Material Flow for Field Servicing

Background

During field servicing, the service takes place outside the workshop. Each service technician may have their own service van. When the van contains stock, material issues must be performed from the correct van. This means that it is not known which of the vans material will be issued from until a service technician is allocated to the job. The service technician can be allocated at a late stage, at times on the same day. To avoid shortages, material must be reserved early in the process so that the requirement can be moved from the main warehouse to a van or between different employees' vans. The M3 field service functionality is used to manage this requirement.

In other scenarios, material must be delivered directly to a customer site, therefore an address is required.

Because the field servicing technician may issue more material than needed for the work order, to avoid shortages on site, it must be easy to return unused material.

Limitations

The functionality '211 Delayed mtrl issue - Cfrm issue/return in MOS101' in 'Work Order Type. Open' (MOS120) enables the delivery to remain open until used and unused material is reported in (MOS101) using sorting order 13. It is only available for work orders that use a WO picking list.

Before you start

Apply the settings below to ensure that the functionality works as required.

Field service work orders

• Specify an employee warehouse for the field service work orders in 'Person. Open' (CRS530).
• Specify the WO category as '70' in (MOS120). If it is not '70', the return location in 'Work Center. Open' (PDS010) is used instead of the employee return location.

Delayed issue functionality

• Specify a work center 'To location' or 'employee location' for all involved warehouses.
• Specify employee locations for both the employee warehouse and main warehouse.
  Note:  The employee location for material allocated to work orders and the 'To location' at the work center can either be non-allocatable or allocatable.

  The 'return locations' must be non-allocatable to prevent allocations to other orders while they physically remain in the van.

• Specify setting 211 in 'Work Order Type. Open' (MOS120) = 1.
• Specify a dispatch policy in WO type setting 210. A specific dispatch policy for mobile warehouses can be used if defined in (MOS120) setting 240 or if a specific dispatch policy per warehouse is defined.
• Report used and unused quantity in (MOS101) using sorting order 13 or through API MOS100MI, ReportUSedMatrl. Only material lines with an open delivery, that is, material line status equal to 80 and picking list status 60, are available for this reporting.
• To report in (MOS101) using sorting order 13, the setting 'Return or used quantity' in (MOS101/P) must not be equal to 0.

Other settings

• Setting 460 in 'Dispatch policy. Open' (MWS010) must be 1.
• Employee allocation must be used. Set this up in 'Settings. Employee Allocation' (CBS020).
• Employee warehouse must have a warehouse type with setting 'Mob warehouse' equal to 1 in 'Warehouse Type. Open' (MMS006). This setting controls whether material returns are left non-allocatable in the current location or moved to their standard location and available for other orders.
• To enable reallocation of employees when material lines are on picking list ((MOS101) sts '80'), parameter 370-'Allow reallocation of employee' must be activated in (MOS120)/(MOS122). If not, the message 'Material is already issued to allocated employee. Manage the material before you reallocate to a new employee' is displayed.
• If released order-initiated orders exist, employee reallocation is not possible. The released orders must be deleted first.

Alternative configuration options

An alternative way to set up warehouse management for field service technicians without separate warehouses for each technician can be done this way:

• Specify several technicians within the same warehouse
• Specify the same warehouse for several employees in 'Person. Open' (CRS530)
• To separate material demands from different technicians within same warehouse, use the allocation control table to define separate areas for each allocated technician on the operation element.
  • 'Allocation Control Selection Field. Enter' (MMS123) can be defined with selection on QQEMNO (WO operation element employee).
  • 'Allocation Control Selection Table. Open' (MMS124) can be defined with a selection of balance identities available to allocate towards.
• In its simplest form, technician TECH01 can only allocate material from location TECH01 and technician TECH02 can only allocate from location TECH02, etc.

Planning and creating a field service work order

The field service process is enabled by the use of a work order type with work order category 070.

When a work order is created using this order category and when a skill operation element exists, the material lines are assigned their warehouse from the work order header and the issue method is set to 2 (Requisition). Although this creates reservations in the material plan, the order does not continue automatically until someone acts.

When it is known who will perform the work, an employee is allocated to the work. This allocation moves the material requirement to the employee warehouse (the van) and updates the 'To Location' with the employee location. The issue method is set according to the settings for item/warehouse in (MMS002) for the employee warehouse. The material is not physically moved unless a record exists for the item in the warehouse. In such case, the material line remains in the work order warehouse, and the issue method is set according to the settings in (MMS002) for the work order warehouse. The 'To Location' is updated to the employee location to reflect the move of the item within the work order warehouse. You can lock the material requirement to a specific warehouse by selecting the 'Firm WHS' check box on the material line. This is automatically checked when a planned work order is created and a warehouse is already defined on the material line in (PDS002).

Depending on the system setup, these processes exist for supplying material to field service work orders:

• Process A: All items exist in the employee warehouse, and those that are not stored in the van are supplied from the main warehouse through an order-initiated distribution order.

  To use this process, the employee warehouse can be configured to have auto add permit enabled in (MMS005).

  • This setup provides an overview of all material requirements for the technician at the employee warehouse.
  • Many employee warehouses may result in many record updates in (MMS002).
  • When expensive material is returned from the work order unused, it is not visible in the main warehouse immediately and this may cause unnecessary replacements.
• Process B: Only items that are stored in the employee warehouse exist as records in (MMS002). Others are supplied directly to the work order from other warehouses.

  To use this process, the employee warehouse must not have auto add permit enabled in (MMS005).

  • Fewer records will therefore exist in (MMS002).
  • There is full control of expensive material in all vans in one main warehouse.
  • When expensive material is returned from the work order unused, it is visible but not allocatable in the main warehouse immediately, preventing unnecessary replacements.
  • Only deliveries are connected directly to the work order. No order-initiated supply is needed.

  If there is a specific address at the work order, it is transferred to the delivery and the eventual order-initiated distribution order.

Material handling process

The second part of the process is the reporting of the picking list by warehouse personnel and service technicians. The process differs if the employee warehouse is supplied by order-initiated distribution orders or if the work order is supplied directly from main storage.

• Warehouse personnel at the supplying warehouse process the order-initiated distribution order and forward it to its delivery address.

  In this case, two orders are involved. Warehouse personnel process the first order and the second order is either processed manually by a service technician or automatically by the system. The service technician receives the order-initiated distribution order into the employee warehouse and then reports the issue to the work order through a work order delivery or a requisition order delivery, depending on whether a work order picking list is used.

• Warehouse personnel at the supplying warehouse process the delivery of material from their warehouse to the work order and then forward it to its delivery address.

  In this case, only one delivery is involved, which is processed by warehouse personnel.

  The technician reports material issued from the employee warehouse (for example, the van). By having a separate dispatch policy per warehouse or a specific dispatch policy for field service in (MOS120) setting 240, this delivery can act differently than the one for the main warehouse. Deliveries directly from the main warehouse may require a packing procedure and more manual steps, while deliveries from the van should be done more automatically.

  If there is storage at the employee warehouse, there will be a delivery that supplies the work order. This delivery is either reported manually by the service technician or automatically by the system.

• Confirm issue and return

  Material that was not used when the service was performed must be returned.

  Material can be returned by adding a negative line in (MOS101). It can also be returned by using sorting order 13 in (MOS101). In this view, the user reports for each line in status 80 what was used or what was returned, depending on the setting in (MOS101/P). The return quantity creates a negative line automatically.

  This can also be performed through API MOS100MI, transaction ReportUsedMtrl. The negative line creates a positive requisition order that must be processed further to get the material back to stock using 'Balance Identity. Open Toolbox' (MWS068).

• Confirm issue and return with delayed issue (recommended solution)

  Delayed issue is used to avoid unnecessary issue and return transactions for the work order and any related maintenance customer order. It also keeps the material allocated to the work order without issuing it to work in progress (WIP) until the technician reports used and unused material. The functionality is controlled by setting 211 on the work order type (MOS120) and is only available when a dispatch policy is used.

  Warehouse personnel pick, pack, and then confirm issue in 'Picking List. Report' (MWS420). This confirmation only moves the material to the employee location in the warehouse and the employee location must allow multi-balance IDs. If an employee location does not exist in (CRS530), the 'To' location in the work center is used. The delivery remains open.

  After work is performed, the used and unused quantity is reported in (MOS101) using sorting order 13. This can also be reported through API MOS100MI, transaction ReportUsedMtrl. When material is reported as used, it is issued to the work order and the delivery is closed. Unused material is returned to its standard location in (MMS002) for the employee warehouse if a record exists and the employee warehouse is a mobility warehouse. This then makes it available for the next work order. The mobility warehouse is controlled by a setting on the warehouse type in (MMS006). Material that is not stored in the employee warehouse must be returned to its warehouse in an un-allocatable state since it will not be available until physically returned by the service technician. This material is therefore moved to the allocated employee 'return' location if this exists. If no such location exists, the material is moved to the 'return' location at the work center. If such a location does not exist, the material remains at the employee location. These locations should not be allocatable.

  Note:  Employee locations must exist both at the employee warehouse and the main warehouse. If parameter '370' in (MOS120)/(MOS122) is activated to be able to reallocate the employee even if material is issued, material is issued from the originally allocated employee warehouse or location and unused material is returned to the reporting employee's warehouse or location.

  If an item is specified to be installed in a structure has the exchange value set to 1 or higher, for example, the remove/install program 'As Built Structure. Update Removal/Installation' (MOS125) opens automatically during the reporting process. If the configuration position is specified on the operation, most of the fields in (MOS125) are automatically populated.

  When a delayed issue is used, both used and unused quantity must be reported in (MOS101), sorting order 13, or through API MOS1000MI, transaction ReportUsedMtrl.

  
• Material in employee warehouse or vans

  Material that is stored in an employee warehouse or van must be supplied according to normal replenishment rules such as MRP or reorder point.

• Return of goods from employee location or employee warehouse/van

  Material to be returned from the employee warehouse can be moved using a normal distribution order in (MMS100). Material to be returned from an employee location can be moved by creating a move assignment in (MWS068) or a move order in (MMS100).

Outcome

The outcome of this process is a fully controlled material process for field service work orders.

Settings descriptions