Common (and Some Uncommon) Scenarios for Service Management in Business Central
Service Management in Business Central provides features to help businesses maintain warranty and service contracts, including inventory tracking for the parts and supplies needed to fulfill maintenance contracts.
Service Management can be used to maintain high service levels in warranty commitments and maintenance contracts, including on-site and remote service, spare and replacement part tracking, and warranty tracking. Let’s dig into some of these scenarios.
Service order scenarios
Business Central’s Service Management can support several types of business scenarios. These include:
- On-site service: the traditional service model where units are sent out to a central facility by the customer for repair
- Service at a remote repair facility: when a large installed base is not convenient to the central service location. Remote facilities can include overseas locations.
- Service at the customer’s location: performed either by field technicians or the customer if the repair item cannot be moved due to complexity or logistics.
- Service performed by a third party (e.g., a dealer) on behalf of the company. Service component inventory is either managed at the dealer’s location or sent to the dealer at the time of the repair. The dealer is reimbursed for the labor and other costs incurred while making the repair.
Business Central service items
A Service Item represents an individual unit sold to a customer and can be created manually or automatically when an item ships. Service Items can be a valuable repository for tracking what has shipped to whom and on what date. Automatic creation will record the invoice amount, shipment document number, and the calculated starting and ending warranty dates for labor and parts.
When the Service Item requires a repair or update, one of the following can occur:
- A permanent exchange is made
- A temporary exchange is made using company-owned items that are identified as loaner units
- Components are replaced, or software is updated. This work can be performed in the field or by returning the unit to the service center.
A service log, available from the Service Item, tracks all repair or update actions, including failed and replaced parts. It also links the Service Item to any repair orders.
Spare parts management in Business Central
Service stocking levels and demand for Service Order components can be integrated into the BC-standard MRP process. This allows spare component stock to be a part of the inventory planning process. MRP will use item parameters to suggest resupply orders or the creation of transfer orders to move inventory from a central location to a repair location or field office.
Warranty tracking
Service Management provides the ability to track warranty and non-warranty claims. The cost, revenue, and profitability of each order is recorded for analysis. A warranty is automatically applied to the parts and labor if they are within the warranty starting and ending dates. If the warranty is not valid due to customer abuse, the warranty can be exempted, and the repair becomes chargeable to the customer.
Enhanced repair tracking and quality control
A Service Order can be tracked as it moves through various statuses such as creation, waiting for response, on hold, in-process, and completed. When a repair is performed, the technician can optionally select from user-determined symptom, fault, and resolution codes to quantity the causes of failures and the applied solutions. This detail allows management and engineering to analyze faults and address customer issues.
Contact ArcherPoint to learn how you can apply Service Management in Business Central to improve customer satisfaction.