Database Reference
In-Depth Information
and hence, it is important for companies to be able to sell and manage service contracts and
entitlement successfully. Service contract management provides tools for managing service agree-
ments, service contract quotations, and service contracts.
Service contracts typically include a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in which the company
specifies the response time and an availability time to which the customer is entitled; additional
company-specific parameters can also be defined freely and integrated to support specific busi-
ness processes. Service agreements can be created for certain customer groups, specifying general
parameters of service contracts such as pricing and discounts. SLAs and automatic entitlement
both are supported, which enables service employees to ascertain if a customer is entitled to a
service.
8.3.2.5 Resource Planning
The SAP CRM resource planning application (RPA) is used for scheduling and dispatching
field service technicians to service-related customer appointments. When a customer contacts a
company's interaction center to request installation of a new product, or maintenance or repair
of an existing product, the interaction center agent will schedule an appointment for the cus-
tomer based on the response and availability time specified in the customer's service contract or
SLA. At this point, no service technician is actually assigned to the job; the actual assignment
is done later by a dispatcher. After a service task has been assigned to a service technician, who
in turn has accepted the assignment, the service order is transferred down to the mobile device
of the technician; the service order contains all of the information that is required to serve the
customer.
In addition to installations and repairs of equipment, resource planning can also be used for
any type of industry or business that needs to schedule on-site customer visits, including insurance
companies that do damage inspection, health-care professionals who conduct on-site evaluations,
and physical therapists.
8.3.2.6 Service Order and Service Ticket
SAP CRM service order management provides two types of service requests, namely, the service
order and the service ticket; while both of these have the same underlying business transaction,
they differ in the corresponding screens. The service order view was originally designed for repair,
maintenance, or installation situations; in contrast, the service ticket was introduced in response
customer's need for a leaner and easier-to-use screen that better supported the interaction center
service desk scenario. While the service order is available across all SAP CRM communication
channels (including the Web), the service ticket is available only in the interaction center.
8.3.2.7 Complaints and Returns
SAP CRM provides complaints and returns functionality for managing the entire customer com-
plaint process; a complaint is filed by customer when the customer is dissatisfied or has an issue
with a product or service, or shipment, or invoice: if the customer received a damaged or wrong
product or an incorrect quantity or if the customer was over billed.
The entire complaint and return process is fully automated and integrated with back-end SAP
ERP functionality for all the financial and quality management (QM) process, such as generating
Credit/Debit Notes, billing docs, and QM notification.
