Installed Base 

Definition

An installed base represents the place where products are installed at customer site and services are to be rendered. It contains information about the serviceable items and other supporting information relevant to a service scenario.

Use

You use an installed base to logically organize the hierarchy levels of a site or product, find them easily, and group them together when performing service tasks. The installed base forms the reference basis for service orders.

The following are possible types of installed base components:

·        Product

Contains general information about the product, for example, a computer.

·        Individual object

Contains individual data that uniquely identifies an object. This may include information such as location, identification number and so on.

·         A computer monitor with the manufacturer´s serial number "123xyz".

·         A life insurance. This can be uniquely identified by the insurance number.

Each individual object belongs to an object family, for example, household appliances or software licenses. To get the individual object information downloaded to the mobile client, the object family in CRM Enterprise should be mobile relevant.

·        Text item

Contains data valid for exactly one object. A text item serves as a placeholder in the structure to make it more readable and identifiable. A text item could be, for example, an identification number, location of a server room or a manual for the product.

·        Another installed base

An installed base can be made up of several other installed bases.

The wings of an airplane and its associated components can be managed as one “installed base”. The engine parts of an airplane and its associated components can be maintained as another “installed base”.

The installed base for the entire “airplane” would comprise details of both of these installed bases.

Structure

In the Mobile Service system, an installed base is shown as a tree structure. The components within the installed base have the following parts:

·        Identifier

Information that is used to identify a component easily, for example, a device ID.

·        Description

Product descriptions or texts maintained for the component.

·        Quantity and Unit (applicable only for the component type Product)

Used if there is more than one unit of the product.

·        Partner and Address Information

Information on business partners and locations related to the installed base and its components.

Example

This diagram represents the installed base structure.

The structure described in this example may differ across companies.