Service
contracts to record the details of the service package that you have agreed to
provide a service recipient with over a specified period of time. For example,
you specify:
- The routine
service tasks which are to be performed on a piece of machinery you have
sold or rented to a customer
- The prices which
are to apply for these routine tasks
- The prices which
are to apply for additional service tasks and for any spare parts required
- The terms under
which the contract can be cancelled
During the
validity period of the service contract, you use the service contract as
follows:
- To initiate
automatic billing of the routine service tasks at regular intervals
- To determine
whether a service request from the customer is covered by the service
contract
- To determine which
price agreements apply for service tasks not covered by the service
contract
- To determine
whether a cancellation request from the customer is valid
- To initiate
follow-up actions before the service contract becomes invalid
After
you have negotiated the terms of a service package with the service recipient,
you create a service contract in the system to record this information.
You can create a
service contract in the following ways:
- From scratch,
without reference to another document
- With reference to
a preceding inquiry or quotation
- With reference to
an existing contract
When you create a
service contract with reference to another document such as another service
contract or a quotation, the system copies the relevant data (for example,
validity period and cancellation data) into the new contract.
To
ensure consistency of data in all service contracts for a particular customer,
you can link each service contract to a master contract that contains the
general terms and conditions, which you have agreed with the customer
Service Contract type:
Standard SAP
contract type for service is SC.
Service contract types are defined in Customizing
for Sales and Distribution. You can create service contract types that meet the
requirements of your organization by copying the existing service contract
types and adapting them as required.
In addition to defining the usual control data
for sales document types, you also specify contract-specific data in the
service contract type such as:
·
Pricing
procedure for determining prices for service tasks and service products
·
Service
contract profile containing default data for service contract processing
·
Billing
request type for resource-related billing
Service Contract profile:
Control element for service contract processing
which contains default contract data-
When you create a
service contract, the system determines whether a contract profile has been
assigned to the service contract type you have chosen. If so, it copies the
data defined in the contract profile into the service contract
Service Contract item:
Element of the service
contract in which you define the services or products you are providing the
customer with under the terms of the service contract. A service contract item
can be any of the following:
·
Service
(for example, a particular task)
·
Material
(for example, a spare part)
·
Time
(for example, an hourly rate for a technician’s time on the job)
·
Response
time (how soon you are obligated to respond to a problem call)
·
Warranty
(the agreed duration and coverage)
The items in a service contract are controlled
by item category. It is possible for a service contract to include items with
different item categories. For example, some items may be rented, others sold.
