Explaining the Process Steps for In-House Repairs

Solution process In-House Repair (3XK) covers lean time-and-material-based in-house repair processes with repair orders in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, service. The in-house repair process helps to select the simple serialized repair devices, performing prechecks, and helping to decide whether to proceed with repair or return to customer.

A repair order is created for each repair object. The repair order is then planned and released for execution. Once the repair order is released, a purchase requisition is created automatically for the applicable spare parts line items. The repair confirmations are posted against the repair order line items. Based on repair confirmations, the time-sheet entry, spares costs, and incurred expenses are posted automatically to controlling. Procurement costs are copied to the repair confirmation from the supplier invoice, when posted.

Once the repair is done and reviewed, the repair order confirmations are released for billing, automatically creating a billing document request. Finally, a billing document is created to invoice the customer.

In the next section, these steps will be discussed in more detail with some example images based on the flowcharts that SAP provides for the In-House Repair (3XK) scope item. The complete flowcharts can be found using the SAP Signavio Process Navigator (https://me.sap.com/processnavigator).

Key steps:

• Post goods receipt without reference
• Create in-house repair

A warehouse clerk receives from a customer a serialized device that needs to be repaired. The device is posted into customer-specific non-valuated stock. The stock is non-valuated because the customer still has ownership of the device: it should not represent any value in our stocks. There is no reference document in our system based on which the goods receipt is posted, so this receipt needs to be posted as a goods receipt without reference. The customer-specific stock to which the receipt is posted, is also blocked so that no other process in the system can use the device. The receipt triggers an e-mail or text message based on which a customer service representative can create a repair order.

Once the customer service representative for in-house repair receives an e-mail or text message that a new serialized device has been received from a customer, an in-house repair (order) is created. The status of this in-house repair reflects what steps have already been executed in the repair process. Initially the status of the repair is set to Open.

Key steps:

• Add/remove repair objects
• Confirm in-house repair
• Perform prechecks and decide

The customer service representative for in-house repair adds repair objects to the in-house repair. Objects that do not need a repair are removed from the in-house repair. The details of the added objects are then checked using The SAP Fiori app Manage In-House Repairs. An object that is added to the repair initially receives the status New. Once all objects have been added, the customer service representative uses the Confirm button (still in the Manage In-House Repairs app) to set the in-house repair status to In Process. Once this is done, no further repair objects can be added to the repair. At this point, the system automatically creates equipment master records for the repair objects. Before this step, these repair objects were serialized materials in the system: now they become equipment master records. The repair objects receive the status Precheck.

The next step is the (technical) precheck for the returned repair objects and the definition of the follow-up step (Start Repair or Return to Customer) for each repair object. The Perform Prechecks app is used for this.

Key steps:

• Create repair order per repair object
• Add/change repair order items
• Set the repair order status to In Process
• Post goods issue without reference

The customer service representative must make a decision. In the Perform Prechecks app, the following information is displayed for each repair object:

• Equipment number
• Material/product number
• Serial number
• Customer (Sold-To Party, Ship-To Party, Contact Person)
• Serial number
• The repair object status: initially Precheck

The customer service representative now chooses the Decide option. If the option Return to Customer is selected for a repair object, no repair order is created for that repair object. The repair object is set to status Completed and via an e-mail or text message, the warehouse clerk must be informed that the repair object can be returned (this is the handover to the Warehouse Clerk and is a manual action).

Based on the e-mail or text message, the warehouse clerk must now post a good issue out of the non-valuated and customer-specific stock. This is a goods issue without reference. This removes the serialized material from your stocks and ends the process.

If the customer service representative decides to repair, a repair order is created for each object. The customer service representative can add multiple repair items to a repair order: service products, parts that need to be procured, expense items, and so on. The customer service representative then sets the repair order to status In Process, which updates the status of the repair object to Plan.

Key steps:

• Plan repair
• Repair order line item set to Released (optional)

The customer service manager can now use the SAP Fiori app Plan Repairs to execute planning for repair orders. They can review and adjust items. They can remove/add spare parts, remove/add expense items, change start/end dates, and so on. The customer service manager can also assign a service technician to perform the actual repair work.

Once the customer service manager selects the option to Release the order, a handover to the service technician takes place and the order will appear in the technician's work list. A service manager can only release repair orders that do not contain errors. So first errors (if any) have to be corrected in the repair orders that have them before they can be released. On release of a repair order all items of that order are also released.

Depending on the product (Service Part item) used in the order, a purchase requisition (PR) might automatically be created (integration with scope item 3NI): see In-House Repair (3XK) - Flow Chart 5. Releasing the order sets the status of the repair object (equipment) to Repair.

Key steps:

• Add/change repair order (optional)
• Set the repair order status to Released

In the above slide, the integration with scope item 3NI is shown. Once a repair order line is released, for the non-stock spare parts, a purchase requisition is automatically created. A purchaser will have to process that purchase requisition and convert It into a purchase order to source the spare part from the right vendor. Non-stock spares will be issued out of the company's own stocks.

Key steps:

• Review repair orders assigned
• Create confirmation

In the next part of the flow chart, the repair process is shown. A customer service manager can assign a service technician to a repair order. The service technician can review all repair orders assigned to them and then start working on the individual orders (using the Perform Repairs SAP Fiori app). Confirmations are created for work performed, using the option Create Service Confirmation in the repair order. Once all work is done, a final confirmation is entered.

Billing of an item can only be done if all items of the repair order have been confirmed, and the life cycle status in the repair order items has been set to Completed.

If you change the item category of an item to Partial Billing (SCP3, SCE3, or SCS3), you can bill that specific item (if it has been confirmed and completed in the repair order), even if other items have not yet been finalized. Posting the final confirmation sets the repair order status to Completed and the repair object status to Bill.

Key step here is cancel confirmation.

In the next part of the flow chart, the repair process itself is shown. A customer service manager can assign a service technician to a repair order. The service technician can review all repair order assigned to them and then start working on the individual orders (using the Perform Repairs SAP Fiori app). Confirmations are created for work performed, using the option Create Service Confirmation in the repair order. Once all work is done, a final confirmation is entered. Billing of an item can only be done if all items of the repair order have been confirmed, and the life cycle status in the repair order items has been set to Completed.

If you change the item category of an item to Partial Billing (SCP3, SCE3, or SCS3), you can bill that specific item (if it has been confirmed and completed in the repair order), even if other items have not yet been finalized. Posting the final confirmation sets the repair order status to Completed and the repair object status to Bill.

A posted confirmation in the system can be canceled again if needed. Time sheet entries, goods issues, and expenses can all be posted from the confirmation onto the repair order. And they appear as costs assigned to the relevant controlling object in Controlling.

Key steps:

• Review and release repair order confirmations for billing
• Repair object status set to completed
• Create billing document

In the next part of the flow chart, the repair process is shown. A customer service manager can assign a service technician to a repair order. The service technician can review all repair order assigned to them and start working on the individual orders (using the Perform Repairs SAP Fiori app). Confirmations are created for work performed, using the option Create Service Confirmation in the repair order. Once all work is done, a final confirmation is entered. Billing of an item can only be done if all items of the repair order have been confirmed, and the life cycle status in the repair order items has been set to Completed.

If you change the item category of an item to Partial Billing (SCP3, SCE3, or SCS3), you can bill that specific item (if it has been confirmed and completed in the repair order), even if other items have not yet been finalized. Posting the final confirmation sets the repair order status to Completed and the repair object status to Bill.

Using the Prepare for Billing app, a list of in-house repair objects that are ready for billing can be viewed. The app only displays repair objects with the status Bill. The customer service representative selects the repair objects that can be prepared for billing and chooses Prepare For Billing.. Only repair confirmations whose repair order is in life cycle status Completed are available for billing. By choosing Release for Billing, a billing document request is created. The billing document request is displayed as a follow-up transaction in the process flow of the repair order and is set to status To be Invoiced. When all items that are relevant for billing have been confirmed, the repair object needs to be closed/completed by choosing Complete on the Prepare for Billing details screen.

A billing clerk creates an actual customer invoice based on the billing document request that was created earlier. There is also integration with the J59 scope item from the Finance line of business in the area of Accounts Receivable accounting.

Intercompany billing for repair orders is also available. The slide shows an example scenario where a supplying and a different receiving company code is involved in a repairs process. The customer orders a repair for an object from the company code who is receiving the repair services from another company code. Intercompany billing between the two company codes (supplying and receiving) is then needed.

Scope item Intercompany Billing for Service Documents (53Y) covers the complete process concerning intercompany billing for service documents. See the unit in this course for scope item Intercompany Billing for Service Documents (53Y) for more details.

Many other features and details are available for the in-house return process in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

Some examples are:

• Standard items (products that have been assigned to the item category group NORM (standard item)) can not only be sold to customers, but they can also be used as service parts in a repair process. They can be used as service part items in repair quotations, orders, and confirmations.
• Availability Check and Reservation functionality is available for stock service parts in an in-house repair process.
• Credit checks in repair orders are supported.
• You can use serial numbers in service and repair confirmation items that have been created for stock service parts. When the serial number is provided and the confirmation has been completed, the serial numbers are posted to the goods movement. This enables you to ensure that you can only confirm service parts that are in stock.
• You can use the Priority field in repair orders. This field allows you to focus on the most important orders while planning repairs.
• You can also search for all repair orders that are assigned to you as a repair technician either on header or item level. In this way, you get a complete overview of repair orders assigned to you and can plan your work accordingly.
• You can also integrate in-house repair processing with SAP Field Service Management. This integration enables you to benefit from the planning and dispatching capabilities of SAP Field Service Management when you schedule technicians for in-house repairs. Additionally, the integration gives you a full overview of the technicians scheduled both for in-house repair and field service tasks, thus helping you to avoid planning conflicts.

You can use the following simulations to work your way through the main process steps for scope item 3XK: