Chapter 1: Introduction

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Objectives
The objectives are:

Introduce Service functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

and learn about its potential for optimizing service businesses

Gain an overview of the Service management course

Introduction
The Service Management module in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 is designed
for companies to manage service operations as a business.
Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has a strong value
proposition for manufacturing service organizations. Companies in this sector
frequently find they derive more profitability and customer satisfaction from
after-sales service on items they manufacture, than they derive from the items
themselves. Such service organizations have a team of dedicated service
professionals to look after their customers service requirements for on-site
service.

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Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Introducing Service in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 provides capabilities best
suited for:

Business to business service instead of business to consumer service.

Complex service arrangements that consist of a variety of repetitive

and non-repetitive service tasks on manufactured objects, instead of
routine services such as cleaning or security.

Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has a deep integration

with the Project accounting module. This enables service managers to track the
exact costs of hours, expenses, item consumption, and how much revenue is
earned from a particular service engagement. This helps managers optimize
service levels and the revenue stream the company gains from performing
service.
With the Technician Portal and the Customer Portal, both service companies and
customers are now able to manage and oversee service orders, service
agreements, and more through a Web portal.

Overview of the Course Chapters

This course discusses the major functions and advanced features in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 Service and how these features can help run a Service
operation as a profitable business. The chapters in this course cover the following
areas.

Service Agreements
This chapter provides an overview of how to set up service agreements as a basis
for manual and automatic creating of service orders for customers. The chapter
examines the setup of service agreement components and the service agreement
header and service agreement lines themselves. This chapter describes how to
copy lines into service agreements when the service agreement is based on a
standard service offering that is contained in the service agreement or service
template lines. Additionally, users will examine how to create service agreements
from a sales order.
Throughout this chapter there is special focus on how Service integrates with
Project accounting (PA) and how Service uses PA functionality for pricing,
validation, posting, and other project related functions.

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Service Orders
This chapter describes how to set up Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 for creating
service orders and how to post and process these orders. The chapter starts by
looking at the service stages system which is used to control and flag the progress
of service orders from creation to final posting or cancellation. The chapter also
examines the parameter setup in Service and how these parameter settings can,
for example, trigger CRM activities or enable direct posting of service orders to
the service order's project.
The chapter then continues to examine how and when users can manually create
service orders directly in the Service orders form. This is followed by an
examining of automatic service order creation, with a focus on how settings in
the service agreement lines affect service order creation. The chapter also
describes how to create a service order from a sales order. Additionally, it
explores the processing of service orders up to and including their final invoicing
in their attached project.

Service Level Agreements

This chapter deals with Service level agreement management functionality.
Service level agreement management enables service companies to record when
service must be done at the latest, from when the service order is initiated. The
chapter describes how to set up service level agreements, covers the typical steps
for a service level agreement processing and deals with service agreement groups
that are assigned to service agreements to enable quick assignment of service
level agreements to new service agreements.
The chapter also covers time recording as the main resource behind the Service
level agreement functionality. Reason codes are discussed as the way to track the
reasons why exceptions occur in service operation and to steer past such
exceptions going forward.
In the end the chapter shows how to view all service orders that have a running
service level agreement clock, and how to use service order stages to close time
recording.

Service Dispatcher
This chapter discusses Service dispatcher as a way to have an overview about
what the service operation is doing based on accessing the service order form.
The chapter explains how to create and assign default values to service order
types, create dispatch teams and assign resources, set up and use color-based
priorities. The chapter shows what the dispatch board is used for, gives details on
how to change the workforce and time assignment on the dispatch board. The
procedure explains how to view all service orders that need dispatching.
The last part of the chapter discusses and describes the subtabs of the dispatch
board.

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Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Repair
This chapter describes how to set up the repair system. The chapter starts by
exploring the setup of the following repair line elements:

Symptom - How the customer perceives the problem.

Condition - The condition under which the problem occurs, if any.

Diagnosis - How the technician diagnoses the problem at the service

company.

Resolution - How the problem is resolved.

The chapter also explores how to create a repair line and track the progress of a
repair using repair stages. The last part of the chapter focuses on registration of
resource consumption in the service order when performing repairs.

BOM Versioning
In the BOM Versioning chapter, users learn how to set up a service object that
has a BOM structure to enable tracking of replacements and changes to the
service object during its service life. This chapter describes how to create a
service order lines from a BOM.

Service Subscription
This chapter provides an overview of the Service subscription functionality.
Service subscriptions are used to create fixed fee transactions for service. The
chapter explains how to set up subscriptions and how to flexibly generate and
process subscription transactions.
Additionally to the standard Service subscription functionality, this chapter also
covers the accrual of service subscription revenue over time and how to perform
service subscription accruals in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.

Service Management through Enterprise Portal

The Service Management through Enterprise Portal chapter describes Service
order management in the Technician and the Customer Portals and Web service
order management.
With the Technician Portal and the Customer Portal, both service companies and
customers can manage and oversee service orders, service agreements, and more
through a Web portal.
The chapter explains how to create and edit service orders through the Enterprise
Portal, view and create repair lines, view object and task relation lines, and view
service agreements in the Technician portal. The chapter also discusses Role
Center as the way for the service manager to have an overview of what he or she
is responsible for.

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Chapter 1: Introduction
It is also explained, how the Customer Portal gives service customers access to
their service related data over the Enterprise Portal whenever required. This
provides a kind of interaction between the service company and the customer.

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Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Summary
This chapter briefly describes how the customers and the service companies can
benefit from the daily service management by using Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009 and the Enterprise Portal.
A brief overview of all the chapters of the Service Management course covers the
basic features that will be discussed in detail in each chapter.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned

Take a moment and write down three key points you have learned from this
chapter:
1.

2.

3.

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Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

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