Set up service management

Path: Business functionality > Set up Business Central > Set up service management · tier official · system service · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

Overview

This section covers the configuration needed before service orders and contracts can be used. The page “Setting up service management” is the entry point. It lists the main setup areas and notes that the Premium experience is required. Each area then has its own page.

The pages fall into a few groups. Service offerings, service items and components, and service item groups define what is serviced. Fault reporting, troubleshooting guidelines, standard service codes, and repair and order statuses define how work is described and tracked. Pricing and costs, service contracts, work and service hours, resource allocation (skills and zones), and loaners cover how service is charged, scheduled, and staffed. “Set up service management processes” covers the general setup: mandatory fields, response time defaults, warranties, and posting policies.

Start with the overview page and the general processes page. Then work through the area you need, such as service items before contracts, or skills and zones before assigning technicians.

Key points

• Service items can be created manually or automatically when items are shipped. They can also be blocked from use in service transactions.
• Service item groups hold defaults such as contract discount %, service price group code, and response time. They can also create a service item on sale.
• Fault reporting is set up with fault, symptom, fault area, and reason codes. You also set the reporting level and the fault/resolution relationships.
• Pricing uses service price groups, adjustment groups, and additional costs such as starting fees and travel costs.
• Service contracts need contract groups, account groups, templates, and customer templates set up first.
• Resource allocation matches technicians to tasks by skills and service zones. Work hour templates and service hours drive resource capacity and response date calculation.
• Repair statuses and service order statuses use priority levels, with options for posting allowed and pending.
• Troubleshooting guidelines can be assigned to service item groups, service items, or items, with an inheritance hierarchy. Loaners are tracked with loaner cards and loan receipts.

Learn pages

• How to Create Service Items: Learn about the different ways you can create service items in Business Central, for example within a service order or when shipping items.
• How to set up loaners | Microsoft Docs: Set up loaner items to lend to customers as temporary replacements while their service items are being repaired.
• How to set up work hours and service hours: Learn how to set up the work and service hours used to calculate the response date and time for service orders and quotes.
• Service items and service item components: Learn about the things you must set up before you can use service items, including default values such as response time and service price group.
• Set up codes for standard services: Learn how to set up codes for regularly performed service activities with a predefined set of service lines.
• Set up fault reporting in Service Management: Set up fault reporting to standardize how you record faults, symptoms, reasons, and resolutions for service items using fault codes and related codes.
• Set up pricing and costs for services: Learn how to use pricing features to set up and customize your application so that you apply and adjust pricing on service items, repairs, and orders.
• Set up resource allocation | Microsoft Docs: Learn how the system can help ensure that you assign someone who has the skills required to provide a service.
• Set up service contracts: Learn how to set up service contracts with required prerequisites including service contract groups, contract templates, and customer templates.
• Set up service management processes: Learn how to set up processes that help ensure your customers are satisfied with your services.
• Set up service offerings: Learn how to define the services your organization offers and schedule them for customers as part of service management setup.
• Set up statuses for service orders and repairs | Microsoft Docs: Set up nine distinct repair status options to track the progress of service item repairs and maintenance in service orders.
• Set up troubleshooting processes | Microsoft Docs: Learn how to set up processes that help service representatives identify and resolve issues with service items.
• Setting up service management | Microsoft Docs: Overview of tasks to set up Service Management to suit the way that your organizations manages its services.

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.