Quality Inspection 

Purpose

Quality inspections are part of the physical returns process.

After approval of a returns request, the returned service parts are delivered to the warehouse and undergo Quality Inspections. The inspection outcomes are transferred to SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) in inspection confirmations and are, among other things, the basis for calculating credit- or debit memos or for determining the Follow-Up Activities for the Logistical Process.

Prerequisites

●     You have set the System Configuration Active for Service Parts Management indicator.  You can find this indicator in Customizing for SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) by choosing Transactions ® Basic Settings ® Activate System Configuration for Service Parts Management.

For more information about this indicator, see Additional Functions for Service Parts Management.

●     In Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under Transactions ® Basic Settings ® Define Transaction Types, you have processed the transaction types that are relevant for returns processing as follows:

Choose a transaction type with a leading transaction category of Complaints and go to Assignment of Business Transaction Categories. Then, choose Service Process, and process the following fields in the Customizing Header view, according to your requirements:

○     Trans. Type Confirm. (Business transaction type confirmation)

○     Remanuf. Trans. Type (Transaction type for confirmation of remanufacturer)

○     Int. Logi. Trans. Type (Transaction type for confirmation of intermediate logistics)

Process Flow

In SAP CRM, you enter a return with returns request. After approval of the return, the service parts are returned to the vendor. The quality inspections are done at the vendor’s warehouse. The results of the inspections are documented in inspection outcomes in SAP Supply Chain Management, Extended Warehouse Management (SAP SCM, EWM).

The inspection outcome from SAP SCM, EWM is replicated through SAP ECC to SAP CRM in an inspection confirmation. The codes of the detailed inspection outcomes influence pricing.

An inspection confirmation in SAP CRM is created automatically by the system corresponding to the settings in Customizing (for more information, see “Prerequisites” above). To do so, the system uses the returns material authorization (RMA) number in the inspection outcome to determine the preceding document, which is the corresponding returns request. The data from both the returns request and the inspection outcome is incorporated into the inspection confirmation. An inspection confirmation is created in SAP CRM for each inspection outcome from SAP EWM.

An inspection confirmation is created for each partial delivery. Examples of partial deliveries include: deliveries with unused service parts or deliveries with service parts to be scrapped.

 

Result

The system uses inspection confirmations to create credit- or debit memos. Furthermore, Follow-Up Activities for the Logistical Process can be triggered and entitlements can be unlocked. For more information, see Entitlements Check.