How You Manage Warranty Contracts in Work Orders
Several user interfaces enable you to view and manage supplier warranty information in the maintenance work order execution flows.
The warranty solution is meant to support a touchless user experience in simple scenarios where an asset is being repaired under warranty. An example could be unplanned repairs that are covered on a vehicle by a bumper to bumper warranty. If you are using repair coding, then you will most likely rely on the warranty claims validation process to determine warranty applicability or not. An example could be that only the replacement of an alternator is covered by a bumper to bumper new vehicle warranty, while the replacement of brake pads is not.
Regardless of your business processes, the complexity of your warranty setup and the type of repair should govern how you review and confirm if a work order is covered under warranty or not. This review can happen before work order release, work order execution and the warranty claims validation process.
Here are some suggested steps for managing supplier warranty in execution:
- Before a work order is created for an asset under warranty, it's recommended for a system admin to run the Process Supplier Warranty Contracts - Additions and Changes scheduled process. This process will review every contract, update its calculated expired date (if meter intervals are defined), update the contract status (if expired), create new warranty contracts for purchased items and assets, and enrich assets with supplier warranty details to allow the viewing of warranty in the execution process for a work order. If this process isn't run, then the work order wouldn't be evaluated for warranty repair, nor will it display warranty contracts if they exist for the asset or its related assets. Therefore, it's recommended to schedule this process on a daily basis.
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After work order creation, you should verify if an asset or its related assets are under warranty. If a maintenance work order has the warranty repair check box = yes in the work order search page, then the repair is expected to be covered under warranty in most cases. However, you must your own business rules for the final determination of warranty in execution. The table below provides guidance and suggested approaches to validate and manage warranty in execution.
| User Interface | Warranty Visibility |
|---|---|
| Manage Maintenance Work Orders | Search results include a Warranty column, with a check box icon.
If the icon is displayed for a work order, then either the work
order asset or an asset in its physical hierarchy has an active
warranty contract. In most cases, if this checkbox icon is enabled,
the repair order is also flagged as a warranty repair. Click the icon to access the Edit
Work Order user interface, rendering the Supplier Warranty tab and
results.Note: You
must review the work order details for additional warranty
information. |
|
Edit Work Order (Maintenance only) – Supplier Warranty tab |
The tab is enabled for all maintenance work orders and displays a count of the number of active warranty contracts, and the list of contracts, by asset that are active. The list includes contracts for the work order asset, and any related assets in its physical hierarchy.You must review each warranty contract to verify if the repair is covered or not. If the repair is covered, you wouldn't need to take any further action and the system considers the repair for warranty claims and entitlements. However, if you find the repair must not be covered, then you can optionally uncheck the Warranty Repair indicator on the General Overview tab, as detailed in the next row. The work order will be disregarded and not considered for warranty claims and entitlements. |
| Edit Work Order (Maintenance only) – General Overview tab |
Work Orders will be automatically indicated as a Warranty Repair or not during creation if there are one or more active warranty contracts for the asset or its related assets. This is further explained in the next section entitled How You Manage the Warranty Repair Indicator.
If the Warranty Repair check box is set to yes, then the Match Transaction Codes check box will also be set yes if there are active warranty contracts that have repair transaction codes defined in their base coverages.
After a claim is created, both of the check boxes become read-only. |
| Edit Work Order (Maintenance only) – Operation header |
The operation includes these optional fields Reason for Repair Code, Repair Transaction Code and Work to Be Accomplished Code They are used to describe a repair and will be used in execution for supplier warranty claims and entitlements. These codes are defined using Condition Event Codes for each type of code and will default from a Standard Operation if defined, else they can be manually set or updated. |
| Edit Work Order (Maintenance only) – Operation Item |
The operation includes these optional field Repair Transaction Code The code is used to describe an item’s system, assembly, and component location on an asset. The code will be used in execution for supplier warranty claims and entitlements. These codes are defined using Condition Event Codes for each type of code and will default from a master item if defined, else it can be manually set or updated. |
| Edit Work Order (Maintenance only) – Operation Resource |
The operation includes these optional fields Reason for Repair Code, Repair Transaction Code and Work to Be Accomplished Code They are used to describe a repair and will be used in execution for supplier warranty claims and entitlements. These codes are defined using Condition Event Codes for each type of code and will default from a Standard Operation if defined, else they can be manually set or updated. |
| Manage Maintenance Dispatch List |
Search results include a Warranty column, with a check box icon. If
the icon is displayed for a work order, then either the work order
asset or an asset in its physical hierarchy has an active warranty
contract. In most cases, if this checkbox icon is enabled, the
repair order is also flagged as a warranty repair.
Note: You
must review the work order details for additional warranty
information. Click the icon to access the Edit Work Order user interface, rendering the Supplier Warranty tab and results. |
| Report Resource Transactions |
Each transaction row includes a repair transaction code attribute that can be optionally defined to reflect the asset’s system, component, and item that were repaired. These attributes will be used for reporting and the warranty claims and entitlements process. |
| Report Material Transactions – only the version with a Hierarchy viewer |
Each transaction row includes a repair transaction code attribute that can be optionally defined to reflect the asset’s system, component, and item that were repaired. These attributes will be used for reporting as well as the warranty claims and entitlements process. |
How You Define Costing for Work Orders
Cost accounting is a required setup that must be routinely maintained in order to track the latest work order costs for materials, resources, and equipment. These costs are then used as the basis for the reimbursement of a warranty repair claim for maintenance work order assets covered under supplier warranty.
It's recommended to define standard costs for items, and resource rates for resources and equipment, in a cost scenario. These costs can then be routinely published and used for work order costing. Work order costs can then be calculated by running several scheduled processes. These processes will transfer work order and inventory transactions to Costing, then create accounting distributions that will populate the work orders costs.
For more information, refer the Cost Accounting section of the guide Implementing Manufacturing and Supply Chain Materials Management
How You Manage the Warranty Repair Indicator
Work Orders will be automatically indicated as a warranty repair or not during creation if there are one or more active warranty contracts for the asset or its related assets. However, based on certain work order type and subtype combinations, you may wish to control the defaulting behavior of this indicator.
For example, work orders created as preventative maintenance by a maintenance program will typically not be a warranty repair. Therefore, you may want to define one or more combinations of work order type and subtype that will not be indicated as a warranty repair during work order creation. A system administrator can define these combinations using settings in the Functional Setup Manager under the task Manage Asset Maintenance Parameters. On the tab entitled Work Order Defaults, you can optionally define the combinations of types. The types can include standard and custom subtype values.
After work order creation, the warranty repair checkbox can be manually set to “yes” or “no” up until a warranty claim has been created. This gives you flexibility to leverage the defaulting logic, while adjusting this indicator after review of the work scope and coverage under supplier warranty.