Subcontracting with material flow in field service

For a service order, when an activity is subcontracted with material flow, the possible scenarios are:

• Material resources are delivered to subcontractor
• Material resources are delivered to location address or customer address
• No material is delivered (subcontractor uses own material)

In Scenario One and Two, the components which are required for the repair are either sent to the customer or to the location address. The subcontractor sends an invoice to the manufacturer with information related to the used materials, hours and so on. These costs have to be “transferred” to the related service order.

In scenario 3, components are not sent to either the customer or the location address. Material is managed by the subcontractor. The subcontractor sends an invoice to the manufacturer with information related to the used materials, hours and so on. These costs have to be “transferred” to the related service order.

The service order can have one or more lines (activities). For subcontracting, the following scenarios are possible:

1. Service Order and one activity which is subcontracted – no materials defined
2. Service Order and one activity which is subcontracted – materials are defined
3. Service Order with multiple activities and one or more are subcontracted – no materials defined
4. Service Order with multiple activities and one or more are subcontracted – materials defined

Service Order and one activity which is subcontracted – no materials defined

In this scenario, only one line (activity) is linked to the service order. The Subcontracted checkbox is selected and the Reference Activity is not specified in the Service Order Activity session. The user can specify the Buy-from business partner ( Subcontractor) and the Item Subcontracting.

The service engineer cannot select the Buy-from BP but can specify the Item Subcontracting. The Buy-from BP is or can be defaulted from the item-purchase data of the service/cost item. When ERP LN does not default the buy-from BP:

• a purchase order cannot be generated
• a purchase requisition is generated; if the Requisition Mandatory for Operation Subcontracting check box (in the Service Subcontracting group box) is selected in the Item - Purchase session.

Service Order and one activity which is subcontracted – materials are defined

In this scenario, the functionality is similar to that explained in the previous scenario, in addition to which estimated material is also specified. This material has to be transferred to the subcontractor. You must also specify if the material is Company Owned or Customer Owned.