Introduction > Getting Started

You will not find fixed steps to get started with ASI Service Center. Each company has its own procedures and uses the software differently. What this section will do is give you some things to think about when making decisions. We strongly recommend that you bring in a consultant familiar with Service Center and with service businesses in general. This person can then work with your managers to arrive at the optimal settings and procedures to make the most of Service Center.

Before you start, take a look at the Service Center Overview on the ASI website. This brief video will give you a general idea of how repairs, returns and exchanges flow through the Service Center system.

Service Items - The fundamental concept of Service Center is that you are keeping track of individual units that may or may not carry warranties and that may need repair, exchange, or returns. We call these units Service Items. The generic name is used because Service Center applies to so many different types of service companies. A Service Item is uniquely identified by the combination of Item Code and a Serial number. The database of service items keeps track of what you know about that unit, including ownership, original sale, original purchase, warranties and service history. Think about how your company will create the service item records:

•	Inventory can be set up to automatically create a service item record when the item code is sold through sales order invoice.

•	A service item can be added directly through service item maintenance.

•	The end user can add the service item on-the-fly while creating a service order.

•	The Sales History Conversion utility can scan prior invoice history and add service items that were previously sold.

Statuses - Think about how a service item, be it a repair, exchange or a return, flows through your shop, or the different stages a service order goes through. Status Codes can be used to help you track the units or the orders and determine who is responsible or what needs to be done. There are several statuses that are built-in and permanent, but you can add your own and define them to mean different things. The basic steps indicated by the status code are:

•	New - (status code "N") This is the status assigned when the unit, or service item, is first added to the service order.

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Received - (status code "R") If the customer has sent the service item back to you, you would change the status to "R" when you receive that item. This will not only indicate that the unit has been received, but it will also set the Actual Received Date on the service item entry and will stop the service order RMA from expiring.

•	Vendor - (status code "V") If you decide to send the service item off to a vendor for repair, you can change the status to "V" and enter the vendor number and vendor RMA number to keep track of where that unit is and who has it. Service Center does not manage the shipment of the unit to the vendor.

•	Closed - (status code "C") When all the repair or processing is complete on a unit, changing the status to "C" indicates that the entry is now ready to bill. Once the status is set to "C", no further changes can be made to that particular service item entry. It is then ready to create an invoice.

Those are the simplest statuses generally used in Service Center. You may want to add more statuses and, as part of your internal procedure, change the status every time the service item moves from one station to the next. Since every status change is logged, you can then use a custom report to show exactly how long each service item stays at a particular station or waiting for a particular operation.

Billing - When you are repairing a service item, you will use parts out of inventory or you may charge for labor or other non-inventory items. These charges and parts are entered on the service order Lines tab. Each unit, or service item entry, on the order has its own list of charges on the lines tab and can be closed and invoiced separately from any other service item entries on that same order. An entry must be closed before and invoice can be created. Closing an entry means that the status is changed to "C", or any user-defined status code that indicates all work is complete and it is ready to bill. There are several ways that invoices can be created. You must think about which method works within your organization.

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Create Service Invoices - This menu option will scan all the service orders looking for service item entries that are closed and ready to invoice. It will then create invoices in Sales Order Invoice for each of those, combining entries for one order when appropriate. This method is good for high-volume shops where technicians are completing repairs all day long, changing the statuses to closed as they finish. At the end of the day, a billing clerk can then create invoices for all the completed entries at once. If you wish to use Sage 100 ERP features to ship the units back to the customers, then this method is not for you. It is also important to note that if you use serialized or lot parts in the process of repair and you put those items on the lines panel in the service order, you may have to go to the invoice to distribute the lots or serial numbers.

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Create Invoice - A button at the top of the screen in Service Order Entry will create an invoice for one order at a time. The options for this button (see Service Center Options) will determine if it automatically closes all the entries or just creates an invoice for the entries already closed. If you wish to deal with one service order at a time and create the invoice then print it, this is an ideal approach.

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Invoice Data Entry - On the Sales Order Main menu, you can create an invoice for each service order much as you would for a sales order. If you like to create your own invoice numbers, this is the way to go. Keep in mind that the service item entry must be closed before it is available to invoice with this method.

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Shipping Data Entry - On the Sales Order Shipping menu, you can create a shipper invoice for each service order in the same way you would ship a sales order. If you wish to integrate to shipping software, print packing lists and use other shipping features of Sage 100 ERP, this is a good choice. Keep in mind that the service item entry must be closed before it is available to invoice with this method.

Warehouses - Service Center uses inventory management warehouses and will, on occasion, move item quantities or serial numbers from one warehouse to another. You should consider if your company uses the following features of Service Center and set up the warehouses appropriately in Service Center Options.

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Demos/Loaner - Do you send out loaners when a customer's service item is in your shop for repair? If so, you should designate a source warehouse for loaners and demos to be shipped from, and a target "virtual" warehouse that will hold those demos or loaners until the customer returns them. The units that are on demo or loaner will appear on the Demo/Loaner report and will show up on the valuation and stock status reports in inventory in the Demo/Loaner warehouse.

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Refurbish Orders - Do you sometimes do work on units that you own (not customer units) that are in your own inventory? Sometimes this is because the item came back from the customer and needs to be cleaned, inspected and repaired before it can be shipped back. Sometimes it is because the unit must have an upgrade performed that may even cause an item code change. Either of these can be managed with a Refurbish order. The refurbish order will lock the serial number in inventory while the repair is being performed. When the service item entry is closed and invoiced, the unit will be transferred to the refurbish target warehouse.

If you do not already have multiple warehouses, you will probably want to create them in order to realize the benefits of some of the Service Center features.

Customers - Service Center integrates closely with Sage 100 ERP A/R, so all the customers in the list will be automatically available to Service Center. There is one new customer you may need to add. Service Center requires that one customer be designated as the "company-owned customer". This basically means you. Create a customer to use for internal billing. A refurbish order is created and processed for an internal customer. In order to relieve inventory and post costs, even a refurbish order must go through the sales order invoice process, but you will create a zero-dollar bill for that internal customer. Set up the internal customer in Service Center Options.

General Ledger Accounts - In addition to the G/L accounts that you might set up for product lines in inventory or for miscellaneous codes (like labor), you may also find the need to add a few new G/L codes to use certain features of Service Center.

Work In Process - When you refurbish a unit in your inventory, there is a feature to take the costs of the repair (from items pulled from inventory or from labor) and add them to the original cost of the unit being refurbished. This feature, called "Cost Rollup", requires that a Work In Process G/L account be designated as shown on the Service Center Option main screen.

Exchange Accounts - If you send out exchange, or warranty replacement, units, you can choose to have the outgoing unit revenue and cost book to the same accounts that the credit amount and costs book to. This is set in the Service Center Options Service Item Entry tab.