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Mobile Inventory Transactions

Siebel Field Service can record part movements in the field (mobile inventory) without synchronizing with the Field Service server so that field service engineers can record asset transfers without having the asset number or serial number on their laptop computers.

Normally, recording transfers of assets without having asset numbers or serial numbers causes a transaction to fail. However, in Siebel Field Service, the part movement is recorded but not applied to the inventory database.

If the mobile computer is disconnected, then the local database is updated. When you synchronize the mobile computer with the Siebel Server, the information about the part movement is transferred to the server. If the server identifies the asset in the database on the remote computer, then the server records the change in inventory location in the Siebel database and then creates a transaction.

If a part movement (including part movements for add-in assets) is not validated on the remote computer, then an uncommitted part movement appears in the Parts Movement Administration view of the Administration - Service screen. An administrator must review uncommitted part movements and reconcile add-in serial numbers with existing asset numbers. The administrator then clicks a commit button to create transactions. For more information, see Committing Transactions from Mobile Computers. For more information about the types of transactions that are created for specific combinations of source and destination locations, see About Inventory Transactions.

The next time you synchronize the remote computer, its local database is updated to match the server database.

Validation Checks for Commit Buttons

Commit buttons appear in the Part Tracker view of the Activities screen and the Parts Movement Administration view of the Administration - Service screen. The commit step for a transaction begins when users save the record and select the Commit check. The field service engineer uses the commit buttons in the Part Tracker view to perform the following validation checks:

1. Verify that the source and destination inventories are specified. If the asset does not exist in the source inventory, then do not commit the asset.
2. Verify that the position of the activity owner is associated with a trunk inventory. Trunk inventories have a Type field value of Trunk.
3. If an asset number is specified, then verify that the number is valid.
4. For each asset transaction, verify that the asset exists at the specified inventory source location. This validation is not performed for the External location or the Customer location. For more information about external inventory locations, see Inventory Locations.
5. Verify that the asset is available. Verify the availability and status. This validation is not performed for the External location.
6. Verify that the quantity of specified assets exists in the source inventory. This quantity is 1 if the product is serialized.
7. If the product is serialized, then verify that the total quantity for the inventory transaction is equal to the total number of specified assets for the transaction.

If these validation checks are successful, then the Commit check box is selected for the records, and transaction records for part movements are generated in the Siebel database.

The commit buttons validate the movement of serialized and nonserialized assets that are recorded in the local database. If the part movement record defines an asset, then an asset transaction is recorded.

A user can create a part movement record without changing the inventory levels. To change the inventory levels, the user selects the Commit check box for the record or clicks the Commit button for the record.

The Commit button creates a transaction for a selected uncommitted record in the view. The Commit All button creates transactions for all uncommitted records in the view. Committed records are read-only. You cannot uncommit a record that is committed.

Part Movement Recognition

To generate records to record part movements, the processing logic performs the following steps:

1. Create a committed inventory transaction (for example, Receive Other).
2. Create assets for the inventory transaction.
3. Create new Siebel database records for the source and destination inventory location.
4. Update the asset record (ID).
5. Create asset transactions (for example, Install).
6. Commit the part movement by updating the Siebel database.