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Service Items

The Service Item Card

The Service Item card shows basic information concerning service and contracts. The card can be created either manually or when posting a sales order, if sold items are correctly assigned to a Service Item Group. To enable the full features, information about the Item, Serial No, Warranty, or Customer must be provided on the card. Further information is available from standard Business Central manuals. It contains a reference to an active contract, and a link to a fixed asset if the service item is in the ownership of your company, which rents it.

The Ownership field displays the type of ownership. The user is expected to set up a value according to actual ownership type, or the value is entered automatically according to the type of Service Item movement.

The Blocked field is used to prevent using the card on new documents and especially posting to item ledger entries.

The Service Item card can be created either manually, or from a sales document, by selecting the Create Service Item button, or while posting a sales shipment.

Meters

The form is used to define meters, which have been linked to a Service Item. The register of Meters is independent and is not connected to the mechanism of contracts.

The Meters set-up table is accessed from the Source Meter List

The list provided is not editable, and to enter or edit a value on a card it is necessary to display a card and then select a card on the Meter button.

  • The value in the Meter Code field is selected from a pre-defined list of Meters (for more details see the section: Smart Service Setup). The field Description can then give more details about the Meter.

  • The Virtual field defines a Meter which should be calculated using other Meters. The actual expression used to calculate the Meter Reading is given in the field "Virtual Expression". The following characters are allowed: '0'..'9','A'..'Z','(',')','+', '-', '*', '/'. When referring to another Meter in an expression, its actual name as given in the field "Meter Code" relating to the same "Service Item" card, is used.

Example: Total meter is double the amount of the Meter Data.

The expression will look as follows: 2*DATA_METER.

  • The fields * "Unit of" should state the units of measure in each relevant area.

  • "Main Meter" denotes just one Meter card to which for example the wear exerted on a service item will be linked.

  • "Blocked" denotes a card that should be disallowed from being posted to service ledger entries.

Create a Service Contract

When all the necessary information has been entered on the Service Item card, the Contract card can be created by selecting the function: Create Service Contract by selecting Actions → Functions and select the Create Service Contract. The function uses values in the existing fields and creates relevant links between various types of cards. Furthermore, on the second page of the wizard, a functionality of pre-defined templates may be used, Contract Template Code, which limits to a minimum any manual entries in the process of creating new contract cards.

The response time is pulled from the Service Item to the Service Contract.

Starting Date in the wizard default is prefilled up with the same date as the Installation date

Create a Service Document

The option is selected by using the "Tell Me" Function. Click on the icon and enter "Service Document Wizard" which starts the wizard for creating sales and service documents with a link to a "Service Item", from where the wizard has been launched.

It is meant to be primarily used as a starting position, from which the user, for example based on a telephone call, will start to look for the status of previous service orders and from here will be able to continue by creating a new service requirement. The wizard enables you to take steps back, until pressing the Finish button completes it or until the ESC key is pressed. The main options enable viewing history and setting up a service or sales order.

The wizard for displaying the history of equipment

It is used to display a list of documents currently linked to a Service Item. The output is not a document, only a screen showing the relevant information.

The wizard for creating a service order:

If the information concerning servicing date, technician, order type, or an optional fault code, are known at the time a new Service Order is created, then no further entries in the document are necessary to start servicing the equipment.

The wizard for creating a sales order:

When the fields in this wizard have been filled in, simply close the window and the sales order is created, for example for the sale of consumable items.

A standard sales order has been integrated with this feature.

Create a Fixed Asset

You can use this option to create a fixed asset card and create a link between a Service Item card and a fixed asset card. Again, a wizard is used, in which the fields have been filled in with default values from the "Service Item" card. After its completion, a Fixed Asset Card is created, which can be displayed, for example from the Actions function via the Service Item Card.

Create a Copy of a Service Item

In case we need to create a Service Item made up of a group of similar components or create a new card for equipment after a general overhaul of an old one, we can use the copying function.

Enter the source Service Item in the From Service Item No field and select the optional parameters stating, which information from the original card you wish to keep.

  • Block Source Service Item - blocks the original cards;

  • Copy Meters - copies the Meter types, not their history;

  • Copy Last State - copies the last meter status;

  • Reason Code - the reason for copying the card;

  • Components - copies the components. If the original card is blocked, components are transferred to the new card; otherwise components are copied.

  • Copy Configurator - the template of the source configurator is copied and linked to the new card.

  • Copy Troubleshooting, Copy Resource Skills, Copy Comments - creates copies of the relevant documents.

Note: System copy also Model field form previous card

Buy-Back of Service Item

Enhanced functionality of \"Service Item\" contains buying-back of Item if Ownership is Trial or Customer in Service Item Card.

The defined wizard creates Sales Return Order in two steps. For definition of components to Sales return Order lines and calculation of buying-back price is created a table which contains three options in field Selected:

  • Item is not covered to Buy-back price and it is not put into stock

  • "Yes" - Item is not covered to Buy-back price, but it is added to the created document

  • "To parent" - Item is covered to Buy-back price of the main Item, but it is not put into stock

If the Sales return Order is posted, then all items are put in stock and Service Item Card owner is changed to value "Own". The process is not possible to start again.

Note:

  • System allows to Finish process only if Meters are read

  • Service Item - Ownership is changed to "Own"

  • Service Item - Status is changed to "Own Service Item"

  • Service Item - New

  • Existing Service Contract is Cancelled (all checking about not posted documents is done in the same process)