Scheduling for Counter-Based Service Intervals 

 

Purpose

 

When using counter-based service intervals, a counter monitors the wear and tear on an object, or the usage or reduction of a supply. The service is performed when the counter of the reference object displays a certain reading, for example every 100 hours in service or every 500 copies.

The planned date of a service can be determined using the counter reading and a usage estimation that is defined for the counter.

 

Prerequisites

 

·        You have created counters in counter management in the system and for each counter you have entered planned values and periods for the planned values (for example, 300 kilometers per day or 10 000 copies in one month).

You maintain counters in the SAP GUI by choosing the transaction Master Data ®Counter ® Maintain Counter in the SAP menu. For more information, see Counters.

·        In Customizing, you have defined whether counters and counter readings should be displayed and maintained in service plan items, and whether the maintenance should be performed on separate tab pages or only on one tab page.

To do this, choose the activity Customer Relationship Management ®Transactions ® Basic Settings ® Define Item Categories in the Implementation Guide (IMG) and proceed as follows.

                             a.      Choose the item category intended for the service plan items

                             b.      Choose the entry Service Contract in the Assignment of Business Transaction Categories view

                             c.      Choose the view Item Customizing and maintain the fields

§         Display Counter

§         Display Reading

§         One Tab Page

 

Process Flow

 

·        You have assigned counters in Installed Base Management for the installed base component for which the service should be provided.

·        You enter the installed base component as a reference object in the object list when creating the service plan item.

·        Switch to the Counter tab page. There you can enter counters manually or accept the proposals made by the system. If you use the latter possibility, the counters assigned to the reference objects and the relevant counter information are displayed for selection in a separate dialog box. If only one counter is assigned to the reference object, the counter information is accepted immediately, without a dialog box appearing.

Specifics of the SAP GUI:

Choose the pushbutton  with the quick info Fetch Counter for Reference Object to automatically confirm counters in the SAP GUI.

Specifics of the People-Centric UI:

Choose the pushbutton Counter for Reference Object to automatically confirm counters in the People-Centric UI.

The counter information is also automatically transferred to the service plan item when you choose a service from the product proposal.

·        You record the current counter reading regularly and enter it as a visible value, even if it has not changed. Otherwise the system creates release objects (for example, service orders) based on estimated annual performance, although the counter reading has not yet actually been reached.

In the case of a pump, a maintenance activity must be performed for every 100 hours that the pump is in service. The release date that was calculated during the scheduling of the service plan has almost been reached, but the counter reading of the pump shows only 50 hours in service because the pump is temporarily not in use.

To prevent service orders being generated before they are needed, enter the new total counter reading in the system. You then reschedule the service plan. The release date is recalculated based on the updated counter reading and in this case, is arranged for a later date.

 

Example

...

        1.      In a service plan for a pump, it is defined that the gaskets should be checked after 50 000 liters of water have flowed through the pump. The pump appears in the system as an installed base component and has a counter that measures the flow of water in liters.

        2.      When the service plan item is created, the system calculates the planned date by which 50 000 liters of water should have flowed through the pump. On this planned date, a service employee should check the gaskets.

        3.      The system then calculates the release date on which the service order is created. The service manager has defined the release date so that it falls before the planned date, leaving him or her enough time for resource planning.

        4.      Over time, the service employee records the counter readings of the pump at regular intervals and enters them as visible values in the service plan. If it is established that the water flows faster or slower than estimated, the service manager must adapt the planned dates correspondingly.

        5.      If 48 500 liters of water flow through the pump, the release date is reached and the system creates a service order with the data from the service plan.

        6.      Since the system has created the service order punctually, the service employee can then check the pump when precisely 50 000 liters of water have flowed through the pump.