Application Example (Service Notifications)

A company manufactures PC workstations and also provides customer service for them. The company leases several PCs to one customer and agrees a service contract with that customer, which covers maintenance work and the delivery of spare parts. The PCs are installed at the customer company. The vendor manages all leased PCs in corresponding master records. Vendor and customer have Internet access, and the vendor offers the entry of service notifications in the Internet. The customer has all necessary authorizations.

If a hard disk should break down at a customer company, for example, the customer informs the vendor customer service department by means of an Internet service notification, and requests the remedy for the problem. When the customer enters the service notification, the system gives them a list of PCs that they are leasing. With regard to the problem description, codes are proposed only for problems that can actually arise with PC workstations. This keeps data entry by the customer to a minimum, and the amount of data entry errors is very small. The customer can enter the notification immediately after the problem arises; they are not bound by the times at which the vendor hotline is manned.

The vendor receives the service request online immediately and, in this case, they can establish the fact that the hard disk needs to be replaced. In this way it is ensured that the customer receives a new hard disk at the earliest possible time. This can be installed by the internal PC service department.