Service Center for Sage 100 ERP Just Got Better

Mar 30, 2011 | Additions, Product Updates

ASI Service Center is the only Sage 100 ERP (formerly Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200) product designed specifically for service centers and depot repair shops. It is the ideal solution for businesses that need to track warranties, perform repair service, send replacement units and return items to stock. It is closely integrated with the Sales Order, Inventory Management and Accounts Receivable modules. Whether you are a manufacturer, distributor or third-party service provider, ASI Service Center for Sage 100 ERP will make life easier. Eliminate double entry between your accounting system and those excel spreadsheets or access databases.  The best news?  Service Center just got better with version 4.40!  Below are the improvement highlights: 

Service Item Entry

  • Grid Entry – You can now enter an unlimited number of service item entries.  All the same features are here, but you can move items up and down the list as you wish.  The two grids allow for faster data entry.  Each user can determine which fields need to be shown in the primary grid.
  • Entry Description – Because of the new grid entry feature, we needed a way to tell the program that a new line was being entered while still defaulting certain fields (like Service Type) and allowing other fields to remain blank (like Item Code and Serial Number).  The solution was to put a brief label or description field – Entry Description.  Anything the user puts in here will allow a new entry to be created.  It could be useful as a mnemonic to tell what is being worked on before you know the exact item number (like “pump” or “iPhone”, etc).
  • Many of the old features, plus some new ones, are handled by buttons above the lines, just as they are in standard MAS 90.  Below are some of the new features.
  • Problem Description – You can now open a window to enter the problem description, and you can enter up to 2048 characters (much more than the old 200 characters).
  • Show Service Item – The old system tried to display all the Service Item information on the same screen, which ended up being a duplication of effort.  The new system adds a button to actually open Service Item Maintenance.  You can not only see everything about the service item, you can also make changes without leaving the screen.  This is subject to security, of course, so that some users will only be able to view the service item.
  • Show Current User Location – The new address for the current location can be viewed by clicking this button.
  • Return Item Lines – When the service type of the service item entry is Credit Return or Warranty Replacement, meaning that you are returning an item to your stock, the system will now actually create a line for that item code on the Lines panel, as shown in the picture.  This allows you to actually modify the price, warehouse and other information on the line.  It also shows the credit you are giving the customer in the total for the service order.
  • Service Item Entry list – Rather than having the service item entries interspersed in the lines, you can now select which repair unit you are entering lines for, and the lines for that entry will show in the grids at the bottom.  In the picture above, we have highlighted entry 1, the Router and can see the lines for that entry in the two grids below.
  • Grid Entry – The new program makes full use of the MAS 90 standard grid entry so that you can move lines up and down.  You can also reset lines back to what they were if you make a mistake.  Each user can decide which fields are important enough to put in the primary grid for faster entry.
  • Show All Details – For users who want to see all the lines on the order for all the service item entries, the Show All Details button will do exactly that.  You can then select which line you wish to modify and the program will select the appropriate service item entry and take you to that line.

Creating Invoices

You can now invoice Service Orders directly in Invoice Data Entry, just as you can with sales orders.  Because of the limited space on the screen, the service order number is at the bottom, but you can use Custom Office to move it to any location that suits you.

  • Service Item Entry Selection – When you get to the lines panel on the invoice, the system will now allow you to select which of the closed service item entries you wish to have on this invoice.

Options / Status Code

It is no longer required to use “V” or “R” or other specific codes to indicate specific status types to the program.  The user can now define what the status will do.

  • Set Received Date – If this is checked the actual received date will be set on the service item entry when this status is assigned.
  • Remove RMA Expired Date – If this is checked it will signify that the unit to be repaired has been received so that the RMA expiration timer will be turned off and the order will not expire.
  • Sent to Vendor – This check box signifies that when this status is assigned the unit has been sent to a vendor for processing.  This will then allow you to enter the vendor number and vendor RMA number.
  • Miscellaneous Items – The new system allows you to see which miscellaneous item codes can be used to sell this warranty.  In the old system you had to use a “/W” prefix followed by the warranty code itself.  You can now define the connection in Miscellaneous Item Code Maintenance which you can get to from this screen.
  • Pricing – In the old system this was a separate menu option, but it made sense to combine it with the warranty code.  On this screen you can define which item codes or product lines might be eligible for this warranty.  In sales order data entry, if you sell one of those items, a popup will prompt you to sell the warranty as well.
  • History – In the old system history for a service technician was limited to period-to-date and year-to-date.  In the new system it keeps all the history shown by period for many fiscal years.
  • Labor billing codes – Rather than having to use “/R” and a unit of measure of “HOUR” to designate labor, you can now click on a link in the Miscellaneous Item Maintenance and define the code as labor.  You can also define with a unit of measure other than HOUR and tell the program how to convert that quantity to hours so that the technician history can be accumulated.
  • Warranty sale codes – Rather than being required to have a “/W” prefix followed by the warranty code, you can define any miscellaneous item to sell a warranty.  There can only be one warranty per miscellaneous code, but you can have several different codes to sell the same warranty, perhaps at different prices or to book to different accounts.
  • Warranties – Most of Service Item Maintenance will be quite recognizable, but one of the most obvious improvements is that all the warranties are now shown and can be modified.  In the old system the “Next Extended” warranty was automatically handled and could only be viewed as a pop-up but not changed.
  • Current Location for End User – Instead of just one address for Sold To and one address for End User, you can now maintain a separate address to tell you the current location of the service item.  This address will also be easily viewed when entering a service order.
  • Items/Product Lines – Although all the same information is stored and Group Code Maintenance looks the same, you will now notice that it uses the MAS 90 standard grid entry with all the features that it entails.
  • Original Item and Serial – There is now additional information available when you view a demo/loaner record.  Rather than just seeing the item that has been lent to the customer, you can now also see the unit that is being repaired.
  • Return Item – A new button on this screen will quickly create a credit memo in Sales Order Data Entry to return the item to your stock.

Memo Manager

Just like the rest of Sage 100 ERP (formerly MAS 90), Service Center now uses the Memo Manager feature for Service Orders and Service Items.

Service History Inquiry

  • Invoices for the order – A new feature on the Service History Inquiry Screen will show all the invoices that have been generated by this service order.  As you would expect, you can also highlight the invoice and click the button to drill into invoice history.
  • Invoices for the service item – If you highlight a specific service item entry on the third tab of service order history, you can drill down to the invoice for that specific service item entry.

Service Order Entry

Service Order Entry is now on a much larger screen to better accommodate the new grid entry and all the information that is being maintained.  The header screen, shown above, has not changed a great deal.

  • Apply Status Changes to Service Item Entries – In the old system, if you changed the status code on the header it always prompted if you wanted to change all the service item entries.  If this box is checked, it will not bother to ask, but will just change them all.