Restricting the Installed Base to Inventory Items
When implementing SSM, you must decide which items to include in the installed base. When Items Must Exist is Yes in Service Management Control, the installed base includes only inventory items.
For installed base records to be created when you ship inventory items on a sales order, you must also use Service Item Maintenance (11.3.7) to set Installed Base to Yes.
Effect of Setting Items Must Exist to No
When Items Must Exist is No, service personnel can take calls for items not in your item master. This means you service items that you do not manufacture and sell. Consider carefully servicing third-party items and the consequences of having items that you do not manufacture or stock in your installed base.
Items not in the item master are memo items. ISB records for memo items are the same as inventory items. You can add records in Installed Base Item Maintenance (11.3.1) or indirectly in programs such as Call Activity Recording. Invoice Post and Print does not create ISB records for memo items through sales orders, since they are not items you manufacture and sell.
Example: A customer purchases a disk drive from another vendor and adds it to the system they bought from Ace Computers. The customer wants Ace Computers to service the disk drive. Ace Computers wants this service business, so they set Items Must Exist to No and add this component to the installed base.
Effect of Setting Items Must Exist to Yes
If you usually service only items you produce, you can restrict the installed base to items defined in the item master by setting Items Must Exist to Yes. Then you cannot take calls or provide other service such as RMAs or contract coverage for an item unless it is set up in the item master. This, in turn, prevents items that are not in your item master from being entered into the installed base.
Note: You can still leave the Item Number field in Call Maintenance blank when Items Must Exist is Yes. This lets you take calls such as telemarketing inquiries when an item number is not applicable. You can also take a call when the item number is not initially known but will be recorded later.