Service#

The following features expand standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central¹ functionality to provide additional options to those working in your organization’s service department.

Purchasing code: service orders#

Standard functionality gives you the option of storing a purchasing code on item cards if you only procure items by drop shipment, for example.

In trade365, you can also ship spare parts in this way (see Special Orders and Drop Shipments in Service), for example, to deliver replacement items directly from a supplier to a customer:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION trade365 FastTab, turn on the Copy Item Purchasing Code toggle.

A purchasing code stored on an item card is then also copied to service lines.

Auto-create service items on purchase#

In the standard app, you can specify in a service item group that when selling a certain item, you can have a service item created for it automatically.

In trade365, you can already create a service item when you buy a product for a sales order, for example, to prepare for remodeling.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Item Groups, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose Create Service Item (Purch.) for the item group for which items should be created as service items during purchasing.

When you post a warehouse receipt, service items are then set up for all items assigned to the group. Information about the vendor whom you purchased the items from is also copied to the service items and stored for later use in sales.

Ship-to address fields#

To replace ship-to-address information on service documents, the following fields have been added to customers’ ship-to address cards:

• VAT Bus. Posting Group
• Gen. Bus. Posting Group
• VAT Registration No.

If nothing is specified in these fields on the ship-to address, the corresponding fields of the customer will be used for the service documents.

By specifying a VAT Business Posting Group, General Business Posting Group, and VAT Registration No. for an address, you can preset VAT values for goods that were ordered by a domestic customer but need to be shipped outside the country, for example. This eliminates the need for manual entry on orders on a case-by-case basis, improving both the quality and consistency of your data.

Document texts#

In principle, you can store standard app texts on invoices created for service contracts. This method isn’t sufficient, however, if you use the KUMAVISION text feature on a regular basis (for more information, see Extended Text.

To print extended customer texts on service documents:

1. Open a customer card.
2. On the ribbon, choose Related > Customer > Extended Texts.
3. Choose a text, and then select the relevant print fields on the Lines FastTab.

Service item: posted invoices#

Service items, and their serial numbers, are now available on posted service invoices. Drilling down on either of these fields then shows the service order for which the invoice was created.

Service Item FactBox#

A Service Item Documents FactBox has been added to service item cards, as well as the service item list, to help you find all documents on which a certain item is used.

You can click a highlighted number in the box to get to the relevant item lines, filtered by service orders or quotes, or the posted service shipment lines.

Non-billable entries on service lines#

The No Billing feature introduced in KUMAVISION base can also be used in the service area. For more information, see Non-Billable Lines.

If you enter a line without an amount on a service document, you must choose an option besides No in the Not Billable field there. Otherwise, you see an error message when you try to post the document later and the posting process will be canceled altogether.

Archive documents#

Despite archiving capabilities in sales, the standard app doesn’t keep a record of service quotes or orders after they’ve been completed. But considering that archived documents might still be of some help to you, you can tell the system in trade365 to keep them around.

Like in sales, you can use a toggle to specify how quotes and orders should be archived:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, in the Archive Serv. Quotes or Archive Serv. Orders field, select whether you want quotes or orders archived automatically or run a function to do this.

If set to Always, a quote or an order is archived when it is printed, deleted, or posted. When set to Never, you need to run the Archive action on the ribbon.

You can see the number of versions a document has been archived in the No. of Archived Versions field on the document itself, and in the Sell-to Customer Service History FactBox, in the Arch. Quotes or Arch. Orders field. Clicking the highlighted number in any of these will get you to a specific document.

Besides the document, the system will archive the comments, beginning texts, and ending texts stored for it.

Like in sales, you can also restore an archived version if it is linked to a service order that hasn’t been completed yet.

Copy service data#

For repeated transactions, you can now use the Copy Document action that is part of standard sales and purchases functionality on service documents.

You can copy both service items and the following documents by running the function from the relevant ribbon:

• Service Quotes
• Service Orders
• Service Invoices
• Service Credit Memos
• Posted Service Shipments
• Posted Service Invoices
• Posted Service Credit Memos

Like in sales, you can copy documents including selected document headers, or copy the lines and refresh the prices on them.

Service items are copied as part of base data by opening a service item card and choosing Copy Service Item on the ribbon. You can transfer the following data in this way:

• General item information
• Components
• Attributes
• Resource skills
• Comments
• Warranty starting and ending dates

Create service orders from sales returns#

If a customer returns an item and, on closer inspection, you determine that the item can be repaired, you can now create a service order from the sales return order.

1. Open a return order.
2. On the Line FastTab, select one or more lines of the Item type, and then choose Create Service Order.
3. You’re asked if the document should be opened. Choose Yes to prepare the service order for further editing.

Create order with service item of another customer#

In the standard app, you can specify on a service order only service items that you’ve already set up for the entered customer. Creating an order that another customer might pay for is therefore not an easy task.

In trade365, on the other hand, you can create and process service orders for customers without having to change the owner of a service item in base data. You can also replace owner information when you create a service order if, for example, the item has changed hands in the meantime. To be able to use this feature:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION trade365 FastTab, turn on the Disable Cust. Check on Serv. Item Entry toggle.

You can then use any service item on an order. If the customer doesn’t match the owner of the item, you’re asked if you want to replace the information that is stored on the service item card.

Choose No if you want to process the order and nothing more. Choose Yes to change the customer for the service item to the customer shown on the order. Afterward, you can process the service order as in the standard app.

Create purchase returns from service orders#

If, during repair, you determine that the service item should be sent back to the supplier, you can now create a purchase return order from the service order.

1. Open the relevant service order.
2. On the Lines FastTab, select one or more lines, and then choose Line > Actions > Create Purch. Return Order-Multiple on the ribbon. You must run the function once for each vendor.
3. Select the vendor so that the purchase return order can be opened on request.

The action can also be run on installation component lines that you selected on a service item worksheet (provided, again, the items to be returned are in inventory).

Create service items in sales and purchasing#

In trade365, you can also create a service item directly from a purchase or sales document.

1. Open a purchase or sales document.
2. Create a line with a quantity of 1.
3. On the Lines FastTab, on the ribbon, choose Line > Create Service Item.

The service item is then created automatically and the information from the purchase or sales document is copied to the service item card.

To open a service item, select the relevant document line and choose Line > Show Service Item on the ribbon, or choose Delete Service Item if you want to delete it. If no item is assigned to a line, both functions are grayed out.

Maintenance Plans#

Maintenance plans are used as a convenience option for specifying recurring maintenance tasks and inspections in the service area.

Setup#

Types of maintenance#

Maintenance types describe the activities that you can specify for a service item on a maintenance plan. To set up a type:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Maintenance Types, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Plans for maintenance#

You can create as many maintenance plans for a service item as you like. To set up a plan:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Items, and then choose the related link.
2. Open an item card.
3. On the ribbon, choose Maintenance Plans, and then fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Required Components#

Provided the components required for maintenance have already been set up in the system:

1. Open a maintenance plan.
2. On the ribbon, choose Components.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

All components you need must be entered here. They’re then copied from this page to the relevant order lines when service orders are created by the system.

Maintenance orders#

To set up orders for carrying out maintenance work:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Create Maintenance Orders, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, use the Starting Date and Ending Date fields to specify the period that maintenance orders should be created for.
3. If you only want to create service orders for certain items, use the filters on the Filter: Service Item FastTab.
4. Choose OK to run the report.

Afterward, service orders and maintenance entries are set up automatically, and the orders are processed based on standard business logic. For more information, see Service Management - Business Central | Microsoft Learn.

Maintenance Entries#

For an overview of all maintenance entries created in the system, open the Maintenance Entries page (available via the general search function).

As an alternative, you can open a service item card and then choose Show Document to see the service orders associated with this item.

Locations on service documents#

At wholesale companies, the warehouse area where service items are stored is often run by another team than the rest of the site.

To specify an area where service cases are processed:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Management Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the trade365 FastTab, in the Default Location Code field, select the code that will be used by default when creating a document in service.

If you leave the field blank, a location will be determined according to standard app logic.