Service Recall Processing: Exchange of Defective Products (SAP Library

Process documentation Service Recall Processing: Exchange of Defective Products

Purpose

This process enables you to execute recall actions between the manufacturer and the customer for defective parts of an individual object to be exchanged with service parts. An individual object is a special product, for example, a car or a computer. It identifies a specific object and contains data that is only true for that exact object. You use this process to offer your customer a defined list of service parts and their maximum permitted quantities for each individual object.

For example, you execute a recall action due to a high number of warranty claims and complaints received for laptops with serial numbers ranging from 1000 to 2000. Defective hard disks need to be replaced. To avoid further complaints, you inform your customer about the exchange of the defective hard disks. The customer orders the new hard disks from you, and has them delivered free of charge in exchange for the defective ones.

Recalled parts that are still in the customer’s stock are processed in a separate returns process. For more information, see Structure link Service Recall Processing: Returning Service Parts.

Prerequisites

In Customizing for Customer Relationship Management, you have made the following settings:

● To use reference objects and enter the product IDs of the individual objects in the service recall order, you have created a subject profile with subject profile category Individual Object (Sales Order). For more information, see the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG) for SAP CRM at Customer Relationship Management ® Basic Functions ® Catalogs, Codes, and Profiles ® Define Subject Profiles.

● You have created a separate transaction type for service recall processing, and have assigned this subject profile to it under External Reference Objects. For more information, see the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG) for SAP CRM at Customer Relationship Management ® Transactions ® Basic Settings ® Define Transaction Types.

Process Flow

The manufacturer runs product analyses, and discovers that repeated complaints point to a defective part as the cause of a problem. Defective parts have to be exchanged for new parts. The defective part has to be exchanged in all individual objects in which it was fitted in order to solve the problem.

1. To guarantee delivery of the service parts, you create a sales order template. The sales order template contains a list of the parts to be exchanged, and the required quantity for each individual object.

Use transaction type SALT, provided in the standard delivery, as a template.

2. Customers are notified via a product service letter. For this, you create a product service letter, and first enter the list of customers affected that should be notified of the recall campaign (Target Groups tab page). In addition, the product service letter contains the list of individual objects affected by the recall action, as well as a reference to the sales order template that lists the products with the corresponding quantities that should be exchanged for an individual object. The product service letter contains details about the following:

○ Validity area

○ Status of the document

○ Target group

○ Product IDs of the individual objects affected

○ Link to the sales order template

Use transaction type PSLS, provided in the standard delivery, as a template.

3. The customer receives the message about the recall action via his or her chosen communication channel, for example e-mail, and creates a service recall order with regard to the manufacturer’s recall (product service letter) in the customer portal. Alternatively, you can also create the service recall order for your customer. The service recall order comprises the following details:

○ Sold-to party

○ Product service letter ID

○ Product IDs of the individual objects

Additionally, the service recall order includes a list of the individual objects for which parts are to be exchanged. You enter these on the Reference Objects tab page.

4. The system checks the validity of the product service letter and the product IDs of the individual objects.

○ The service recall order is valid if the following points are fulfilled:

○ The status of the selected product service letter is Released.

○ The order date is within the validity period of the date of the product service letter.

○ The sold-to party is entitled to make a claim for the product service letter.

5. After the data entered has been validated, the system automatically creates the corresponding order items, which are not invoiced, in the service recall order. The quantities for each of the order items in the service recall order are calculated by multiplying the quantity for each of the items in the sales order template by the number of individual objects entered in the service recall order. The order items are only copied once for a given product service letter. If you add or remove individual objects, the system determines the new quantities accordingly. You are allowed to reduce the quantity. If you want to reduce the quantity determined by the system, the determined quantities are overwritten by the quantities entered manually.

6. The system checks the products and quantities.

7. The customer posts the service recall order.

8. The system updates the status of the individual objects in the product service letter.