Warranty Entitlements for Sold Equipment

Outcome

• The system table (CSYTAB) is updated when a content type header is defined in 'Content Type. Open' (COS470).
• The (ACUAWS) table is updated when content type details are defined in 'Content Type. Open Details' (COS471).
• The (MIWRRT) table is updated with warranty type information when a warranty type is defined in 'Warranty Type. Open' (MOS710).
• The (MITWAR) table is updated when a warranty type is connected to a control object in 'Warranty Type. Connect to Objects' (MOS700).

Scenarios for warranty entitlements for sold equipment

• Generating an individual warranty

  After the warranty entitlements are defined correctly, an individual warranty is generated automatically when an item is sold in 'Customer Order. Open' (OIS100). The warranty is valid for the item with its unique serial number.

  The warranty header is generated in 'Equipment. Connect Warranty' (MOS390). The warranty details are generated in 'Equipment. Open Warranty Details' (MOS393).

• Checking performed against warranty

  Costs for maintenance work related to the equipment can be covered by the warranty in these scenarios:

  • When a spare part for the equipment is sold in 'Customer Order. Open' (OIS100)
  • When material, labor, or subcontract work is specified for a work order related to the equipment in 'Work Order. Open Line' (MOS101)
  • When material, labor, or subcontract work is specified manually in 'Work Request. Open Line' (MOS171).

  When any of the scenarios above happens, a check is automatically done against the warranty details in (MOS393). If the cost is covered by the warranty, the user receives a message on screen and a flag is displayed on the specified line.

  Later, when the preliminary invoice specification for the maintenance work is created in 'Maint CO. Check Preliminary Invoice Spec' (COS170), the cost is automatically booked on the payer that was defined on the warranty details.

Before you start

Detailed company policies must specify how to manage warranties related to the company's equipment.

Overall description

• Definitions

  A warranty is a written guarantee of the integrity of equipment. The warranty regulates the maker's and seller's responsibility for repair, replacement, or other maintenance work related to the equipment.

  Warranty entitlements refer to the generic warranty settings for sold equipment.

• Purpose

  When warranty entitlements are defined correctly for all your equipment, the processing of warranties related to maintenance on sold equipment is completely automated.

• Structure

  1. Creating a warranty type

     The warranty type is the central building block. The warranty type is a template containing general warranty rules.

  2. Creating a content type

     A content type is connected to each warranty type. The content type contains detailed warranty rules.

  3. Connecting warranty type to control objects

     A warranty type is connected to one or more control object values. Examples of control objects are item number, item type, equipment group, and customer.

  4. Generic control object table hierarchy

     A generic predefined control object table regulates the priority order the system uses to search for an applicable warranty type when equipment is sold. The applicable warranty type with the highest priority order will be used to automatically generate the individual warranty. For example, item number can have a higher priority than customer. If a piece of equipment is sold and there is one warranty type connected to the customer who bought the equipment and another connected to the equipment's item number, the equipment warranty will then be generated based on the warranty type that applies for the item number.

Detailed description

• How to define a warranty template in the form of a warranty type?

  The warranty type is a generic warranty that is used as a template when creating individual warranties.

  Warranty types can be connected to different types of control objects. Because of this, how a warranty type is defined varies greatly depending on which control object it will be connected to. For example, a warranty type valid for an item group is generally more comprehensive and contains fewer details than a warranty type that applies for an item number.

  Warranty type definition

  Warranty types are defined in 'Warranty Type. Open' (MOS710). A warranty type answers the questions in this table:

  Question	Comment
  What warranty class does the warranty belong to?	There are two warranty classes; standard or extended. While standard warranties normally are included in the sale of an item, extended warranties normally must be paid for separately. They often cover defects that can arise after the sale. Currently, the warranty class is used for informational purposes only; there is no functional distinction between the classes.
  What is the customer deductible cost?	The customer deductible cost is the amount that must always be paid by the customer even if the maintenance that the cost refers to is covered by the warranty. Example A spare part must be replaced. The cost of the spare part is USD 800. The deductible on the warranty is USD 200. The customer must pay USD 200, while the additional USD 600 is covered by the warranty. Note: The deductible in this context refers to the amount per maintenance customer order invoice line in (COS170). If the invoice has three lines (one referring to exchange of a spare part and two referring to labor time) then the customer must pay the deductible for all of these three invoice lines. According to the example above, the customer will pay USD 600 (3 x 200 USD) in deductible.
  In what currency is the customer deductible cost expressed?	In the example above, the cost is in U.S. dollars. If the invoice is in another currency than the one specified here, the deductible is recalculated to be the currency of the invoice. The deductible is displayed as information on the maintenance customer order line.
  How long after the maintenance is completed is the customer entitled to a complaint about the work?	The time of complaint is defined as the number of claim due days. Claims are registered by the customer in the M3 Warranty Claim Management application. The claims are processed manually by your company.
  How long after equipment is sold is the warranty valid?	The length of the validity period is defined as the number of warranty days. The starting date of the validity period will be the day that the equipment is delivered to the customer.
  How much can the equipment be used before the warranty expires?	Sometimes a warranty depends on how much the equipment is used. In that case, you can define maximum meter values for up to four different meters. Examples of a meter are kilometers, operation hours, and flying hours. Example The warranty for equipment is valid until it has been in operational use for 5,000 hours or has a mileage of 100 kilometers. Note: Naturally, a warranty can have both a validity period and maximum meter values. When any of the limits is passed, the warranty is invalid.
  Which maintenance cost will be covered by the warranty?	These warranty details are determined by the content type that was connected to the warranty type. Content types are described in the section below.

• How to define the warranty details in the form of a content type?

  A content type is a template providing detailed information about the costs that the warranty should and should not cover.

  The content type consists of a number of content type lines. Each line contains the following major information:

  1. A condition. Examples of conditions can be 'labor cost for work performed by work center AAA' or 'material cost for spare part Scoop 7001'.

  2. Whether the condition qualifies for warranty or not.

  3. Which party should be responsible for the cost in case the cost should be covered by the warranty.

  Examples

  A content type is used for a warranty type connected to an excavator. Among the content type lines, you find these lines:

  • All labor costs for work performed at the Excavator Maintenance department should be covered by the warranty and paid by your company.
  • All material costs related to items within the Backhoe loaders item group should be covered by the warranty and paid by the original maintenance equipment manufacturer (OEM).
  • All material costs for Scoop 7001 should not be covered by the warranty. (The Scoop 7001 belongs to the Backhoe loaders item group. However, this excluding content type line overrides the one defined for the item group.)
  • All costs related to subcontract work performed by the supplier B should be covered by the warranty and paid by B.
  • All miscellaneous costs should be covered by the warranty and paid by your company.

  Content type definition

  The content type header is defined in 'Content Type' (COS470). The content type lines are defined in 'Content Type. Open Details' (COS471).

  This table shows a detailed explanation of all the fields used when defining a content type line.

  Field/Program ID	The field indicates…
  Excluded/Included (COS471/B)	… whether or not the condition should qualify for warranty. Valid alternatives 0 = Included 1 = Excluded. Normally, you only define conditions that qualify for warranty. This is because the invoice lines that do not meet the warranty conditions are automatically excluded from the warranty. However, you might want to define an exclusion in the following situations: For clarifying reasons To overrule a condition in a content type line that qualifies for warranty. An example of the latter is when there is a content type line stating that all material costs related to item group Backhoe loaders should be included in the warranty, but one of the items in this group should be excluded from the warranty. By creating an excluding content type line for this specific item, you overrule the more general condition that applies to the item group.
  Invoice line type (COS471/B)	… which type of invoice line the condition refers to. Valid alternatives 1 = Labor 2 = Material 3 = Subcontract 4 = Miscellaneous. For example, if you select alternative 1 (Labor), all invoice lines that refer to labor will be checked against the condition in the content type line. Note: The invoice line type that you select here determines which types of values you can select amongst when defining the condition.
  Item ID type and Item ID (CRS471/B)	These two fields together form the condition. The item ID type determines what types of values you can select, while the item ID represents the specific value. Example 1: Item ID type: Work center Item ID: Any specific work center that is defined in 'Work Center. Open' (PDS010). Example 2: Item ID type: Supplier Item ID: Any specific supplier that is defined in 'Supplier. Open' (CRS620).
  Payer (COS471/E)	… which party should be responsible for the cost of the invoice line when the cost is covered by warranty. This field is only used if the Included/Excluded field is set to Included and your own company should not be responsible for the cost. A common situation when you specify a payer is when the content type refers to a material cost that should be covered by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Note: If you specify a payer, a valid maintenance agreement with the payer must also be specified. The payer must be defined as a customer in 'Customer. Open' (CRS610).
  Agreement (COS471/E)	… which customer maintenance agreement should be used. The maintenance agreement regulates what the maintenance supplier is allowed to do, for whom, and how completed work should be priced. No maintenance work can be done by a customer without a valid agreement. The agreement must be defined in 'Maint Agrmnt. Open' (COS410).
  Year (COS471/E)	This field is not used in the current version of the system.
  Month (COS471/E)	This field is not used in the current version of the system.

  This table describes how the Invoice line type, Item ID type, and Item ID fields in (COS471/B) interact and what values can be specified.

  Invoice line type 1=Labor
  Item ID type	Item ID
  1=Operation number	The valid operation number
  2=Work center	A work center defined in 'Work Center. Open' (PDS010)
  3=Planning area	A planning area defined in 'Planning Area. Open' (CRS085)
  4=Department	A department defined in 'Department. Open' (CRS080)
  5=Cost center
  6=Costing type	A costing type defined in 'Costing Type. Open' (PCS005)
  7=Employee	An employee defined in 'Employee. Open' (CRS530)
  11 = OEM code 1	see MOS986 and CRS249
  12 = OEM code 2	see MOS986 and CRS249
  13 = OEM code 3	see MOS986 and CRS249
  14 = OEM code 4	see MOS986 and CRS249
  15 = OEM code 5	see MOS986 and CRS249
  16 = OEM code 6	see MOS986 and CRS249
  17 = OEM code 7	see MOS986 and CRS249
  18 = OEM code 8	see MOS986 and CRS249
  19 = OEM code 9	see MOS986 and CRS249
  20 = OEM code 10	see MOS986 and CRS249
  99 = All labor transactions are either included or excluded
  Invoice line type 2=Material
  Item ID type	Item ID
  1=Item number	An item in 'Item. Open Toolbox' (MMS200)
  2=Item type	An item type defined in 'Item Type. Open' (CRS040)
  3=Item group	An item group defined in 'Item Group. Open' (CRS025)
  4=Product group	A product group defined in 'Product Group. Open' (CRS035)
  99 = All material transactions are either included or excluded
  Invoice line type 3=Subcontract
  Item ID type	Item ID
  1=Item number	An item in 'Item. Open Toolbox' (MMS200)
  2=Supplier	A supplier defined in 'Supplier. Open' (CRS620)
  3=Process type	A process type defined in 'Process Type. Open' (CRS256)
  4=Operation number	The valid operation number
  99 = All subcontract transactions are either included or excluded
  Invoice line type 4=Miscellaneous
  Item ID type	Item ID
  1=Miscellaneous cost type	A cost type defined in 'Cost Type. Open for Miscellaneous Costs' (COS160)
  99 = All miscellaneous costs are either included or excluded

• How to connect warranty types to control object values such as items, equipment groups and suppliers, and create different priority levels?

  Prioritizing through a Control Object Table

  The warranty types are connected to control object values. Before this is done, you must define a control object table. The table can be seen as a prioritization of the sequence that the system uses to search for a warranty type to use for creating a warranty for a sold item.

  These control objects can be used:

  • Supplier (IDSUNO)
  • Customer (OKCUNO)
  • Product group (MMITCL)
  • Equipment group (LIEQGR)
  • Equipment type (LIEQTP)
  • Item group (MMITGR)
  • Item type (MMITTY)
  • Item number (MMITNO)
  • Serial number (LISERN).

  Ten priority levels can be used for the control object table, and three control objects can be defined for each level.

  Example

  Priority	Control object table 1	Control object table 2	Control object table 3
  0	Item number (MMITNO)	Customer (OKCUNO)
  1	Item number (MMITNO)
  2	Item group (MMITGR)	Customer (OKCUNO)
  3	Item group (MMITGR)
  4	Equipment group (LIEQGR)	Customer (OKCUNO)
  5	Equipment group (LIEQGR)
  6	Supplier (IDSUNO)
  Priority levels 7-9 are not used.

  According to the table, the system first checks if there is a warranty type that applies for the item number and the customer who bought the item. If no such warranty type is found, the check is done only against the item number. If no such warranty type is found, the system checks if there is a warranty type that applies for customer and the equipment group that the sold item belongs to, and so on.

  Control object table definition

  The control object table is defined in 'Generic Object Control Table. Open' (CMS017) for program (MOS700). (CMS017) can be accessed either from the start menu or by using function key F14 in 'Warranty Type. Connect to Objects' (MOS700).

  Connecting warranty types to control object values

  The warranty types are connected to control object values in 'Warranty Type. Connect to Item' (MOS700).