DC1 Help Centre 12.0

Flowchart

The Requests and Returns (BPR) application is DC1’s primary after-sales support program. It has been designed to encompass the entire work routine of a busy customer service department and is both flexible and easy to use. The Requests and Returns program helps you gain better control of your customer service by, e.g., identifying and solving problems when they occur in a quick and effective way.

Note: A request can refer to several types of transactions: sales, service or purchase order, and returns; invoice; pick list; transport numbers and other transport references.

Note: In some instances in DC1, programs, fields and application information pertaining to DC1 Requests and Returns are referred to as BPR.

This application allows you to track requests reported by customers, such as orders that are incomplete, late, delivered to the wrong address and the like. These reported requests may later be followed up by employees that are responsible for correcting the problems that have occurred or by customer account managers.

DC1 Requests and Returns can help you handle:

Customer complaints
Customer returns
Replacement requests
Damaged goods claims
Amounts claimed by the customer
Service calls
Warranty claims
Supplier claims
Lost shipment tracking
After-sale service co-ordination
Help-desk facilities
Product literature requests
Product instruction requests
Invoice tracking

The Requests and Returns program allows your company to receive, track and process requests (be they customer complaints, return issues, internal messaging, etc). The program is also packed with features that you can tailor to your companys needs.

Support levels – As the nature of business differs from company to company, up to nine levels of support are available. The request can move its way up the ladder (up through the support system) until the issue is resolved (Level 9). The Requests and Returns program also allows cross-company communication through notes – everyone in-house can communicate about the request.
Alert messaging – you can send internal messages to other employees, for informational purposes only, or to seek approval of the action(s) to be taken. For this, DC1 Alert Management (AMT) must be installed and activated. See Working with Alert Management messages.

In essence, the Requests and Returns program monitors the entire flow of a request from one central point and allows you to track each issue via a request number. You can also search through all requests by cross-referencing the request number with client’s name, date, handler and more parameters.

The design of the Requests and Returns program has an open architecture that is completely user definable. The application is similar to a workbench where all related information is set-up within a minimum number of tables. The set-up dictates how the request is to be processed by the system. Depending on the request, the actions taken to process and resolve it could vary. This flexibility allows for the program to have many permutations. See Setting up DC1 Requests and Returns.

In essence, the following tables form the core of the Requests and Returns program:

Table	Description
Request code table	All possible request problems/issues are identified and coded in Work with request codes.
Resolution code table	The solution to the problem along with the cost of solving the problem is registered in Work with resolution codes.
Action table	The actions required to solve the request are registered in Work with actions. There may be many actions needed to resolve a particular problem. Actions can be executed sequentially (one at a time: as in a chain of events) or all at once. They can also be triggered manually or automatically. Actions can be created for: generating an order be it a sales order, credit order, purchase order or service order. processing goods returned by customers – creating a restock transaction with or without quality control OR using the batch recall functionality (where returned stock is placed into NCC stock). With both methods, the Requests and Returns program allows you to monitor the return and restock of goods. returning goods to supplier – creating a purchase order for re-supply of goods and a claim to the supplier (in case they are returned due to QC issues or due to a batch recall). You can also monitor non-conformity goods. Actions can also be used for sending alert messages: You need approval to issue a credit order – you can register an action to automatically send an alert message to your sales manager. The manager’s approval must be given before further processing can be done. You need authorisation to issue a return order – you can register an action to automatically send an authorisation message to your sales manager. You need to claim your rebates from your suppliers by the end of every month. You can register a request, (used for internal purposes), in the Problem table, assign a Resolution code to it and create an Action to automatically send an alert message to all applicable personnel at the beginning of every week reminding them to follow-up the suppliers. Tip: Each action is a step that has to be taken towards resolving a problem. Problems are defined in the Request code table. Solutions to each problem are defined in the Resolution code table. The steps, or sequence of events, needed to resolve the problem are defined in the Action table.

Table

Description

Request code table

All possible request problems/issues are identified and coded in Work with request codes.

Resolution code table

The solution to the problem along with the cost of solving the problem is registered in Work with resolution codes.

Action table

The actions required to solve the request are registered in Work with actions. There may be many actions needed to resolve a particular problem. Actions can be executed sequentially (one at a time: as in a chain of events) or all at once. They can also be triggered manually or automatically.

Actions can be created for:

generating an order be it a sales order, credit order, purchase order or service order.
processing goods returned by customers – creating a restock transaction with or without quality control OR using the batch recall functionality (where returned stock is placed into NCC stock). With both methods, the Requests and Returns program allows you to monitor the return and restock of goods.
returning goods to supplier – creating a purchase order for re-supply of goods and a claim to the supplier (in case they are returned due to QC issues or due to a batch recall). You can also monitor non-conformity goods.

Actions can also be used for sending alert messages:

You need approval to issue a credit order – you can register an action to automatically send an alert message to your sales manager. The manager’s approval must be given before further processing can be done.
You need authorisation to issue a return order – you can register an action to automatically send an authorisation message to your sales manager.
You need to claim your rebates from your suppliers by the end of every month. You can register a request, (used for internal purposes), in the Problem table, assign a Resolution code to it and create an Action to automatically send an alert message to all applicable personnel at the beginning of every week reminding them to follow-up the suppliers.

Tip: Each action is a step that has to be taken towards resolving a problem. Problems are defined in the Request code table. Solutions to each problem are defined in the Resolution code table. The steps, or sequence of events, needed to resolve the problem are defined in the Action table.

Scenarios

The following are typical Requests and Returns scenarios.

Scenario 1: Registering customer complaints

A request code can be created to allow a complaint to be registered; cross-referenced to a sales/service/purchase order and line. It can also be programmed to send a message to an employee that is responsible for resolving the complaint. Up to nine levels of support can be established to track the complaint as it moves through the support system until it is resolved (when it reaches level 9). See Register a customer complaint for detailed instructions on how to process this scenario. See Process set-up for instructions on how to set the system up for this scenario.

Scenario 2: Registering customer returns

A request code can be created that allows you to record all returned goods transactions. The program will register the item(s) that has been returned; cross-reference it to a sales order and sales order line.

Depending upon how your company processes returns, you can set up the program to prompt the employee processing the transaction with a quality control entry panel. This would allow your employee to immediately perform a QC check of the goods to determine if the goods can be returned to stock or if they should be placed in the NCC location. The system can either generate a new sales order with replacement items or it can credit the order.

If the goods are damaged, a return to supplier can be automatically generated by the system and a new purchase-order to stock can be generated. Note: Whenever an item is returned the system searches through all recall information to see if it is subject to a batch recall. For more information see About item recalls.

For detailed instructions on how to process this scenario see Enter customer returns. See Process set-up for instructions on how to set the system up for this scenario.

Statistics

The Requests and Returns program can also be used to generate the following statistics:

View history transactions to track the hours spent working on the request per request number and handler. This can be used for management feedback in the event of any discrepancies or if the customer is dissatisfied with the service that was provided for resolving their problem. It is also helpful in determining the cost that each request has incurred your firm.
Print a report that includes time stamp entries to track the reported problems and the actions taken to rectify these.
Spot troublesome suppliers or customers.
Track the request and indicate the steps that should be taken to clear up the matter.
Track the amount of time spent on a request.
Analyse trend and occurrence rates.
Target and improve specific products or specific areas with frequent problems.
Track effectiveness of improvement actions. See About tracking request information for instructions.

Flowchart

Scenarios

Scenario 1: Registering customer complaints

Scenario 2: Registering customer returns

Statistics

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