Service Contracts

Purpose
You use service contracts to record the details of the service package that you have agreed to
provide a service recipient with over a specified period of time. For example, you specify:
The routine service tasks which are to be performed on a piece of machinery you have
sold or rented to a customer
The prices which are to apply for these routine tasks
For more information, see Standard Pricing in Service Contracts.
The prices which are to apply for additional service tasks and for any spare parts
required
For more information, see Price Agreements in Service Contracts.
The terms under which the contract can be cancelled
For more information, see Cancellation Data in Service Contracts.

During the validity period of the service contract, you use the service contract as follows:
To initiate automatic billing of the routine service tasks at regular intervals
To determine whether a service request from the customer is covered by the service
contract
To determine which price agreements apply for service tasks not covered by the service
contract
To determine whether a cancellation request from the customer is valid
To initiate follow-up actions before the service contract becomes invalid

Service Contract
Definition
Sales document which is the central document in Customer Service (CS) to which other
Customer Service documents can refer.
Structure
The service contract is made up of a header and one or more items.
At header level you specify:
Partner data such as the partner who is to be provided with the services and the partner
who is to be billed for the services
Contract-specific data:
o Start and end dates
o Cancellation terms
o Follow-up actions
Texts
Status information
Price agreements
At item level you specify:
The services to be provided
Partner data
Contract-specific data
o Start and end dates
o Cancellation terms
Technical objects
Texts
Status information
Price agreements
Billing plan data

The data at header level of the service contract applies to the service contract
item until you define alternative data at item level.
Integration
After you have created a service contract, Customer Service (CS) arranges for technicians to
make the routine service calls which have been agreed on in the service contract. The routine
tasks that the technician carries out are billed according to the terms of the billing plan for the
corresponding service contract item. The technician may need to perform tasks not covered by
the terms of the service contract. If this is the case, CS refers to the underlying service contract
to determine whether the customer is charged for these services and parts, and if so, how
much. Billing for any additional services or products is initiated by a billing request.