External repair orders or external service orders are used to submit a part to a supplier for maintenance and repair services, including part loans and exchanges that may be necessary when a repair part requires either a temporary or permanent replacement. Serial- and lot/batch-tracked parts are supported.
What characterizes the process is its versatility. For one, you can start an external service order from three different entry points. You can begin with an existing work order within the WO Processing main process. Using the Prepare Work Order window, you can pull up basic part information, create a purchase requisition for external maintenance or repair service for that part, and then turn the requisition either into a request for quotation (RFQ) or directly into a purchase order. At this point, you would continue within the Procurement process flow to process the purchase requisition or purchase order. As an alternative, you could also start in IFS/Procurement, either with a purchase requisition or purchase order.
More importantly, when you subsequently receive a part from the supplier, you can accommodate three different arrival and receipt scenarios, depending on the part being returned:
Straight repair—The same part you
sent out is being returned.
Single swap—You send out one part, and
another part with a different part, serial,
and/or lot/batch number is returned in its place.
Double swap—Before you send out a part for repair, the supplier provides you with an advance exchange part. You keep this loaner part until the repaired original is returned to you, at which point you return the temporary exchange part to the supplier.
For each of these scenarios, you can, moreover, specify different receive cases with or without a quality inspection.
If the supplier cannot repair the part, you can either scrap the part at the supplier site or return the part into inventory using a Return Material Authorization (RMA).
The following paragraphs address all of these aspects of external service order handling in more detail and are organized according to the major subprocesses:
Preparing and releasing an external service order
Handling arrival and receipt into inventory of a repaired part
Handling arrival and receipt into inventory of an exchanged part (single swap)
Handling arrival and receipt into inventory of an advance exchange part from the supplier and returning the part to the supplier (double swap)
As in all areas of IFS Applications, a preliminary step requires basic data to be set up. Once these basic data requirements (BDR) are satisfied, you can step through the process in a seamless manner.
Underlying external service orders is a process flow that uses a purchase order to specify the external maintenance or repair service for a given part and then converts the purchase order to a customer order to ship the part as a no-charge component to the supplier (the part entered on purchase order line for external maintenance or repair, in other words, will at the same time be connected as a component part to the line, which makes the creation of a customer order possible).
Going through this flow requires several parameters to be defined. Depending on your previous use of the system, some of them may already be defined. Some of this basic data can, moreover, be set up later than others. In all cases, the documentation clearly indicates which data needs to be in place at which point. Following is an overview of all required data:
A default customer order type must
be defined (for instance, RO to signify External Service Order). It is recommended to use a customer order type with no stops.
Otherwise, the background customer order flow will be stopped at various points (picking,
shipping, etc) and can only be
restarted through user intervention. (Use the
Order Types
tab of the Sales Basic Data window.)
All external service types need to
be entered in the system—for instance, RE (Repair) or EX (Exchange)—and
then be connected to a customer order type (for example, RO). (Use the
External Service Types
tab of the Procurement Basic Data window.)
For each service type, a price has
to be specified. (Use the
External Service Prices tab of the
Supplier for Purchase
Part window.) Note: If you do not define prices
during basic data setup, you will receive a warning message when trying to
save a purchase order. You will be able to add a price on the purchase
order line at that point.
The supplier needs to be assigned a
customer ID so you can use the charge/no-charge function when shipping the
repair part with a customer order. (This implies that the supplier has
previously been set up in the system.) (Use the
Supplier or
Supplier for Purchase Part window.)
The purchase part to be sent to the supplier
has to be converted to a sales part so you can use the Customer Order
purchase component method. (This implies that the part has previously been
defined as a purchase part). (Use the
Purchase Part or
Supplier
for Purchase Part window.)
A default receive case should be defined. (Use the
Inspection
Info tab of the
Supplier for Purchase Part window.) If
no receive case is specified, the
Receive into Arrival receive case is used by default. During arrival, however,
the default receive case can always be changed.
If you expect to receive exchange parts into inventory, you need to
define each exchange part as a valid alternate to the
respective original part. (Use the
Alternate Purchase Part Base Data
window, which you can reach from the
Supplier for Purchase Part
window through a right mouse button option.)
Several categories should be set up to facilitate the closing of a work order and to subsequently help analyze faults and costs by any of these categories. Among them are fault classes (such as mechanical, electrical, pneumatic), fault types (broken solder joint, air leakage, abnormal wear), corrective actions performed (calibration, lubrication, repair, exchange), and causes (poor workmanship, part breakdown, lack of maintenance). (Use the Classes and Types tabs of the Work Order and PM Basic Data window as well as the Performed Actions and Causes tabs of the Maintenance Basic Data window.)
Note: In addition to the requirements described above, a part to be sent out for external service evidently has to be in inventory before it can picked in conjunction with the customer order flow. If you prepare an external service order from a work order (see Option 1 in the following section), you may have to receive the part into inventory while creating a purchase requisition. A right mouse button option allows you to do so from the Requisitions tab of the Prepare Work Order window.
To set up the basic data, you can open the applicable windows from the Navigator, or you can click the BDR icon (a yellow diamond) in the upper left-hand corner of the process models. This will give you access to detailed instructions and take you to the pertinent windows for entering the data.
The External Service Order Handling process gives you three options to create an external service order.
If the part is serial or lot batch tracked, the specific serial or lot batch number must be available in stock to be able to reserve and ship the part to the supplier. It is, however, possible to leave this column empty when placing the order, but it must be specified before the parts can be reserved. When using a setting where the serial numbers are normally not tracked in inventory, the specific serial number that is subject for the service must be identified in inventory before it can be reserved and delivered to the supplier. This is valid for all the options described below.
Using an existing work order offers one way into the process. From the Prepare Work Order window within IFS/Work Order Management, you can bring up the applicable work order, create a purchase requisition for external service for the faulty part, and then either convert the requisition to a request for quotation (RFQ) or directly to a purchase order. Other required steps—such as receiving the part into inventory and selecting a service supplier for it—can also be done from here. And once you have released a purchase requisition, you can access the resulting RFQ or purchase order from this window as well.
Sometimes, external services such as repair & overhaul may not be prompted by a work order. In that case, you can create an external service order from a purchase requisition in the Purchase Requisition window within IFS/Purchasing. The procedure follows the same steps you would use to create a requisition for purchasing a part, with the exception that you need to use order code 6 (External Service Order). When the requisition is done, you can either convert it to an RFQ or directly to a purchase order.
If you decide to solicit order quotations, remember that an RFQ for external services can only be created on the basis of a purchase requisition with order code 6. Likewise, it will only be possible to convert an order quotation to a purchase order with order code 6 if the RFQ for that quotation was created from a purchase requisition with order code 6.
In some cases, you may want to create and release an external service order without any intermediate steps—maybe because you have to contend with time constraints or because you have a long-standing agreement with an external repair shop. If so, you can create an external service order from a new purchase order. As in the previous option, you need to use order code 6 (External Service Order).
When you create a purchase order line for a part to be sent out for external service (as indicated by order code 6 in the purchase order header), the part will automatically be connected as a component part to the line when the line is saved. When the purchase order is released, the customer order flow will be started and a no-charge customer order connected to the purchase order will be created with all needed documents for the shipping of the part. The customer order type defined for the specified external service type will be used.
Among the three arrival and receipt scenarios, the most basic one is the return of the same part as was sent out (same part number and, if applicable, serial number and/or lot/batch number). After physical delivery of the part, the first step is to record in the system that the part has arrived. Recording arrival means assigning a receipt line status to the part, which may differ depending on the default receive case. If the default receive case does not include a quality inspection, you can always override that case and submit a part to QA after all. All arrivals are processed in the Register Purchase Order Arrivals window.
Depending on the receive case, the part is either submitted to QA or moved into inventory. If the external service order did not originate with a work order, the process is complete. Otherwise, you need to return to the work order and close it by recording pertinent information such as fault type and cause of fault. In this way, the work order can serve as a valuable historical record for future reference.
A variation of the first arrival and receipt scenario is the return of an exchange part with a different part, serial, and/or lot/batch number. This process differs only if you need to modify the receipt conditions, which means recording the part, serial, and/or lot/batch number, the condition code and the external service type of the replacement part. Aside from that, the process follows the same steps as in the straight repair case. An important prerequisite to this scenario is that the exchange part has been defined as a valid alternate to the original part. This is done in the Alternate Purchase Part Base Data window, which you can reach from the Supplier for Purchase Part window through a right mouse button option.
In this arrival and receipt scenario, the supplier provides you with an exchange part before you send the faulty part to the supplier for repair. When the part is repaired, the supplier returns it to you, at which point you return the loaner part to the supplier. Again, the exchange part must have been defined as a valid alternate to the original part.
To initiate a loan of an exchange part, return to the existing purchase order and purchase order line for the part that needs to be repaired, and specify, through an right mouse button option, which exchange part you would like to receive in advance and by when. The system then creates a new purchase order line for the loaned part, in addition to the order line for the part to be repaired.
If the supplier cannot repair the part, you can scrap the part at the supplier site by right-clicking on the purchase order and clicking the appropriate action. This could be done both for a statistical reason and for a financial reason. When the parts are scrapped at the supplier site, the value of the parts is moved from a WIP (work in progress) account to a scrap account.
On the inventory part record, you can select whether it should not affect the part value at all or whether the cost of the service should be added to the part value. The following bullets further explain these two settings.
Posting event |
Description |
Debit |
Credit |
|
ARR-COMP |
Receipt of Repair Purchase Order - Repaired Part (Receipt of serviced part into inventory) |
M1 |
M15 |
|
ARR-NONINV |
Register PO Arrivals (Non-Inventory) |
M92 |
M91 |
The supplier invoice for the service is matched against the value of the ARR-NONINV transaction.
Posting event |
Description |
Debit |
Credit |
|
ARR-COMP |
Receipt of Repair Purchase Order - Repaired Part (Receipt of serviced part into inventory) |
M1 |
M15 |
|
ARR-REPAIR |
Receipt of Repair Purchase Order - Cost of Service |
M15 |
M10 |
The supplier invoice for the service is matched against the value of the ARR-REPAIR transaction.
If the receipt data is modified (i.e., if an exchange is performed), the ARR-COMP transaction is replaced by another transaction code. If the part number is changed, a PARTSWAP transaction is created. If only the serial or lot/batch number is changed, a SERLOTSWAP transaction is posted.