Oracle Service Contracts User Guide

Contents

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Preface

Creating Contracts

Overview of Oracle Service Contracts
Elements of a Service Contract
Managing the Service Contract Life Cycle
Creating a Contract
Copying Information Between Contracts
Searching for a Contract or Template
Creating a Template from a Contract
Importing Service Contracts
Merging Contracts

Oracle Service Contracts Command Center

Overview
Service Contracts Management Dashboard

Entering Defaults for Contracts

Overview of Entering Defaults for Contracts
Specifying Contract Effectivity and Maximum Duration
Entering Parties to the Contract
Entering Party Contacts
Creating or Modifying a Customer Contact Record
Entering the Billing Account and Address
Entering the Shipping Account and Address
Entering the Price List
Entering Billing Schedules
Billing Schedules Overview
Creating a Billing Schedule Using Billing Streams
Entering a Billing Stream
Using Billing Streams to Handle Irregular Billing Periods
Creating a Billing Schedule from a Billing Profile
Specifying How Billed Amounts Appear on Invoices
Suspending Billing for a Contract
Holding Credits Until the Next Billing Cycle
Entering Tax Exemptions
Specifying a Payment Method
Specifying Payment by Credit Card or Commitment Number
Revaluing the Contract Using Currency Conversion Rates
Requiring a Purchase Order
Specifying a Purchase Order Number for Invoices
Specifying a Receivables Transaction Type for Payment
Assigning Sales Credits
Requiring and Specifying a Purchase Order for Service Charges
Specifying How a Contract Will Be Renewed
Defining Grace Periods
Specifying Layout Templates
Specifying and Starting the Contract Approval Workflow
Organizing Contracts by Assigning Them to Contract Groups
Specify a Different Quality Assurance Check List
Entering an Estimate of Contract Revenue
Specifying Contract Terms
Granting Additional Access Privileges
Entering an Additional Description or Comment
Setting Up Defaults for Contract Renewal
Overview of Default Levels
Entering Contract Defaults
Setting Up System Profiles for Renewal Defaults
Speeding Up Contract Line Entry Using Default Values

Entering Service Lines

Overview of Entering Service Lines
About Service Lines
Entering a Service Line (General Procedure)
Changing the Billing and Shipping Accounts and Locations
Entering Billing and Shipping Contacts for a Contract Line
Creating or Modifying a Contract Line Contact
Specifying How a Contract Line Is to Be Renewed
Renewing Service Purchased for Seasonal or Peak Periods
Specifying What a Service Covers
Levels of Coverage and Their Uses
Covering Customer Products (Instances in Oracle Install Base)
Covering Customer Products
Browsing Oracle Install Base to Identify Item Instances for Coverage
Entering a Customer Product into Oracle Install Base
Covering Parties
Covering Customer Accounts
Covering Party Sites
Browsing Through Party Sites
Covering Systems
Browsing Through Oracle Install Base Systems
Covering Inventory Items
Viewing Details About a Covered Product
Maintaining Pricing Attributes for Covered Products
Specifying How the Service Prints on an Invoice
Omitting a Line or Subline from the Invoice
Specifying the Invoice Text
Pricing What a Service Covers
Adjusting the Price of a Service for a Covered Product or an Item
Define the Pricing Attributes for Covered Products
Repricing a Service by Changing the Price List
Manually Adjusting the Price
Changing the Basis for Pricing a Service
Pricing Service for a Party, Customer Account, Site, or System
Specifying a Payment Method for a Contract Line
Specifying Payment by Credit Card or Commitment Number
Requiring a Purchase Order
Specifying a Purchase Order Number
Modifying Coverage Provided by a Service
Scheduling Preventive Maintenance Activities
Scheduling Multiple Activities at the Same Time
Scheduling Individual Activities
Scheduling Activities at Regular Intervals Using Schedule Streams
Viewing Maintenance Program and Activity Details
Updating Scheduled Service Dates for a Maintenance Program
Ending Service Lines on a Day Specified by the Customer
About Cotermination
Applying the Cotermination Date to a Service
Specifying Tax Status
Applying Changes from a Service Line to the Covered Sublines
Assigning Sales Credits for a Contract Line
Updating Service
Applying Default Values to Existing Contract Lines

Entering Usage Lines

Overview of Entering Usage Lines
Charging a Customer for Usage
Entering a Usage Line
Specifying How the Customer Is Charged
Charging Based on a Fixed Quantity of Usage Regardless of the Actual Usage
Charging a Flat Fee Regardless of the Actual Usage
Charging for Reported or Estimated Usage Per Period
Charging Based on Reported Usage
Entering a Counter
Entering the Starting Counter Reading
Entering a Usage Group
Creating Special Price Breaks
Point and Range Price Breaks
Deleting Special Price Breaks
Prorating Price Breaks to Apply to Multiple Periods
How Price Breaks Are Prorated
Specifying a Billing Schedule for a Usage Line
Recording Usage by Updating a Counter Reading

Entering Subscription Lines

Overview of Entering Subscription Lines
About Subscriptions
Entering a Subscription Line
Specifying a Schedule of Product Shipments
Adjusting the Subscription Price
Viewing Pricing Details
Specifying a Billing Schedule for Subscriptions
Viewing the Shipment Status of a Subscription Order
Applying the Cotermination Date to a Subscription Line

Ordering Service in Oracle Order Management

Overview of Ordering Service in Oracle Order Management
Overview of Ordering Subscription in Oracle Order Management
About Ordering Service in Oracle Order Management
Ordering Service in a Sales Order
Adding Service Lines to an Existing Contract
Specifying Renewal and Other Details for a New Contract Created for Your Order
Running Concurrent Programs to Generate Contracts Automatically
Reprocessing Orders That Did Not Create Contracts
Viewing Created Contracts by Sales Order Number
Viewing Contracts by Sales Order Number in Oracle Service Contracts
Viewing Contracts by Sales Order in Oracle Install Base
Modifying the Dates That a Warranty Is Effective
Changing the Effective Dates for a Warranty
Changing Both the Warranty Dates and Installed Date
Setting Up New Contract Defaults for Oracle Order Management
Understanding the Impact of Contingencies on Revenue Recognition

Adjusting Prices

Overview of Adjusting Prices
Entering Price Adjustments
Getting Help in Picking Adjustments
Viewing Total Adjustment Amounts
Viewing Adjustments for the Whole Contract
Viewing the Total Adjustments for an Individual Line or Subline
Reverting to the Original Price List Price
Cascading Service Price

Running Quality Assurance Results and Troubleshooting

About the Quality Assurance Check (QA Check)
Running the Quality Assurance Check from the Actions Menu
Submitting the Contract for Approval from the Actions Menu
Running the Quality Assurance Check from the (Summary) Administration Subtab
Running the Contracts QA Program
Troubleshooting Errors

Approving Contracts

Approving Contracts
Submitting Contracts for Approval
Tracking Contracts During the Approval
Approving Contracts
Signing Contracts

Billing

Overview of Billing
Understanding Billing Levels
Creating Billing Profiles
Billing Customers Based on Usage
Billing Using Credit Cards or Commitments
Specifying Multiple General Ledger Accounts for Contract Revenue Streams
Executing Billing Through Concurrent Programs
Running the Service Contracts Main Billing Program
Running the AutoInvoice Import Program
Running the Service Contracts Fetch Receivables Info for Billing Program
Running the Service Contracts Usage Averaging Program
Running the Service Contracts Usage Settlement Program
Viewing Invoice Details
Viewing Invoice History
Reviewing Invoice Transactions in Oracle Receivables
Understanding Bill Presentment Architecture
Using Variable Accounting and Partial Periods Revenue Recognition
Viewing Billing History

Managing Contract Negotiation

Overview of Managing Contract Negotiation
Understanding the Negotiation Workflow
Understanding the Negotiation Phases

Managing Your Work

Overview of Managing Your Work
Finding Contracts by Status or Notification Type
Finding Your Most Recently Accessed Contracts
Bookmarking Contracts
Finding Bookmarked Contracts
Creating Groups
Organizing Contracts by Group and Subgroup
Finding Contracts Using the Contract Groups Hierarchy
Removing a Contract from a Group
Searching for Contracts Using the Entitlements Search Window
Using the Index to Navigate Through Contracts

Using the Administrator Workbench to Manage Contracts Under Negotiation

Overview of the Administrator Workbench
Viewing Notifications
Publishing a Contract to a Customer for Acceptance
Submitting a Contract for Approval from the Administrator Workbench
Suppressing Reminders
Enabling Reminders
Running the Quality Assurance Check
Updating Multiple Contracts
Updating a Contract
Opening a Contract
Sending an E-Mail to a Customer from the Administrator Workbench
Printing Quotes and Contracts
Identifying Follow-Up Actions
Closing Request for Assistance
Withdrawing Quote
Using Shortcuts in the Administrator Workbench

Simplified UI

Overview

Viewing Contract Details in HTML

Overview of Service Contracts in HTML
Finding Contracts (HTML)
Sending an E-Mail to a Customer (HTML)
Viewing Contract Details (HTML)
Viewing Service Line Details (HTML)
Viewing Coverage Details (HTML)
Viewing Covered Level Details (HTML)
Viewing Usage Line Details (HTML)
Viewing Usage Counter Details
Viewing Subscription Line Details (HTML)
Viewing Item Instance Details (HTML)
Viewing Order Information for a Service Contract (HTML)
Viewing Billing Transactions (HTML)

Using the Customer Acceptance Portal

Overview of the Customer Acceptance Portal
Opening the Customer Acceptance Portal
Accepting a Contract
Adding an Attachment
Declining a Contract
Requesting Assistance

Managing the Contract Life Cycle

Overview of Managing the Contract Life Cycle
Modifying Multiple Contracts at the Same Time (Mass Change)
Modifying Multiple Lines and Sublines in a Contract at the Same Time (Mass Update)
Handling Change Requests
Entering Contract Changes
Reviewing and Approving Changes
Updating Contracts Online
Creating Different Contract Versions for Your Customer
Comparing Contract Versions
Viewing Contract History
Handling Returns and Granting Credit
Changing Contract Status

Extending and Renewing Contracts

About Contract Extensions and Renewals
Extending a Contract Without Repricing
Repricing an Extended Contract
Extending a Contract Line
Extending a Contract Subline
How Billing Schedules Are Updated for Extended Contracts
Understanding Contract Renewals
Understanding Renewal with Multiple Quotes
Managing Manual Renewals
Managing Online Renewals
Managing Evergreen Renewals
Understanding Sales Credits During Contract Renewals
Explaining the Pricing of Renewed Contracts
Specifying How the Renewed Contract Will Be Priced
Renewing Contracts Manually
Managing the Event-Driven Renewal Process
Allowing a Grace Period for Renewals
About Grace Periods
Specifying a Grace Period for the Current Contract
Specifying a Grace Period for the Renewed Contract
Understanding Billing Schedules on Renewed Contracts
Consolidating Multiple Contracts for Renewal
Sending Quote Letters by E-mail
Understanding Line Level Cancellation and Termination Reasons
Canceling a Contract Line
Canceling a Contract Subline

Creating and Enabling Templates for E-Mails to Customers

About Templates for E-Mails to Customers
Overview of Templates for E-Mails to Customers
Creating and Enabling Templates for E-Mail Attachments Sent by Agents
Enabling Templates for Communications Generated by the Negotiation Workflow
Contract-Specific Data Available for Inclusion in Template Documents
Viewing the Data Definition Structure
Uploading and Registering a Template in Oracle XML Publisher
Creating the Set of Templates Used for Customer Communications
Specifying How the Template Sets Are to Be Used
Viewing PDF Attachments
Viewing Sample Marked-Up Documents Provided with the Application

Using Notes

Using Notes
How Notes Are Used in Oracle Service Contracts
Adding Service Contract Notes
Adding Service Coverage Notes to a Standard Coverage
Adding Service Coverage Notes to a Service Coverage (Instantiated Coverage)
Viewing Notes

Terminating Contracts

Overview of Terminating Contracts
About Terminating Contracts
How Termination Works
Terminating a Contract
Restrictions for Terminating a Contract
Terminating a Contract Line
Terminating a Contract Subline
Terminating Multiple Contracts at the Same Time
Viewing the True Value of a Contract
Understanding Termination and Credit Generation with Partial Periods
Reversing the Termination Process

Running Reports and Programs

Overview of Running Reports and Concurrent Programs
About Reports
About Concurrent Programs
Running Reports and Programs

Creating Contract Items in Oracle Inventory

About Contract Item Types
Creating Service Items
Creating Warranty Items
Creating Subscription Items
Creating Usage Items
Defining Serviceable Products
Restricting How Items Are Used

Setting Up Standard Coverage and Subscription Templates

Overview of Standard Coverage and Subscription Templates
Specifying Standard Coverage
Defining Standard Coverage
Setting Up a Subscription Template
Copying Standard Coverage into a New Coverage
Modifying Standard Coverage for Existing Contracts
Modifying Standard Coverage for New Contracts

Index