Business Issues for RMA Implementation

Several implementation issues determine how you set other values in RMA/RTS Control.

If you are forecasting your replacement parts, set Consume Forecast to Yes. Forecast is then consumed when an RMA is issued.

Allocations reserve inventory so it is not allocated to other sales orders, material orders, RMA issue lines, intersite requests, calls, or work orders. Allocations help control the shipment of items, especially when a sufficient quantity of an item does not exist to fill all orders.

• The Quantity Available to Allocate calculation method in Sales Order Control controls how the system determines the number of items available to allocate. The calculation is the same for all items and sites.

• The value for Limit Allocations to Avail to Allocate in Sales Order Control determines how the system handles shortage situations. If this field is No, Quantity Allocated defaults from Quantity Ordered even if a sufficient quantity to allocate does not exist. If this is Yes, Quantity Allocated never exceeds the quantity available. If there is no quantity available to allocate, Quantity Allocated defaults to 0.

• The setting of Allocate Days in RMA/RTS Control determines the value for the same field in RMA Maintenance. The system attempts to allocate only RMAs with a due date within the range that this field defines. For RMAs due outside the range, Quantity Allocated defaults to 0 regardless of available quantity.

• The Detail Allocations field in RMA/RTS Control sets the default for the similar field in RMA Maintenance. If this is Yes for an RMA issue line, an inventory allocation pop-up window displays for specification of site and locations and lot/serial/reference numbers.

You can ship items from RMA Maintenance, without allocations, by specifying a quantity to ship. If you use packing lists to communicate shipping priorities, you can set Pick Only Allocated Lines to Yes in Sales Order Control. In this case, only allocated quantities print from the Sales Order Packing List function, telling the shipping department what to ship.

To keep an audit history of updates and changes to RMAs, set Keep Booking History to Yes. The system maintains transaction history records, identified as type ORD-SO. Each record includes the item, order quantity, price, cost, date, user ID, and other information. You can review this information using booking inquiries and reports.

You can modify installed base information within an RMA. For instance, to specify an alternate end user for one line item that is different from the end user on the header, you can change the end user for the line. Set Edit Installed Base to Yes in the control program to modify installed base information within the RMA using a pop-up window.

The service type in the control program determines the default in RMA Maintenance (11.7.1.1) if an RMA does not reference a call or contract. All items on the RMA receive coverage as defined by this service type.