Service contracts

This field contains the company code that manages the contract.

This field contains the site code which carries out the contract management.

This field is associated to an automatic sequence number by default. As this counter is automatic, you should not need to check the content of this field. By default, the service contract number is defined on 15 characters.

This field contains the customer code who is in receipt of the contract.

Enter the currency to be applied to all the financial fields in a service contract. This currency is also used to evaluate the minimum and maximum thresholds of services in a product coverage.

This field contains the name of the contact with whom the different contract negotiations are carried out.

Use this field to enter text that will help identify and understand the main characteristics of the contract.

Use these fields to enter the statistics group codes for the service contracts. Codes can be selected and initialized from the service contract template.

You can define up to 5 statistical groups. The number of groups and their names can be set up when installing the application. These groups are used in statistical processes and as selection criteria in many programs.

This field is essential to determine the functional category of the service contract:

• Warranty contract
• Maintenance contract
• Contract with points

This triggers various processes: the points management rule, the contract revaluation, the invoicing, and so on.

This checkbox sets the access to the skill coverage table.

• If selected, the table cannot be accessed. The skills defined in the application are considered based on the contract. It is not necessary in that case to enter them one by one.
• If cleared, only the skills entered in the Skills covered table are considered.

In this function, you enter the level of the covered skills group. This means that when a skills group is entered, all its subgroups are considered in the contract.

When the checkbox is cleared and no skills group is defined, the contract can be considered as useless as no customer issue can be supported by this contract.

This checkbox sets the access to the installed base coverage management. It does not apply to contracts with points.

• If selected, the installed base coverage function cannot be accessed. This means that the contract applies to the whole installed base, that is to say all the products ordered by the customer. This can be seen as a "super contract".
• If cleared, the contract can contain coverage rules based on the following:
• Specific installed base records.
• A defined set of installed base records by product reference.
• A defined set of installed base records by commercial group.
Note - informationThese coverages can be limited by components, consumed parts, labor, or assignment expenses.

This checkbox is only used on warranty and maintenance contracts with a coverage According to base (not All the base).

It is used to automate the definition of combined coverages (Installed base + Skill) for all coverages set According to base.

If this checkbox is selected, the creation, modification or deletion of this type of coverage will immediately apply to the associated cross-referenced coverages.

This field contains the code for the sales representative who signed either the maintenance contract order or the product order covered by a warranty contract.

A service contract can be created manually or via the entry of a sales movement. The different possible origins are as follows:

• Manual creation
• Sales order
• Sales delivery validation
• Sales invoice confirmation
• Warranty request
• Service contract duplication
• Token credit

The Document no. and Line fields identify the line number in the document used to create the service contract. These fields are loaded automatically.

Use this field to facilitate the manual entry of a contract: Enter or select a template used to define the main characteristics of the contract. You can only use a template compliant with the category of the service contract being created.

This field contains the subscription date of the contract. It is only entered once.

This field indicates the contract duration.

• For the contracts with tacit renewal, this is the automatic renewal frequency of the contract.
• For contracts with no tacit renewal agreement, it is the frequency according to which the contract should be renegotiated by the two parties.

This field contains either a date that is identical to the subscription date (throughout the first period) or the date of the last renewal.

This date indicates either the date on which the contract will automatically be renewed where there is tacit renewal agreement or the date from which the contract will no longer be valid.

This field specifics whether the contract will be subject to an automatic renewal at the end of its term. Essentially this signifies that there will be no gap in the invoicing chain that will continue to be executed at the desired frequency. It is the invoicing that takes into account the contract renewal.

If this is not the case, the contract will be the object of a renegotiation and a manual renewal in the function provided for this.

Several tools can be used to identify the non-renewable contracts:

• A dedicated selection list in service contracts: Contracts to renew
• The CONECHE1 reports that lists all renewed contracts for all representatives.
• The CONECHE2 report that lists all the contracts renewed based on a date range.
• The CONECHE12 reports that lists all renewed contracts for a given representative.
• Warning messages displaying from the before-sales workbench.

This field does not apply to warranty contracts. It displays the price of a contract with points. Contract with points are indeed subject to an overall and single invoicing process.

This field displays the basis used to calculate billable scheduled invoices from maintenance contracts.

This field concerns only contracts with points. You use it to enter the total number of points awarded to the customer for this contract.

Enter the renewal frequency of the contract annual royalty basis. The automatic revaluation can also be done based on the evolution of a chosen index.

Specify a contract revaluation method. Maintenance contracts can be revaluated in two ways:

• Post-revaluation: Always calculate the amount of the next scheduled invoice. Note that there is always a one month difference between the annual royalty basis and the actual index value used in this revaluation.
• Pre-revaluation: Calculate the annual royalty basis matching the exact status of the index. Note that this method cannot be used to know the amount of scheduled invoices in advance, except from the first scheduled invoice.

This field specifies which type of revaluation is used on the service contract. Two options are available:

• Evolution of an index: Used as a basis for the periodic flows to be applied to the annual royalty basis of a contract.
• Mathematical formula: Used to manage all other revaluation methods.

This field is only accessible if the Evolution of an index revaluation has been selected. You use it to enter index to be used at each contract revaluation. A revaluation is done by comparing the index value used during the last revaluation and the last value saved in the system for this index.

This field indicates what is the index value used at the time of the last contract re-evaluation. The Date field indicates the date for the index value.

This field can only be accessed if the Mathematical formula revaluation has been selected. Enter the formula code, selected from the 427 - Revaluation formulas miscellaneous table.

This field displays the date when the contract has been revaluated for the last time.

Depending on your activity sector, this field can have the following meanings:

• The number of days before the end of the contract, when a customer termination request can be accepted.
• The number of days during which the contract still applies after a termination request has been received from a customer.

In both cases, the termination has to be done manually from the contract record.

This field only applies to contracts with points. In this process, contracts can be fully "consumed" based on a ranking system with points and a tolerance threshold. As the rules for consuming these points can be quite complex, it is usually unlikely to fully consume all the points awarded for a given contract.

This field indicates the frequency on which the customer will receive the invoices related to the receipt of services covered by their contract. It is also used to determine what fraction of the annual royalty needs to be allocated to the invoice.

Use this field to enter the method used for invoicing the service contract.

• Pre-invoicing (term to mature): The contract is invoiced before the contract ends. This method is used to invoice a contract before it actually applies to the customer. Example: For a three-year contract billable once a year:

  March 1, 2004	March 1, 2005	March 1, 2006	March 1, 2007
  Subscription and invoicing	Invoicing	Invoicing	Invoicing
  Scheduled invoice 1	Scheduled invoice 2	Scheduled invoice 3

• Post-invoicing (overdue term): The contract is invoiced after the contract ends. This method is used to invoice a contract only after a customer has seen it through. Example: For a three-year contract billable once a year:

  1st March 2004	1st March 2005	1st March 2006	1st March 2007
  Subscription and invoicing	Invoicing	Invoicing	Invoicing
  	Scheduled invoice 1	Scheduled invoice 2	Scheduled invoice 3

When open items are collected several times a year, an increase or increase is often applied. You use this field is to define how important this increase or decrease is.

Use this field to define the notice from which a contract open item to be invoiced will be available in the invoicing tools. From this moment, the invoice will be generated and sent to the customer.

The notice represents the number of days that precede the term for an invoicing open item.

Use this field to enter the payment terms defined for paying the contract open items.

It is only possible to enter a payment term that is consistent with the legislation and the group of the company of the document site.

The general principles linked to the multi-legislation setup are detailed here.

Use this field to enter the dispute codes used to log customer issues when a payment is made after the contract due dates.

Example: A customer payment is two month late after the contract due date. This customer has also reported a dispute with their supplier. When the customer calls customer support to solve an hardware issue for example, they will get assistance if the dispute code is already listed on their maintenance contract.

You can enter analytical dimensions for each dimension type defined in the folder.

Code of the bill-to customer. By default, the bill-to customer code defined on the service contract header is displayed.

Code of the pay-by customer. By default, the pay-by customer code defined on the service contract header is displayed.

Code of the group customer. By default, the group customer code defined on the service contract header is displayed.

Use this field to enter the project code used to subscribe to the service contract, if applicable.

Use this field to enter the exchange rate type used to invoice the contract. If no exchange rate type is specified, the first value in local menu 202, Daily exchange rate, is used by default.

This field is essential if the service contract is subject to invoicing.

You use it to enter the product code that will be displayed on the invoice line for the selected scheduled invoice of the service contract.

By default, this field displays the value defined on the service contract template or, if no value is defined, the value of the DEFCONITM - Default contract product parameter (HDK chapter, COT group).

This field displays the sales unit of the invoicing product.

A tax rule represents the tax territoriality principle, in other words, the calculation rules to be applied to determine the tax amount.

As a general rule, by crossing a tax rule linked to the BP with a Tax level, you can determine the tax code to be applied to the document line and so, to the entry line.

In this field, you enter the tax rule associated with the BP: this tax rule will be suggested by default in all the transactions used by this business partner.

The values relate to the invoicing footer. This information can directly come from the parameters of the invoice footer or from the customer record.

The values of the footer elements can be modified. The ex-tax and tax-incl. amounts of the document are directly impacted by these values.

Enter the code to use in order to override the default SST tax code from the product or invoice element. This tax code is recognized by Sage Sales Tax and is used to identify line types for tax purposes. This field is available only if the LTA - Local taxing activity code is activated, and the USATAX - Tax system user parameter is set to Yes.

For invoicing elements designated as the SST document discount for a company, you cannot remove the SST tax code value on the document.

These fields are not available for entry.

• The Points available are the number of points awarded to a service request still in process (not resolved). If the service request is deleted, the points are reallocated.
• The Points consumed are the points used by a closed service request.
• The Remaining points are the balance of points that have not been made available or consumed.

This field displays the date on which the next invoice will be issued.

This field displays the date from which the scheduled invoice to be billed will be available in the service contract picking list in the Invoices function. This date is calculated based on the invoicing frequency and the invoice notice.

It is calculated automatically when creating the contract in order entry. It is recalculated automatically each time an invoice is generated for the contract.

This field displays the excluding-tax amount of the next invoice provided that the contract has not yet been revaluated, or revaluated using the post-revaluation method.

For a pre-revaluated contract, this field displays the amount of the first scheduled invoice only. The amounts of next invoices are not known.

This amount is calculated based on the annual renewal and following parameters:

• The invoicing frequency
• The long-term increase coefficient
• Potential revaluations

It is calculated automatically when creating the contract in order entry. It is recalculated automatically each time an invoice is generated for the contract.

Click this action to access the invoice record.

Click this action to access the payment details.

Select this checkbox to terminate the contract. The termination of a contract leads to it disappearing from the invoicing chain and all the renewal tools. In the selection panel, the contract will be removed from the list of active contracts and moved to the list of terminated or closed contracts.

This field can only be accessed if the Terminated contract checkbox is selected. You use it to enter the reason why the customer requested a termination of their contract.

Select this checkbox to close the contract. The closing has the same consequences as a contract termination as far as invoicing and renewal go.

However, the closing is usually due to an internal action within the organization rather than a request from a customer. In the selection panel, the contract will be removed from the list of active contracts and moved to the list of terminated or closed contracts.

This field displays the current date when the Terminated contract or Closed contract checkboxes are selected. You can also enter freely the actual contract termination date requested by the customer.

To access this function, the All the base option needs to be cleared on the service contract. This option is not available on contracts with points.

You use it to identify what equipment on the customer's premises is covered by the contract.

Base identification table

The coverage for a warranty contract is comprehensive by default. However, you can limit this coverage by defining (including or excluding) components or financial rules to adjust the coverage of free services.

Three methods are available to identify the installed base and define the coverage:

• According to base: The contract coverage can be defined at the level of each installed base record. You select a record from the selection list specific to the customer's installed base.
• According to product reference: From a unique entry line, the coverage applies to the whole installed base for the same product reference.
• According to commercial group: From a unique entry line, the coverage applies the whole installed base for the same product commercial group.

For warranty contracts, a "+" sign on the base identification line indicates a partial coverage, which means that a financial coverage description is defined. In this context, the Financial coverage action is available from the Actions icon on the table line.

Each coverage type can be based on a different rule:

• Installed base only
• Coverage only
• Component
• A combination of these elements.

A financial coverage can cover:

• Spare parts
• Labor
• Assignment expenses

The function is designed so that you can only enter exceptions, by excluding or including elements, while considering the minimum and maximum thresholds.

Component identification table

A good way to refine your coverage rules is to define a precise list of components. When the Exclude non-listed components option is selected, you can still include components. When the Include non-listed components option is selected, you can still exclude components.

You can use general parameters from the HDK chapter, COV group to define the default coverage type when no rules are set on the service contract.

• Parameter DEFCPNICD - Component coverage
• Parameter DEFITMICD - Spare parts covered
• Parameter DEFLABICD - Labor coverage
• Parameter DEFEXSICD - Expense coverage

Click this function to describe all the skills covered by the service contract. This can be a full coverage or partial coverage. The "+" sign before the coverage line signals that the coverage of the skill group is partial. When no "+" sign is displayed, the skill group is considered as covered in full.

Click Cross-reference with the installed base from a skill coverage line to create a cross-referenced coverage.

Each skill can be assigned a different financial coverage by clicking Financial coverage.

Click this function to renew the contract manually.

When opening the window, you are prompted to renew the contract either based on the end date of the current period or of the last active period. This means that the new suggested start date will correspond to the contract end date.

The new period is then displayed with an identical duration and annual royalty basis. You are free to adjust this information on the new period.

Click Current date to define the New start date and New end date: The current date will be used as the start date for the new period.

Click Renew to update all related fields on the contract. A line is added to the renewal history table.

There are two possible scenarios:

• Non-expired contracts: The customer agreement is saved on the contract for automatic renewal when processing the last invoice. Once the contract has been renewed, the "Next renewal accepted" mention displays against the contracts that the customer has already approved for renewal.
• Expired contracts: The contract is immediately renewed, for the new criteria. The REWHISMOD - Renewal history general parameter (HDK chapter, COT group) can be used to adjust the start and end dates recorded in the automatic renewal history.