Well, I recently started helping a new client to revisit their current service processes across multiple organizations. My first observation with all of their processes is that in many places things are disconnected because they aren’t using some of the functionality that is native to SAP. This made me wonder, are there other places that aren’t connecting things in the system? So I thought I’d do a post on serial number / Equipment history. I think there will be follow on for connecting other documents later 🙂
So, on with the show. the serial number history is an amazing resource, but only if you use the serial number properly. If you are using standard SAP, in your equipment record there is a tab called serdata. This magical tab is by far my favorite on the equipment record. it gives you the material, serial number, if it’s currently in stock and of course the history button:
Now this is a sample history of a single serial number. This becomes invaluable because if you look at the legend that included in this screenshot, you’ll see a huge list of documents that will be shown in the history, but only if you add the serial number to them.
Some of the biggest culprits are the SD delivery, especially if you do in-house repairs. if you don’t add the serial number to the inbound delivery, it won’t show up anywhere in the document chain. You can manually add it to the SD repair sales order (using the menu extras->technical objects), then even the sales order will show it. Now, keep in mind, your serial number profile will define where the serial number is allowed and where it is required. I’ll be doing a post soon talking about the serial number profile to give you more details. the important detail to take away from today’s post is that everywhere you can put a serial number you should. If you include it in a document, it will show up in the history and give you a complete picture of everywhere the number has been used.
This will be an ongoing post with more details, so don’t be upset that I’m keeping this kind of vague… have to start somewhere 🙂
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,Mike