Siebel Field Service Basics

Basics of Field Service


 RMA: RMA (Return Material Authorization)


 Cycle Counting


 Replenishment


 Fulfillment


 Asset Management


 Dispatch Board


 Agreements

RMA (Return Material Authorization)


 The RMA (either RMA Repair Return or RMA Advance Exchange) signifies that the product is to be repaired.



 Repairs begin when a customer calls a service center about a defective product.



 The customer service representative assigns an RMA (Return Material Authorization) to the product, and requests that the customer ship the product to the service center.



Cycle Counting


 A method of counting inventory by grouping products into classes.

 Counts the products in each class at designated intervals over a period of time.

 Only part of the products are counted at one time, but over the designated time period all products are counted.

 Since assets are moving in and out of inventory, cycle counting creates a dynamic, statistical view of inventory.

An Example: Products of class X, for instance, might be counted once every three months, products of class Y once every six months, and products of class Z once a year.


Methods of Product Classification for Cycle Counting



 The ABC cycle count basis ranks products according to their financial value. The Cycle Counting Engine counts the items with a larger dollar value more often than those with a lower value.



 The XYZ cycle count basis ranks products according to their turnover. Higher-turnover products are counted more often, resulting in a higher accuracy of counting.



Replenishment


 The process of generating orders to restock depleted parts in an inventory location.

 Replenishment Engine generates internal orders to other inventory locations or purchase orders to outside vendors using the following information about a product in inventory:


■ Minimum and maximum stock levels, plus a safety level.


■ Replenishment relationships with other inventories.


Sources of Replenishment



Another service inventory location. The Replenishment Engine generates an internal order. For example, the main service warehouse replenishes a subsidiary warehouse.



External provider. The product is purchased from an external vendor. In this case, the Replenishment Engine generates a purchase order.



Manufacturing inventory. The product is provided by an internal manufacturing division. Such replenishments are usually handled as if from an external provider; a purchase order is generated.



Fulfillment


Siebel Field Service provides two methods for filling an order automatically:

 The Fulfillment Engine automatically locates in inventory the ordered items (or substitutes for these items), allocates these items, and generates a pick ticket.


 The Part Locator is a semi-automated version of the Fulfillment Engine. It gives the user control over fulfillment of individual line items in an order. The user can select the line items and choose to carry out these automatic procedures for the selected items:


 Find products or substitutes in inventory.


 Allocate these items.


 Generate pick tickets.



Fulfillment Engine


The Fulfillment Engine automatically finds and allocates products for selected service orders, and produces pick tickets to use for the orders. The engine uses the following information to find a product:

 Distances of source inventory locations to the order address.

 Priority of an order, which can influence fulfillment relationships.



Dispatch Board


 Is a graphical user interface that allows call center personnel and dispatchers to select, schedule, and assign field service engineers to service activities.



 The Dispatch Board screen shows all unplanned activities and a list of the selected field service engineers and their schedules.



 Dragging unplanned activities onto the schedules of field service engineers automatically assigns and schedules these activities.



 Lets a dispatcher or customer service representative manually assign and schedule individual activities by dragging and dropping an activity onto a Gantt chart.



Agreements


 Describes a product or service provided to the customer and the financial relationship between parties.



 Different types of agreements can be created manually in the Agreements screen or
automatically from a quote in the Quotes screen.



 Agreements can have a hierarchical relationship; that is, a master agreement can have multiple child agreements.