatch are what move the number. TotalCtrl customers routinely see first-time fix rise from 74% to 91% inside eight weeks of go-live because Jerrold surfaces the site history and required parts to the engineer before they set off.
How do I stop SLA breaches being discovered by clients rather than by us?+
The pattern is always the same: SLA timers are informal, no-one is watching them centrally, and someone finds out after the client emails. TotalCtrl runs SLA timers automatically on every reactive job, and Jerrold escalates SLA risk to the dispatcher before the timer breaches. Customers move from "clients discover SLA breaches" to zero client-discovered breaches inside the first quarter of go-live.
How do I identify unprofitable service contracts?+
Loss-making contracts hide when contract margin is calculated once a year in the finance team rather than continuously in the operational data. Jerrold tracks contract margin in real time across every job logged against a contract, and flags contracts drifting below your target margin threshold. Two contracts running at 6% margin get spotted immediately, not discovered in the year-end review.
How do I capture compliance evidence in the field without slowing engineers down?+
Compliance capture only works when it is part of the job flow, not a separate task. In the TotalCtrl mobile app, RAMS confirmation, COSHH capture, photo evidence and client signatures are all embedded in the job completion flow. Everything is timestamped, geotagged and attached to the job record immediately. Zero paper. No re-keying.
How do I reduce dispatcher planning time each morning?+
The morning bottleneck is manual analysis of who is available, who has the right skills, and who is where. Automate that layer and the dispatcher spends the morning on the calls, exceptions and customer edge cases instead. TotalCtrl customers typically move from 90 minutes of morning planning to 8 to 25 minutes after Jerrold takes over the routine schedule generation.
Still deciding? Have a look under the hood.
30-minute demo. No slides. Every screen open. We build the walkthrough around your operation and the questions you have not asked yet.