The automatic creation of a sales order into a service order requires that plant specifications have been made for the material (service product) of the sales order item which can than be taken into the service order as default values. These specifications contain a link to a general maintenance task list. The general maintenance task list is a work list defining all procedures to be processed. In the call management of the IDES model company we assigned the general maintenance task list NETINST to the service product SM-NETINST. The specifications of this task list are taken into the service order.

The default value determination for a service product is processed via Logistics à Service Management à Service processing à Environment à Sales and distribution à Service products.

The general maintenance task list NETINST is defined via Logistics à Plant Maintenance à Work Centers à Task Lists à general task list (Planning group = NETINST).

In the sales order which is the starting point of the process described, the system determines the characteristics of the network installation within the framework of a configuration. The following information assume basic knowledge of variant configuration.

The configuration influences the pricing in the sales order, the activity and component selection in the service order as well as the execution factor of the selected transactions.

When configuring the sales order the system valuates the characteristics of class SM_NETINST. The class comprises six characteristics:

Configuration also uses the following two characteristics:

The characteristic SURCHARGE2 links to the table field SDCOM-VCOND. Table SDCOM connects the communication between the module SD (Sales and Distribution) and the variant configuration. The link to the field VCOND (Variant condition) in the table makes the evaluation of the characteristic available for the pricing in the customer order. The automatic pricing determines a surcharge in dependence of this characteristic value.

The characteristic SM_FACTOR links to the table field PLPO-AUFKT. In table PLPO the system saves the activity data of the work list. The field AUFKT contains the respective execution factor. By using object dependencies the system valuates the characteristic within the framework of the configuration and therefore influences the execution factor of the respective activity in the service order.

The service product "Network installation" is represented by the material master record SM-NETINST. This is a configurable material. Assigned to the configuration profile of this material is the class SM_NETINST. The profile contains two object dependencies. The system derives the scope of network (characteristic SM_NET) from the number of computers in the net (characteristic SM_CLIENTS) via one of the two object dependencies. The other object dependency determines a value for price surcharge (characteristic SURCHARGE2) dependent from the network scope (characteristic SM_NETINST).

Via default values that are defined for the service product SM_NETINST the system uses the general maintenance task list NETINST (see above) in the service order. The class SM_NETINST has also been assigned to the configuration profile of this general maintenance task list. In the general maintenance task list we determined object dependencies for the individual activities. In the laying cables activity (activity number 0010) the system derives the execution factor from the value of characteristic "cable length" (characteristic CH0038) with the help of which the system determines the work and activity duration in the service order. The execution factor of activity "connect PCs" (activity 0020) is determined by the number of computers to be installed (characteristic SM_CLIENTS). The activities 0021 to 0023 (Installation of the respective operating systems) are alternative and are selected in the service order due to the specification of the characteristic "operating system " (characteristic C_OPERATING_SYSTEM). The object dependencies of activity 0030 (install application software) makes its execution factor dependent from the respective operating system. We did not define object dependencies for the last activity.

The general maintenance task list for the network installation (NETINST) contains a link to the assembly SM-NETINST. For material SM-NETINST a BOM exists. This BOM contains three different cable types as components (material number C-1030 to C-1032). Each component has an object dependency assigned to it. The conditions defined there select the components according to the cable type (characteristic SM_CABLE).

In the general maintenance task list NETINST the first activity has three components assigned to it.