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Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante

Service Management in SAP with Customer Service Module(CS)

In this blog post, I would like to share my views on Service Management in SAP with Customer Service Module which is completely different from the CRM-Service Management/Customer Management.

The term Service Management is little bit tricky in SAP, as there are lot of similarities between Plant Maintenance and Service Management in SAP. The reason for this is both SM and PM shares same configuration nodes, Master data and Transactions with some difference. I would like to discuss about the service management which is integrated with Sales and Distribution Module. The Customer Service Module is a sub-branch of SD module for service management which is tightly integrated with various modules like SD/MM/PM/FI/CO/HR/QM/PP in SAP.

I had gone through the various blogs on service management from an outbound logistics consultant perspective, but none gives me the overall scope of the customer service module, all blogs give information on returns & repairs with gaps or it is directing me towards PM area. Here I would like to list out all processes in the customer service module.

Customer Service Module with in SAP Core ERP enables to manage a wide range of service scenarios starting from pre-sales, sales and post-sales.

Master Data in CS:

  1. Customer Master (Business Partner)
  2. Material Master
  3. Condition Master (prices, surcharges, Taxes etc.)
  4. Equipment Master: Material No. + Serial No. + Warranty
  5. Serial Number: Unique number or I.D given to a product
  6. Warranty Master
  7. Installed Base: Represents customer
  8. Functional Location: Represents the location where machine is installed
  9. Work Center : Represents Department in the company
  10. Cost Center : Represents Technician or Mechanic
  11. Activity : Activity represents the work or repair or service which is done by the cost center.
  12. Activity Pricing: Activity Pricing is the pricing/cost/charge of the service done by the cost center.

Customer Service Module includes functions for Processing:

1. Service Notifications:

Service Notification is a document created for capturing complaint from the customer.

2. Warranties:

Warranty is a promise given for a product during the sales in terms of usage life which holds guarantee(Repair or Replace a defective product or its parts) .

3. Service orders:

The details of actual service tasks with work center, cost center, activities, technician, inspections, planned duration and components etc. are captured in the service order

4. Service Contracts:

Service contracts are used to record the details of the service package that one have agreed to provide a service recipient with over a specific period of time.( E.g. The routine service tasks which are to be performed on a piece of machinery that has been sold or rented to a customer(Rental contract-MV/Maintenance contract-WV)

  • Service Contract with Periodic Billing
  • Service with Time and Material based Billing
  • Service with Fixed Billing

5. Service quotations:

Service quotations are used to record the terms and conditions under which one offer a particular service to a customer.

6. Repair orders:

Repair orders provides you with a wide range of functions for managing all the necessary activities which repairing goods for a customer entails, from registering the repair request from the customer through to billing the customer for the services performed.

  • Repair Process
  • Maintenance & Warranty Processing
  • Supply Replacement Material

Key Points:

  • Resource-related billing is used to bill service activities and costs that are not covered directly by the service fee for the contract.
  • Resource-related service quotation is created with reference to service order, Debit memo request and Credit memo requests are created with reference to service order or Sales document i.e e.g. Sales Contract.
  • The plan service activities more accurately and to be able to influence costs are forwarded to billing from service order via resource related billing with the help of DIP Profile (Dynamic item processor profile)
  • The operations costs or other costs in the service order will be transferred to the SD Sales documents into “EK01” Condition Value.
  • Resource-related billing is not always mandatory to be used, need and usage of it depends upon the scenario or requirement from the business.
  • Billing plan functionalities are used in SD Contracts.

Elaboration of Various Types of Repair Scenarios under service management in CS: As there are various blogs on repair process with steps, I am not detailing much with the screen shots of the process steps. The below mentioned pictorial diagrams illustrates the process flow.

Note:

Serviceable Material: Represents the goods to be repaired in repairing processing.

Service Product: Material that represents the Customer’s repair request. The service product is represented in the system by a material master record.

Repair Order Types in SAP CS/SD:

Depending on how repairs processing is performed by the business, you can choose between one of the following repair order types in the standard system:

RAS – Repair order with service product:

You use this type of repair order if you want to specify the repairs to be performed at the time of order entry. A repair order of the type RAS is incomplete until a service product is entered. You can:

  • Enter the service product directly in the Material field in the repair order
  • Use the material determination function to find suitable service products via the material number of the serviceable material.

When you enter the service product and serviceable material in the repair request item, the system creates a return order item automatically for the serviceable material. The repair procedure controls this.

RA – Repair order:

You use this type of repair order if you perform repairs according to the results of the technical check. You do not have to enter a service product at the order entry stage. After the technical check has determined what repairs need to be performed on the serviceable material, you can:

  • Enter the appropriate service product on the repair screen of the repair order
  • Use the material determination function to find suitable service products via the material number of the serviceable material.
  • You must enter a service product in the RA repair order before the service technician can begin the repairs.

 

Scenario 1 Returns & Repairs: 

  • The business process starts with a customer reporting a problem. A service executive creates a service notification in the system.
  • The service executive carries out a warranty check based on serial number & material on the service notification and enters customer details.
  • The service executive informs the customer about the expected date of repair completion. A repair order is then created from the service notification so that the entire repair process can be controlled and settled. In the repair order, the defective / damaged product is automatically assigned by the returns items
  • A service order is automatically generated using an item proposal to enable the repairs to be carried out. Once the repairs have been carried out, the costs are confirmed to the service order.
  • The repaired product is delivered to the customer and the final repair status can be displayed.
  • The service center creates a billing request. This appears in the repair order as an additional item and is not a separate document (unlike the billing request in the on-site service process). The repair order can now be billed.
  • The costs resulting from the service order are settled to the repair order.

 

Scenario 2 Onsite Repairs: 

  • The business process starts with a customer reporting a problem with a Product. A service executive creates a service notification in the system.
  • The service executive processes the service notification and sets its status to “in process”. The service executive then calls a technician and assigns him/her to the relevant service order.
  • Subsequently, a service order is created from the extended notification, and the activities required and times for the service to be carried out on-site are planned.
  • The technician carries out the repairs at the customer’s site and confirms the spare par ts and services used by issuing an overall completion confirmation.
  • A billing request is created.
  • The service executive checks the service order and technically completes

 

Scenario 3 External Processing: 

  • The business process starts with a customer reporting a problem. A service executive creates a service notification in the system.
  • The service executive carries out a warranty check on the service notification and enters customer details.
  • The service executive informs the customer about the expected date of repair completion. A repair order is then created from the service notification so that the entire repair process can be controlled and settled. In the repair order, the defective / damaged mobile is automatically assigned by the returns items
  • A service order is automatically generated using an item proposal to enable the repairs to be carried out. Once the repairs have been carried out, the costs are confirmed to the service order.
  • The services or components are procured externally with purchase order and Goods receipt/Invoice verification is done with reference to P.O
  • The repaired mobile is delivered to the customer and the final repair status can be displayed.
  • The service center creates a billing request. This appears in the repair order as an additional item and is not a separate document (unlike the billing request in the on-site service process). The repair order can now be billed.
  • The costs resulting from the service order are settled to the repair order.

 

Scenario 4 AMC: 

  • The business process starts with a customer requesting to sign a contract. A sales service executive creates a Contract in the system.
  • The sales executive enters all the information relevant for creating a contract, save the document for billing purpose.
  • Subsequently, sales executive create an Invoice with reference to the contract number.

Hope this will give a clarity and clear picture on the service management in SAP with CS module for SD/OTC consultants. Please feel free to give me with your comments and suggestions to improve this blog post.

Thanks & Regards,

S.Himavanth.

 

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      36 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Ramanujam Duraisamy
      Ramanujam Duraisamy

      The above blog will be my reference checklist to validate solution coverage in proposals / project deliveries wrt service management solutions.

      Experience sharing of the blogger is greatly appreciated.

      Regards.

       

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Thank you very much Ram...!!!

      Author's profile photo Shubham Srivastava
      Shubham Srivastava

      This is very well written Hima!!!

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Shubham…..!!!

      Author's profile photo Ramesh Sankannavar
      Ramesh Sankannavar

      Well Written himavanth, very well elaborated on all scenarios

      Also was looking for S/4 Hana related changes in Service Management, maybe you can write in another blog..

      Author's profile photo Rajarama U
      Rajarama U

      Nice blog Himavanth. Thanks for sharing.

      Author's profile photo Ravi Pandey
      Ravi Pandey

      Great Blog, Himavant. Good overview at one place.

      Author's profile photo Lokesh Ojha
      Lokesh Ojha

      Excellent document hema... Keep it up dost.

      Author's profile photo kishore Kumar
      kishore Kumar

      Hi Himavanth,

      I appreciate all the information you have provided about the SAP CS module. Thanks for detailing the core business processes in this document. Keep up the good work!!!

      Author's profile photo Manjunadh Lolla
      Manjunadh Lolla

      Very nice blog Himavanth. Quite comprehensive.

      Author's profile photo André-Louis Jadot
      André-Louis Jadot

      Hello Himavanth, I am using this process since many years and I am interesting to know what are the innovation in the Resources Related Billing process in S/4HANA? Do you have any ideas about using / and or transforming this process with Professional Service solution in billing material from stock? Any idea or direction SAP would like to go for the DIP/RRB? Thanks a lot.

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Andre-Louis Jadot,

      Apologies for the late reply,

      Currently no influence on business process is expected but not considered as a target architecture in future. you may get few functions in C/4 HANA (CRM) customer management and few functions in professional services. For solution in billing material from stock go through the process of usage based billing in professional services. Go thorough the following blogs related professional services in sap S4 HANA cloud (Usage based billing similar in on premise as well.).

      https://blogs.sap.com/2019/08/19/intelligent-erp-update-professional-services-in-sap-s4hana-cloud-1908/

      https://blogs.sap.com/2019/02/19/intelligent-erp-update-sap-s4hana-cloud-1902-for-professional-services/

       

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth.

      Author's profile photo Phanikumar V L
      Phanikumar V L

      Nice Blog-Let me go through-Very Good effort Himavanth.

      Author's profile photo SriHari Krishnan
      SriHari Krishnan

      Great job! Helps one understand CS process in simple way.

      Author's profile photo Sammar Razdhan
      Sammar Razdhan

      well written blog Hima, gives good overview on SAP CS and its differences from PM..

      Author's profile photo Raj Kumar Reddy Poli
      Raj Kumar Reddy Poli

      Nice coverage of all aspects Himavanth from Customer Service-SD point of view.

      This can be used as a reference point, to explore each area listed here in detail.

       

      Author's profile photo Hidayathulla Hasan
      Hidayathulla Hasan

      Nice information and appreciate for your efforts and time to publish this article.

      I have one suggestion. In scenario 3- Goods is externally procured. but you can also add one more scenario as 3 (b)- External services procured by company.

      Hope you may add in your next blog. 🙂

      Keep sharing @Himavanth.

       

      Thanks

      Hidayath

      Author's profile photo Srinu S
      Srinu S

      Nice blog! Keep sharing..

      Srinu

      Author's profile photo John Heald
      John Heald

      Nice article.

      Using the mobile capability of SAP Field Service Management, you would be able to extend the use case and capability here.

       

      Author's profile photo Narasimha MS
      Narasimha MS

      Thank You Mr. Himvanth,  excellent  blog,  very informative,  I just started working on the module,  I find it very useful

      Author's profile photo Pankaj Tikekar
      Pankaj Tikekar

      Nice Blog..Very good information irrespective of CS Module.

      Just want to know can we do Planning for services through Maintenance Planning?

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Pankaj,

      Yes we can create maintenance plan for technical objects.

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth

      Author's profile photo Amol patil
      Amol patil

      Can we process repair process without involvement of CS module?. if YES then how?

      customer don't want to involve CS module. Is possible to do it in simple SD flow?.

      Thanks for the nice blog Himavanth.

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Amol,

      If you would like to do the repair process without CS module then follow the standard returns sales scenario or accelerated customer returns process and once the material is taken back into the plant. Then do the repair process but all activities cannot be tracked with integrations in the system. You need do separate individual processes across various modules.

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth

      Author's profile photo Praveen kumar Rapeti
      Praveen kumar Rapeti

      Hi Himavant,

      I have one query  in my business scenario,

      SCENERIO :- I am creating service order in which i am adding components and also external service (activity number) for the operations performed for which i want to make SES(service entry sheet)

      Now when i am running Resource related billing  through DP90 transaction for the excess material and external service (activity number)  which i have maintained in the DIP profile with the cost element defined in the material determination i am getting error of material determination for the external service (activity number )cost element.

      but if i am not adding external service(activity number) in service order and i am adding only components then DP90 transaction is successful and can make the sale order.

      can you please help me on this issue

       

      thank you

      regards

      Praveen

      Author's profile photo Manish G
      Manish G

      Hi Himavant

      Appreciate your efforts to post  this articles .

      I would like to know,  in SAP  always shows   PM & CS altogether ,when enquired in training institutes but in vain ,so let me know  whether its a part of PM module .

      whether CS is now part of SD module ,is it ok to go for CS if anyone  has functional domain  experience in maintenance

      Author's profile photo Manish G
      Manish G

      Also how it differ from CRM module ,how is the Scope of this module

      Author's profile photo Cesar Ferreira
      Cesar Ferreira

      I have a CS implementation in S/4HANA to do, and I'm having trouble finding settings for S/4HANA.
      Can anyone help me in this situation?

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Cesar,

      I would like to know which settings you are referring for CS related settings you need to refer to settings under plant maintenance module, you will not find separate nodes like SD/MM. Moreover CS module is non-strategic in S/4HANA and in S/4 Service Module is available but is not as matured as CS at the moment.

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth

       

      Author's profile photo Cesar Ferreira
      Cesar Ferreira

      Yes, I read that the CS module is not part of the strategy, maybe the S/4 service is for what the client needs. Where can you find documentation about the service for s/4?

      My question is, is it possible implementation of ECC-based CS in the new s/4hana, or has a completely new configuration model?

      Because there are some price-related issues among others that have changed if I'm not wrong.
      Is the application for FIORI only available for the s/4 service or also for CS?

      Thank you very much

      Cesar Ferreira

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Cesar,

      You can find the documentation related to S/4  Service in SAP Best Practices explorer (Rapid.SAP.Com) Under Service LOB you can find various scope items related to different business processes in S/4 Service.S4%20Service%20LOB%20Scope%20Items1

      S4 Service LOB Scope Items1

      S4%20Service%20LOB%20Scope%20Items%202

      S4 Service LOB Scope Items 2

      Yes you can use old ECC based CS related transactions in S/4 but there will be no further development/support for these transactions  hence you need to verify and validate settings/business processes that you need to implement, configuration model is the same old one under plant mantainence  module. S/4 Service related Fiori APPs are different and for CS related fiori apps you need to check for the available fiori apps under PM module.

       

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth

      Author's profile photo Cesar Ferreira
      Cesar Ferreira

      Thank you so much for your help.

      kind regards

      César Ferreira

      Author's profile photo Jie Peng
      Jie Peng

      one question for field service management, what's the relationship between FSM and CS. if repair at customer site,we will use FSM?

      Author's profile photo Himavanth Sunakante
      Himavanth Sunakante
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Jie Peng,

      Once the service orders (CS) are released in SAP, automatically these creates service calls in FSM, upon assignment of these service calls to technicians, they will start performing the operations (activities) either it may in-house or repair at customer site, the same will be sent back from FSM to CS service orders for time confirmation and postings.

      Regards,

      S.Himavanth

      Author's profile photo Srinivas Rao
      Srinivas Rao

      Hi Himavanth,

      I like the simplicity & content of the blog. Very well written. Keep it going. Best Wishes.

       

      Author's profile photo Prema s
      Prema s

      Hi Himavanth Sunakante

       

      Well Explained.

       

      Do you have the BPML document for this CS module