Scheduling for Counter-Based Service Intervals

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 carried out when the counter of the reference object displays a certain reading, such as every 1,000 hours in service or every 50,000 copies.

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

Prerequisites

In the system, you have created counters, and for each counter, you have entered planned values as well as periods for the planned values (such as 300 miles per day or 10,000 copies in one month).
For more information, see Counters and Readings.
In Customizing, you have defined whether counters and counter readings can be displayed and edited in service plan items.
Make this setting in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under Transactions Basic Settings Define Item Categories . Proceed as follows:
1. Choose the item category intended for service plan items.
2. Click Assignment of Business Transaction Categories and in the view that appears, choose Service Contract.
3. Click Customizing Item and select the Display Counter checkbox.

Process

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.
In assignment block Counters and Readings, you can enter counters manually or accept the proposals made by the system. If you use the latter option, the counters assigned to the reference objects, as well as the relevant counter information, are displayed in a separate dialog box for selection. If only one counter is assigned to the reference object, the counter information is accepted immediately, without a dialog box appearing.
To activate automatic counter acceptance, choose Proposal from Ref. Objects.

Note

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

End of the note.
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 (such as service orders) on the basis of the estimated annual performance, although the counter reading has actually not yet been reached.

Example
For a certain pump, a maintenance activity must be carried out 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.

In order 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 and, based on the updated counter reading, it is set for a later date.

End of the example.

Example

It is established in a service plan for a pump 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 installation component and has a counter that measures the flow of water in liters.
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 representative should check the gaskets.
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 enough time for resource planning.
Over time, the service representative 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 accordingly.
When 48,500 liters of water have flowed through the pump, the release date is reached and the system creates a service order with the data from the service plan.
Since the system has created the service order punctually, the service representative can then check the pump precisely when 50,000 liters of water have flowed through the pump.