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CMS Warranty and Return Administration (WRA)

Benefits

The Warranty and Return Administration (WRA) module is an optional add-on module, providing support for those CMS customers who warrant and service their products.

Product Summary

Once installed and activated, this software allows you to track service history for goods under warranty, provide and administer return authorizations and repair work, and maintain information about distributors or end users of the products that you sell.

The module is comprised of three sub-systems:

• Warranty Service Tracking
• Return Authorization Administration
• Mailing List Maintenance

Behavior switches activate the module functionality and allow you to tailor the module to match the way in which your company conducts business.

Warranty Service

The Warranty Service Tracking system provides a way to track end users of your products (if necessary), the warranty period, and any services or repairs performed on the items under warranty. For each item sold, the system will maintain the following information in the Warranty Master File:

• Part number
• Serial number
• Date of sale to dealer
• Date of sale to end user
• Name and address of the dealer
• Name and address of the end user
• Warranty period length
• Expiration date

You can manually record warranty information as warranty cards are returned to you, or you can set a behavior switch so that when a warranty-tracked item is invoiced through the CMS Accounts Receivable module, the dealer name (the name of your customer) to which the unit was sold, and the date and the invoice number are automatically recorded. Later, when the end user returns a warranty card, you can update the file with more information.

When you perform services or repairs on items under warranty, you can enter details of the repair into the Warranty Service Tracking system. The details are stored in a service record file. You can enter and edit the service date, description of the service (text), hours, and cost.

When the warranty period has expired, you can clear those records from the warranty files. The warranty master file and service record file can be purged together, or separately, allowing for separate policies for retention of data. Name and address information for purged warranty file records is automatically transferred to the mailing list file.

The Return Authorization system allows you to display R/A's that have been received but not yet repaired. Items are listed in oldest first order by receipt date. When an item is selected for work, its record is date stamped and deleted from this pending work list. During or after repair, the service/technical department can record the service or repair information for each unit(line item). If a warranty record exists for the particular unit, this information is also recorded in the Warranty Service file. A final disposition is made at this time, including issuance of a packing list document for shipment back to the end user/dealer.

Mailing List Management

The Mailing List Management system allows you to maintain a list of customers that are not in the Customer Master file or the Warranty Master file. These three files together enable you to access all current and past customers perhaps targeting them for promotional materials.

The Mailing List file contains name and address, phone and fax numbers, mail codes, territory, primary product, and free text. Customers can be added to or deleted from this list and any existing information can be edited. Information is automatically written to the mailing list file when a customer is purged from the CMS customer master file. Names and addresses are also automatically added when a warranty expires and is purged.

Miscellaneous Features

Behavior switches control the way the Warranty and Return Administration module functions. By setting the appropriate switches, CMS can:

• Automatically record warranty data during invoice processing;
• Record the warranty expiration date when the invoice is processed;
• Permit return authorization over the phone or require formal approval on each return request with a notice sent to the consumer.

Functions of the WRA module provide printed notification of authorization and return shipment packing lists. Because the structure of all WRA files facilitate the use of report utilities, no other printed reports are included.

To provide ease of data entry, codes are used throughout the WRA module. Codes define valid return reasons, authorizations, credit information, and disposition. You set up these codes through the normal CMS code setup process. During data entry, you can either enter the code or select from a list of valid codes.

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