You use counters to measure usage or wear and tear on an object. A counter describes the characteristics of a physical measuring device, such as a counter on a photocopier. You enter readings for a counter to record the counter status at a specific point in time.
Example
You can use counters to:
Record service histories (for example, recording the mileage during the technical inspection of a car)
Record energy consumption (for example, household gas or electricity readings)
Assess warranty claims based on consumption (for example, a car warranty is only valid for the first 30,000 miles)
The following counter types are available:
Backward- and forward-counting counters
Measuring points (for measurements that can increase and decrease)
Counters are readings are available in CRM Enterprise and CRM Mobile Service.
For information on the use of counter readings to determine billable usage in service contracts, see:
You can use planned and current counter values in service plans to determine the planned date for a service and to monitor actual usage. For more information, see Scheduling for Counter-Based Service Intervals.
You can import counters and readings into SAP CRM via an external interface, for example, if you have a large number of readings to enter. The interface also enables you to transfer counters and readings recorded on mobile devices to CRM Enterprise.
The interface is implemented in function module CRMXIF_COUNTER_SAVE and supports IDoc (standard SAP format for electronic data interchange between systems) and SOAP/XML formats.
You have set up counters and readings as follows in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management:
Defined the basic characteristics of counters
You do this in the section
.Specified whether counters and readings can be entered in service transaction headers and items
You do this by choosing
and Define Item Categories. For the transaction category Service Process, select Activate Counter as required.Defined the characteristics of readings, and the validation check for readings
You do this in the section
.Ensure that the predefined validation check meets your requirements (activity BAdI: Validation Check for Readings).
When you create a counter, you specify characteristics such as the measurement purpose of the counter, the unit of measure, minimum and maximum values, and the overflow value.
You can create counters as follows:
In the master data of the installed base component, product, or object to which the counter relates (on the Installed Bases, Products, and Objects pages respectively)
Independently of the above objects, on the Counters page
You can assign existing counters to installed base components, products, and objects (on the Installed Bases, Products, and Objects pages respectively).
Note
You can assign multiple counters to each installed base component, product, or object. However, you can assign each counter to only one of these.
You can deactivate and reactivate counters in counter editing. When a counter is inactive, you cannot enter readings for it.
When you enter a reading, it is automatically assigned a unique number from the number range defined in Customizing.
You can enter readings for counters as follows:
On the Readings page
On the Counters page
In the master data of an installed base, product, or object (on the Installed Bases, Products, and Objects pages respectively)
In service transactions (service orders, service order quotations, service contracts, complaints, returns, in-house repair orders, and service confirmations) in the assignment block Counters and Readings
You can retrieve the counters that are assigned to the reference object in your transaction.
If you have several counters in a transaction or item, you can mark one counter as the main counter.
When you save a reading, the system validates it using the validation check that is defined in Customizing.
Note
Once a reading has been saved, you can no longer change it. You can only cancel it and create a new reading.
You can cancel counter readings and reactivate canceled readings.