There is a growing need to monitor replacement of certain items on a vehicle within a given period of time. A battery for example may have a two year warranty. If it is replaced within this time, the situation should be drawn to the attention of the operator so that they can decide who should pay for this replacement. In a group scenario, it is possible that the original fitting of the part may have been carried out at a different branch. This particular issue seems to be more significant in the truck world but also applies to passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to some degree or other.
To resolve this problem, a Sensitive field has been added to the Other tab of the stock record to show the number of months for which a repeat movement on the same vehicle is sensitive. This is satisfactory for a single branch environment but the potential to have different branches holding different sensitive values for the same part is an obvious problem. To overcome this, when an operator completes the Sensitive field on the stock record for a part not previously completed by that branch or any other branch, the system automatically prompts the operator to send an E-mail to either a specific user or a hunt group (defined in the Sensitive controller field on the Main detail tab of the SM System Parameters.) This action also causes a record to be written to a sensitive retention record file (00.SM.sentv). Because the file is held at a company 00 level, it holds a consistent value for all branches.
The E-mail shows who has requested set up of the sensitive movement together with the part number, description and sensitive period requested/suggested. The standard hunt group message acknowledgement is sent when the mail is opened.
When a stock record is displayed via the Stock Management menu or in Point-of-Sale (POS), the user or a member of the hunt group identified in the SM System Parameters, is able to confirm or override the value by clicking the Sensitive button on the Display Stock Card form. From then on, any branch issuing that particular part number will be advised if a previous movement on the same vehicle has taken place within the period of time held in the sensitive retention record file.
When a part is issued on a WIP that has a vehicle record assigned to it, the system checks if the sensitive retention record file exists, and if it does, whether the part number is referenced in it. If it is, it checks whether there are any movements of the part for the vehicle concerned. It there are any transactions found for the same part number and vehicle combination, a list of the relevant transactions is displayed. When you click the OK button, the system offers a link to the document archive in the normal way, from where the previous invoice for this part can be displayed, printed or faxed (subject to fax availability on your system.) Assuming the part is issued, and then subsequently invoiced, the invoice status is automatically set to Hold status, on assumption that the customer is unlikely to be charged for this part, and that it will be directed to a parts warranty claim.
To set up a sensitive part:
The STOCK MANAGEMENT menu is displayed.
The Stock File form is displayed.
Enter the Part number, if known, or click the Ellipsis button ![[...]](Ellipsis.gif){kind=small}
to search for a part.
Click the Amend button.
Display the Other tab.
In the Sensitive field, enter the number of months for which a repeat movement of the part on the same vehicle is to be monitored.
A Confirm input dialog box is displayed with the following message:
No sensitive retention period previously setup:
Abort Send request
Click the Send request button.
An E-mail is automatically sent to the person/group identified in the Sensitive controller field on the Main detail tab of the SM System Parameters.
When you receive an E-mail containing a request for a sensitive part set-up, you must display the stock record in Stock Management or in Point-of-Sale, and either confirm or override the number of months for which the part is requested to be sensitive.
To confirm a sensitive part set-up request:
From the Rev.8 Master Menu, select the Stock management option and Company you require.
The STOCK MANAGEMENT menu is displayed.
Select the Display stock card option.
The Display Stock Card form is displayed.
Enter the Part number, if known, or click the Ellipsis button to search for a part.
Click the Sensitive button.
The Sensitive retention record form is displayed.
Do one of the following:
To confirm the sensitive value entered for the part, click OK.
To amend the sensitive value entered for the part, overwrite the value and click OK.
Note: If you do not want the part to be sensitive, enter 0 (zero).
A confirm input dialog box is displayed with the following message:
Re-write sensitive retention record?
No Yes
The Sensitive retention record form is displayed when you click the Sensitive button on the Display Stock Card form. From this form you can confirm or amend the number of months for which the part is requested to be sensitive. Review the number of months entered in the Requested field and click OK.
Part: The unpacked part number.
Status: The current status of the sensitive part:
R: Requested. This status is set when a sensitive value is initially set up on the stock record.
F: Fixed. This status is set when an operator confirms or overrides the sensitive value when the stock record is displayed either in Stock Management or in POS.
Requested: This is the only editable field. It contains the number of months for which the part is set to be sensitive. If you want to confirm this value, click OK. Otherwise, overwrite the figure with the new value and click OK, or set the value to 0 (zero) if you do not want the part to be sensitive.
Requested by/on: These two fields contain the User ID of the operator that set up the Sensitive value on the Other tab of the stock record, and the date on which the field was set.
Fixed by/on: The date on which the sensitive value was fixed and written to the sensitive retention record and the user ID of the operator that performed the amendment.
Amended by/on: The date on which the sensitive value was last amended and the user ID of the operator that performed the amendment. The field will be set to the same value as the Fixed by/ on field when that field has been amended, it will reflect a new value when subsequent amendment(s) are made. Thus this field will always show the user ID of the latest operator to have amended the sensitive record.
