If Items in Installed Base is No in Service Management Control, service personnel can take calls for items that are not yet in the installed base. When you record activity for the call in Call Activity Recording, you can create an installed base record for the call item and for items issued in CAR.

Set Update ISB to Yes for each line item you want added to the installed base. The repair quantity must be the same as the quantity on the ISB record.

Call Maintenance (11.1.1.1) sets up default values the system uses to update the installed base. Normally, the updates occur in Call Activity Recording. You can, however, close calls directly from Call Maintenance. Even though Update ISB is Yes, when you close a call in Call Maintenance for an item that is not in the installed base, you are prompted:

Respond Yes to direct the system to create an ISB record for items on the call for which Update ISB is Yes.

In the normal life cycle of a call, engineers record some activity for each line in Call Activity Recording. CAR updates the installed base in three ways: the call line item, any items issued to repair it, any items returned.

If the call line is for an item not in the installed base and Update ISB is Yes, a frame appears in CAR for recording installed base information. You create the ISB record directly at this point, not later during invoice post.

The installed base is updated during the initial phase of recording activity so it can be correctly updated when issue inventory items are issued. For these records to be added as components of the parent item, the record for the parent item must already exist.

You can also add call line items to the installed base as components of another parent item.

In CAR, you can issue as a repair item the same item number reported on the call line. The system treats the transaction as a swap by removing the call line item from the installed base and replacing it with the item issued.

You can create installed base records in CAR for items the system issues during inventory transaction processing. Create these records the same way you create other ISB updates: set Installed Base to Yes in Service Item Maintenance and Ship to Installed Base to Yes in Service Management Control.

Also set Load Available Structure to Yes in Service Management Control. Otherwise, the system adds only parent items to the installed base item.

If the call line item has a structure, the system adds items you used to the installed base as top-level components of the call line item.

You can return items in CAR as part of an exchange and remove ISB records for the returned items from the installed base. During an exchange, you supply the installed base reference number for non‑serialized items. Then during inventory issue, the system removes the old reference or serial number and replaces it with the new one.

If a call, call history, or service contract exists for the returned item for this end user, you cannot delete its record unless it is a swap. The system updates the installed base and prints a message. The system assumes you will either repair the returned item and send it back to the customer, or you will modify the contract, and add a new line for this item.