Service Order Invoicing—Exercises

Basic Data Setup 

Customer Order Type

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to set up the basic data required to conclude a service work order. 

Windows:
Sales Basic Data

  1. Create a new customer order type.

General exercise for Customer Order Type

Main Exercise

Invoice Service WO

Purpose: The purpose of these exercises is to show you how to invoice a service work order. This exercise requires that you have a service order that has been concluded, i.e., time has been reported, material has been issued, expenses has been reported, etc. It further requires that the posting lines have sales part information, and that they be authorized. A customer ID should also have been defined in the CO Information tab. This is described in the exercise for Service Order Concluding.

Windows:
Report In Work Order
Customer Order
Quick Order Flow Handling
Transferto Customer Order
Archived Reports
Historical Work Orders
Background Jobs
Print Customer Invoices

Transfer To Customer Order

  1. Open the Report In Work Order window, and query for work orders with the Reported status. 
  2. On the Postings tab, make sure that the postings are correct and authorized.
  3. In the header portion of the Report In Work Order window, right-click and then click Transfer to Customer Order. A new window appears with customer and posting line information.

Note: If a coordinator or customer is not defined correctly, you can add or change the information by right-clicking in the header portion of the window. 

  1. On each line, you can specify whether the line should be charged to the customer. If you select Keep Revenue = No, the line can be transferred to a customer order as a customer order line, but it will show a zero price. 

Note: If you do not want to invoice the line to the customer, or if you do not want it to appear as a customer order line, you can set the line to Not Invoiceable by selecting the corresponding right mouse button from the line (this enables you to finish the service work order even though all lines have not been invoiced). There is also a Hold option, which allows you to put the line on hold until you are ready to transfer it to a customer order.

  1. When the posting lines appear to be correct, you can select the ones that you want to transfer to a customer order, right-click and then click Create Customer Order Line. 
  2. You can now right-click and then click Customer Order. The Customer Order window appears with the customer order to which the order lines have been added.

Note: If there are open customer orders for the same customer, and the coordinator and the customer order type are the same as on the service work order, the lines are automatically added to the existing customer order. If no such customer order exists, a new customer is created for the lines. If the service work order originates from a customer order, the lines are transferred to the same customer order. 

Handle Customer Order

  1. On the customer order, you can also make changes to the price and quantity. You can add more customer order lines if additional material will need to be picked and sent to the customer, and you can add various charges.

Note: Preferably, you should make all changes and capture all expenses and charges on the service work order instead. That way your work order history is correct for analytical purposes. In the Transfer to Customer Order window, you can right-click and then click Undo Transfer to Customer Order. Once you have undone the transfer, you can make necessary updates on the service work order and transfer it again.

  1. In the Customer Order window, right-click and then click Release.

Note: What the next step is in the customer order process depends on the customer order type. The Quick Order Flow Handling window helps guide you through the process. Query for the customer order, mark it, and right-click and then click an appropriate option. The options will indicate what the next step will be. Normally, if you selected the customer order type SEO, the customer order will go straight to status Invoiced/Closed (or Partially Delivered, if for some reason all lines could not be process to invoicing). 

View (and Print) Customer Invoice

  1. When the customer order has been processed and is in the Partially Delivered or Invoiced/Closed status, go to the customer order's Order History tab. Here you can see the number of the invoice that was created as well as whether the invoice was printed.
  2. If the invoice is printed, you can go to the Archived Reports window to view or print a copy of the invoice and invoice specification.

Note: If the print server is set up correctly, the invoice has printed on a printer automatically. The Archived Reports window enables you to reprint any report that has been printed.

  1. Populate the Archived Reports window. Here you can see that two documents have been printed: one invoice and one invoice specification.
  2. Select one of the reports, right-click and then click Print.
  3. Click OK if you want to print it out, or click Preview if you want to look at it before printing.

Send Service Work Order to History

Note: At any point after the service work order's lines have been transferred to a customer order, the service work order can be sent to history.

  1. Open the Report In Work Order window, and query (F3) for the service work order.
  2. Right-click, point to Work Order Status and then click Finished.
  3. The service work order is now seen as historical, and can from now on be found in the Historical Work Orders window.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Whether the Customer Order Process Has Failed

If, for some reason, the customer order is not processed so that an invoice is created, check the following:

  1. Background Jobs window, and populate it (F2). Find the transaction (usually the latest), and look at the status. 

  2. If the status is Posted, right-click and then click Execute. When the job is set to Ready, go back to the customer order and see if it has progressed in status.

  3. If the status says Warning, right-click and then click View Details to look at the error message. Most often the problem is related to the customer ID not being completely set up with order and invoice information. Go through the Basic Data exercise to make sure all information is set up for the customer.

  4. If the status shows Ready, go back to the customer order and refresh it.

  5. Use the Zoom feature in the Order Type field in the Customer Order window. This takes you to the basic data setup and shows you what steps that are required to process the customer order. 

  6. Make sure you have processed the order according to the customer order type. Use the Quick Order Flow Handling window to process the customer order.

  7. If the customer order is processed to invoicing but the invoice was never printed (because of the order type setup), you need to go to the Print Customer Invoices window. Find the invoice, and right-click and then click Print Invoice.