Customer Service in SAP

Customer Service Module (CS)

Service vs. Physical Goods

  • Service Characteristics: Services cannot be stocked, differentiating them from physical goods.

Service Contracts

  • Definition: Agreements with external vendors for service provision (e.g., furniture supply, painting, IT services).
    Note: Analogous to EAM service notifications, where issues must be identified to provide the service.

Service Orders

  • Seen in various scenarios; illustration provided in the lecture.

Returns and Repair

  • Boost Return & Repair: Linked to warranties; covers repairs for breakdowns not caused by wear and tear within a specified period.

Customer Service Functionalities

  • Service Contract
  • Service Notification
  • Service Order
  • Boost Return and Repair

CS Organizational Structure

  • Example: Global Bikes customer service structure.
    • Clients
    • Company Code
    • Plants
    • Maintenance Plans
    • Responsible Maintenance
    • Planning Plants
    • Storage Location
  • Client: Independent environment in the system.
  • Company Code: Related to FI.
  • Storage Location: Spare parts for products being sold.
  • Plant: Operating area or branch (manufacturing, distribution, purchasing, maintenance facility).
    Note: The plant may work on a product sold to the customer.

Inclusion of Sales Organization Elements

  • Sales Organization
  • Distribution Channel
  • Division
  • Sales Area
  • Reason: To manage warranties or contracts related to sold products needing repair.
Sales Organization
  • Responsible for product sales and related legal liabilities.
Distribution Channel
  • Defines how products/services reach customers (wholesale, retail, direct sales, internet sales).
Division
  • Grouping of materials, products, or services.
Sales Area
  • Combination of sales organization, distribution channel, and division (e.g., Indiana ledger).

Additional Elements

  • Sales Office
  • Sales Group
  • Shipping Point
  • Picking Location
  • Purchasing Organization
    • Reason: Purchasing parts needed for material service.

Managerial Accounting Elements

  • Operating Concern
  • Controlling Area
    Significance: Service provision incurs costs, necessitating managerial accounting.
Operating Concern
  • Represents an organization segment for uniform sales market tracking.
    Facilitates: Profitability, cost center, and cost analysis.
Controlling Area
  • May include multiple company codes, enabling managerial accounting analysis across enterprises.
    Note: During FI configuration, company codes are assigned to a controlling area to facilitate this.

Master Data for Customer Service

  • Client, Company, Location, Plant
  • Sales Org, Distribution Channel, Division, Sales Area
    Includes: Purchased parts.

Material Master Data

  • Significance: Essential for materials being serviced.

Bill of Materials (BOM)

  • Significance: Crucial for identifying necessary parts for repair.

Customer Master Data

  • Recap from sales and distribution; contains all customer information.
  • Created by the sales area.
  • Divided into three areas for customer selling.

Equipment Master Record

  • Contains equipment information stored in segments called views (general, location, org structure).
    Significance: Facilitates interaction with the system regarding equipment/object.

Functional Location

  • Hierarchical structure representing a technical system, building, or part of it.
    Purpose: Structurally depicts a technical plant for maintenance tasks.

Classification

  • Assignment of an item/initiative to classification hierarchy buckets; involves assigning values to an object.
    Process: Breaking down equipment into similar characteristics.

Equipment and Functional Location Characteristics

Include: Measuring point for counter reading.

Measuring Point/Counter Reading

  • Describes the state of a technical object (e.g., equipment, scales, forklifts).
    E.g:* Vehicle maintenance (oil change after X months/miles).

Serial Numbers

  • Useful in material utilization; distinguishes materials with the same material number.
    E.g.: Differentiating similar equipment like Humvees or forklifts.
    Usage: Specify exact location and additional information (manuals, warranty info).

Work Center

  • Location where work is performed.
    Customer service context*: Where the best service is performed.
  • Represents locations where value-added operations/activities occur. Types: People, machines, assembly lines. Functionality:*
    • Define capacities for labor, machines, output, emissions.
  • Used in capacity requirements planning and detailed scheduling.
  • Capacities for costing activities.

Bill of Material (BOM) Importance

  • Knowing components of serviced equipment/material. Purpose:*
    • Structuring of objects.
    • Service task planning.
    • Maintenance orders and task lists.
      Application: Forklift maintenance.
      Usage: Planned maintenance where similar objects should be maintained.

Warranties

  • Guarantee against defects/faults in purchased products for a specific period.
  • Excludes wear and tear issues.
  • Specifies services covered (repair, product return). Types:
    • Vendor
    • Manufacturer
    • Customer
      Valid: For a specific technical object.

Material Master

  • Comprehensive material information.
  • Broken into tabs/functional segments.
  • Composed of three areas:
    • General information (client level)
    • Sales org information
    • Store location information

Vendor Master Record

  • Maintained and used by purchasing authority.
  • Every vendor must have a master record.
    Roles:
    Purchasing organization*: Currency, salesman's name, vendor-related details.

FI/Company Code: Reconciliation account, payment terms, bank account.

Service Contract Types

Long-Term Agreement
  • Predefined value for approved services under specific conditions (e.g., using specified charging cord).
    Ensures: Technical issues, not wear and tear.
    Includes: Header (contract details, billing plan, conditions) and items (service provisions).
    Covers: Software configuration, IT, technical content.
Customer Service Contract
  • Addresses reported customer problems.
    Scope: Phone/online support.
Service and Maintenance Contract

Used for:* Maintenance of technical objects in a predefined manner.
Specifications: Conditions for service liability.
Agreement:* A master agreement with the customer.

Service Notification

  • Method for customers to report issues. Used for:*
    • Documentation and evaluation.
      Components:
    • Customer information
    • Technical object information
    • Service contract or warranty details (and validity).
      Process: Notification leads to service order if action is needed or can just be solved over the phone.

Service Order

  • Precise assessment of time and resources. Follow-up: Can be created after service notification. Activities:*
    • Planning service action (resource planning for internal/external employees).
    • Execution date specification.
    • Observation recording (planning and execution activities).
    • Information about planned and actual costs.
    • Settlement of actual costs (who pays).

Service Order Process

  • Creation → Planning → Release → Confirmation → Technical Completion → Customer Billing.
    Notes:
    The order is released for execution. The order must be released, or nothing can happen. Technical completion is the last stage.

Returns and Repairs

Material Retention: Repair of damaged goods via customer service.
Billing:* Based on warranty or service contract (customer or internal billing).

General Recap

  • Customer service relies on existing organizational and master data.
  • Complements maintenance activities.
  • SAC case study and IBM should have gave you examples.