Managing Warranty Claims

This chapter provides an overview of warranty claim management in Maintenance Management and discusses how to manage warranty claims.

Understanding Warranty Claim Management in Maintenance Management

Warranties are set up for assets in Asset Management. Whenever an asset is repaired in Maintenance Management, it is important for the technician to know whether any warranties exist for the asset and to determine whether to file a warranty claim for an asset that is being repaired. An outbound cost recovery claim may be filed to:

Recover the cost of a work order task from the vendor or manufacturer who warranties the asset being repaired.
Recover the cost from the vendor of a causal part associated with a work order task.
Recover the cost of non-warranty related maintenance, such as a recall, from the manufacturer.

When you create a work order and select an asset or asset component, Maintenance Management:

Enables you to review the asset or asset component's warranty information.
Enables the technician in the Technician's Workbench to record the asset's downtime hours and downtime rate, failure date, its warranty name, vendor information, and causal part information to drive the creation of a warranty claim that can be directly related to the work order task.

You can also indicate whether to attempt to recover the costs for the asset's repair.

Note. Warranty claims always apply to a work order task and not the overall work order. You can group multiple work order tasks into one warranty claim as long as they are for the same vendor.

When a work order task is completed and closed and costs are collected, if you marked the task for cost recovery, the system routes the task to the warranty claims clerk. The warranty claims clerk uses the Generate Claim component to select work order tasks for which to generate warranty claims. You can group multiple tasks into one claim as long as the tasks are associated with the same vendor and work order business unit. All information entered at the work order task level is copied over to generate a claim.

After a claim is generated, a claims clerk can access the generated claim to:

Print it and send it to the supplier for reimbursement, which is a manual process.
Maintain the claim by entering information about recovered costs.
Review and modify all cost information on the claim that was loaded from the work order tasks.

Note. If you delete a claim line, the claim line ID field of the corresponding work order task is cleared so that a user can group the task into a different claim.
Review meter readings that reside in the asset repository, which serve as supporting information for a claim.

The clerk can delete an unrelated reading and add a reading that does not currently exist in the asset repository.

Note. Warranty claims are not associated with chargebacks based on a work order, and warranty claim history is not tracked in Asset Management. Claims are tracked in Maintenance Management.

Managing Warranty Claims

This section discusses how to:

Review an asset's warranty.
Search for asset warranty templates.
Recover costs for work order tasks.
Generate warranty claims.
Revise and submit warranty claims.

Pages Used to Manage Warranty Claims

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Asset Warranties	ASSET_WARRANTY	Maintenance Management, Work Order Management, Express Work Order, Update Warranty Claim Click the Active Warranties icon on the Express Work Order page. Click the Active Warranties icon on the Work Order page. Click the Active Warranties icon on the Work Order - Requirements page.	Review the warranty information for assets that are associated with work order tasks.
Search for Asset Warranty Templates	AM_WTMPL_SRH	Click the Apply Warranties from Template link on the Asset Warranties page.	Search to find a Standard Warranty Template to apply to an asset.
Task Cost Recovery	WM_WO_TSK_CLAIM	Click the Warranty Claim link on the Work Order - Requirements page. Click the Warranty Claim link on the Work Order - Schedules page.	Indicate whether to recover costs for an asset, and specify downtime rates, vendor, warranty, and causal parts.
Generate Claim	WM_CLAIM_GEN	Maintenance Management, Warranty Claim, Generate Claim	Generate a warranty claim.
Warranty Claim - Claim Summary	WM_CLAIM_HDR	Maintenance Management, Warranty Claim, Update Warranty Claim, Claim Summary Click a claim ID on the Generate Claim page.	Review information for a warranty claim, update the status, and create the warranty claim report.
Warranty Claim - Vendor Contact	WM_CLAIM_VENDOR	Maintenance Management, Warranty Claim, Update Warranty Claim, Vendor Contact	Update vendor information for a warranty claim.
Warranty Claim - Cost Details	WM_CLAIM_COST_DTL	Maintenance Management, Warranty Claim, Update Warranty Claim, Cost Details	Update tasks and costs for a warranty claim
Warranty Claim - Related Meter Readings	WM_CLAIM_METER	Maintenance Management, Warranty Claim, Update Warranty Claim, Related Meter Readings	Update meter readings associated with a warranty claim.

Reviewing an Asset's Warranty

Click the Active Warranties icon within a work order or a work order task to access the Asset Warranties page in Asset Management, where you can review any warranties that exist for an asset.

Active Warranties icon.

Note. This icon does not appear if the asset is not associated with a warranty.

If users have the appropriate security in Asset Management, they can add or update warranty information for the asset. The user completes the information on the page or applies a warranty template.

Detailed information about the Asset Warranties page is available in the Asset Management PeopleBook.

See Maintaining Warranties.

Searching for Asset Warranty Templates

Access the Search for Asset Warranty Templates page.

Use this search page to find a defined standard warranty template and apply the warranty terms to this asset.

Enter search criteria to restrict template selections based on:

Asset type
Asset subtype
Vendor ID
Model
Item ID

The valid warranty templates matching the search criteria appear, and you can select one to associate with this asset. Standard warranties are defined on the Standard Warranty Template.

See Setting Up Asset Warranties.

Asset Type and Asset Subtype

Override these fields, if necessary. The field values that display here depend on the asset selected for the work order or work order task.

Recovering Costs for Work Order Tasks

Access the Task Cost Recovery page.

Attempt to Recover Cost

Select this check box if the asset was repaired within your organization to indicate that you want to recover the cost of the repairs for this task's asset from the vendor by generating a warranty claim. The system routes the task to a claim clerk when this option is selected.

Clear this option if either the asset is sent to the vendor for repair or replacement or the repair is not one for which the vendor will reimburse.

Claim Number

The claim number appears only if the work order task is complete and a warranty claim has been generated. Click the claim number to access the Warranty Claim component pages for this task. The system automatically generates claim numbers.

Asset downtime hours

Enter the hours the asset was unable to be used for work purposes. The value for this field is derived from the work order task information, but you can override it if necessary.

Downtime rate

Enter the hourly rate to charge for the time the asset was down and unable to be used.

Failure date

Enter or select the date the asset went down. The value for this field is derived from the work order task information, but you can override it if necessary.

Warranty Name

Select the name of the warranty covering this asset.

Vendor ID and Vendor Contact

Enter or select the ID of the vendor that issued this warranty and select the vendor's contact person for this warranty. The system automatically populates these fields with the vendor information associated with the specified warranty.

Causal Parts

Identify parts that are either from Inventory or Asset Management that caused this asset to be down. Enter or select the:

Line number

Part type

Item ID

AM business unit

Asset identification

Description

Quantity

Comments

Generating Warranty Claims

Access the Generate Claim page.

Business Unit, Vendor ID, Contact, Cause Code, and Warranty Name

Specify the criteria by which to retrieve work order tasks that are pending warranty claims by selecting values for the business unit and vendor ID, and clicking the Search button. You can optionally select a contact, cause code, and warranty name to further limit the work orders tasks that you retrieve.

Work Order Tasks

The work order tasks that meet the search criteria specified appear in this grid. Select the tasks for which to generate a warranty claim, then click Generate Claim to create a warranty claim. The page updates and the claim ID appears.

Generate Claim	Select the tasks for which to generate a warranty claim, then click this button to create a warranty claim.
Claim ID	This appears if the associated task has a generated warranty claim. Click the claim ID to access the Warranty Claim component pages for the task.

Revising and Submitting Warranty Claims

Access the Warranty Claim component.

Warranty Claim - Claim Summary Page

This page shows a summary of the costs related to the warranty claim.

The Cost Summary group box displays totals of the various cost amounts for the warranty claim, and the total claim amount. These values are display-only because they are summarized amounts from the Warranty Claim - Cost Details page.

The claim status controls which of the other fields you can modify on this page. If the claim status is New, you can modify all the remaining fields. If the status is Submitted or Resubmitted, you can edit only the Claim Status field. If the claim status is Recovered, you can edit only the fields in the Cost Recovered group box.

Claim Status	Select a value to update the status of the warranty claim. Options are: New: The initial status value once a claim is generated. Submitted: Indicates that you have printed and mailed the claim in order to recover the costs. Resubmitted: Indicates that the initial claim was rejected by the supplier, and you are submitting the claim again. Recovered: Indicates that you have received payment for the costs. Canceled: Indicates you are cancelling the claim and no longer intend to recover the costs.
Recovered Amount and Cost Recovered Date	Enter the amount recovered from the vendor, and the date you received the payment.
GL Business Unit and Journal ID	Optionally, enter a general ledger business unit and journal ID to cross reference the associated accounting information related to the recovered costs. Note. You must manually enter a general ledger journal entry and accounts receivable invoice to record the transaction; the fields on this page are informational only.
AR Business Unit and Deposit ID	Optionally, enter the accounts receivable business unit and deposit ID to record invoice information related to the transaction. Note. You must manually enter a general ledger journal entry and accounts receivable invoice to record the transaction; the fields on this page are informational only.
Print	Click to launch the warranty claim report process, and generate a report for the claim that you can send to the vendor.

Note. Accounting entries that are associated with cost recovery must be done manually. The system does not automatically generate them.

Warranty Claim - Vendor Contact Page

This page displays the vendor contact information, which you can update if necessary.

Warranty Claim - Cost Details Page

This page displays the individual lines of the warranty claim; each line corresponds to a work order task. All cost information associated with the work order tasks is copied over to the claim line. You can make changes to these lines if needed.

If a claim line is deleted, the claim ID field of the corresponding work order task is set to blank so that it can be grouped into a different claim.

Warranty Claim - Related Meter Readings Page

This page displays the asset repository meter readings that support this claim. You can delete unrelated readings and add readings if necessary.

Attempt to Recover Cost	Select this check box if the asset was repaired within your organization to indicate that you want to recover the cost of the repairs for this task's asset from the vendor by generating a warranty claim. The system routes the task to a claim clerk when this option is selected. Clear this option if either the asset is sent to the vendor for repair or replacement or the repair is not one for which the vendor will reimburse.
Claim Number	The claim number appears only if the work order task is complete and a warranty claim has been generated. Click the claim number to access the Warranty Claim component pages for this task. The system automatically generates claim numbers.
Asset downtime hours	Enter the hours the asset was unable to be used for work purposes. The value for this field is derived from the work order task information, but you can override it if necessary.
Downtime rate	Enter the hourly rate to charge for the time the asset was down and unable to be used.
Failure date	Enter or select the date the asset went down. The value for this field is derived from the work order task information, but you can override it if necessary.
Warranty Name	Select the name of the warranty covering this asset.
Vendor ID and Vendor Contact	Enter or select the ID of the vendor that issued this warranty and select the vendor's contact person for this warranty. The system automatically populates these fields with the vendor information associated with the specified warranty.
Causal Parts	Identify parts that are either from Inventory or Asset Management that caused this asset to be down. Enter or select the: Line number Part type Item ID AM business unit Asset identification Description Quantity Comments