Long-Term Service Agreements (SAP Library

Long-Term Service Agreements

Purpose

This scenario specifically involves long-term contract agreements that are of significance for subsequent service processing.

There are various options in Customer Service that enable you to create service agreements with customers in the system (warranty agreements and service contracts). Service contracts, such as the maintenance contract, are used in this scenario.

You agree upon the content and scope of the services that you perform for the customer in service contracts. Service contracts describe which services are performed for which objects, and under which conditions. In this way you define, for example, which after-sales services are covered by the contract for the specified devices, the period of time in which the work is guaranteed to be performed (response and service times), what prices are valid for the work, at what intervals the customer is billed, or how cancellation of the contract is arranged.

As a service provider, you mainly use service contracts for:

Checking a customer’s entitlement to services they request
Price agreements for service orders
Periodic billing
Automatic task determination for a service notification

If there is a contractual obligation to perform periodic services (for example, periodic inspections), a reference is created between the contract and a maintenance plan (the maintenance plan is responsible for the automatic creation of service orders). This ensures integration between contract agreements and processing.

Prerequisites

Within the framework of the scenario Long-Term Service Agreements, you use the integrated business functions of the following SAP application components:

SAP Component	Functions
Customer Service (CS)	Integration of SD contract functionality
Sales and Distribution (SD)	Maintenance and billing of the service contract

Process Flow

Presales Activities

In the preliminary stages of service contract processing, you start by acquiring sales orders within the framework of sales activity processing (for example, phone call, visit, letter).

You could also initiate this by launching a direct mailing campaign, which presents the opportunity to send out product information, promotional gifts and so on, to a selected set of customers.

You can enter a customer’s request for general product information (for example, product descriptions, availability) using an inquiry.

You send the exact and binding product information (for example, prices, delivery dates) to the customer in the form of a quotation. A service contract can be created directly from a valid quotation that has been accepted by the customer.

Service Contract

As a rule, you perform services on the basis of a service contract.

The service contract is a special type of contract in the SAP application component Sales and Distribution (SD) and is also used in Customer Service.

You maintain the scope of the agreed services as well as the price conditions that are valid for the respective customer in the service contract. The price conditions form the basis for service contract billing.

Result

You create service contracts and manage them.

If you have agreed in a maintenance contract to perform periodic services for your customer, you can do this by linking several service contract items to a maintenance plan. The automatic creation of service orders is triggered by the maintenance plan.