The Cycle of Repair Items
In a simple situation, a repair item will be signed into the workshop, repaired, and returned to the Customer. This requires you to enter and
approve two Service Stock Transactions:
- You will usually create the first Service Stock Transaction using the 'Create Service Stock Transaction' function on the Operations menu of the parent Service Order. This will represent the entry of the repair item in to the workshop and you will therefore need to enter an In Quantity. The Out Quantity should be left blank.
- The second Transaction will represent the return of the repair item to the Customer. You can create this Transaction either in the same manner as the first, or by copying it. This time you will need to enter an Out Quantity, and leave the In Quantity blank.
Note that the second Transaction cannot be effected by adding a new row to the first: since the first has been approved, it cannot be modified.
There will be occasions when it will not be possible to repair an Item and you will need to send it back to its manufacturer for repair or to be exchanged for a new one.
On such occasions, you will need two further Service Stock Transactions:
- When the Item is sent back to its Supplier for exchange or credit, enter a Service Stock Transaction with an Out Quantity of one and a Supplier specified on flip D.
If there is no need in reality to send the Item back to a Supplier (perhaps because it is clearly no longer operational and its warranty has expired), it may be appropriate to create a dummy Supplier record in the Customer register for this purpose. A Supplier must be quoted on flip D if this sequence is to be followed.
When you approve and save this record, the Item is signed out of your service stock and a record is created in the Replaced Items setting.
- When the Item has been sent back to the Supplier for repair, on its return to your company you should enter a new Service Stock Transaction signing it back into service stock. You should then open the appropriate record in the Replaced Items setting and copy the Item Number and Serial Number from the fields on the first row to those on the second. You can enter an appropriate comment if necessary. Finally, you should use a further Service Stock Transaction to sign the Item out of your workshop when it is returned to the Customer.
- When the Item has been sent back to the Supplier for exchange, on the arrival in your workshop of its replacement, you should enter a new Service Stock Transaction signing it into service stock and carrying a record of its Serial Number. You should copy this Serial Number to the new Serial No. field (on the second row) of the appropriate record in the Replaced Items setting. You can enter an appropriate comment if necessary. Finally, you should use a further Service Stock Transaction to sign the Item out of your workshop when it is handed over to the Customer.
- If the Item has in reality been discarded and is being replaced with a new Item from your stock, review the appropriate Replaced Item record and enter the Item Number of the new Item in the New-Item field, using 'Paste Special' if necessary. Move to the new Serial No. field: 'Paste Special' here will give a list of Serial Numbers for that Item currently in stock (i.e. in stock for resale, not in service stock). Select one, enter a Quantity of one in the next field and save the record. Note that the Replaced Items setting is purely archival: it has no effect on stock levels. You will therefore need to raise a Delivery from a Sales Order (or raise an Invoice, according to your normal practice) for the Item/Serial Number that your company is supplying so that stock levels are amended accordingly.
