Efficient Spare Parts Processing with collaborative Dealer Portal

[MRaju]

Efficient Spare Parts Processing with collaborative Dealer Portal

This blog belongs to the overall introduction blog about the new automotive dealer portal. Here is a short overview on the features and function for spare parts processing, as available per the Business Package "Automotive Dealer Portal for SPP".

Business Background

In the aftermarket business there is pressure on overall parts margin from independent aftermarket chains.  Thus to maintain a profitable and efficient supply chain, importer, distributors or wholesalers need a tool for their respective dealers to manage and procure parts inventory.  To achieve this, a collaborative platform is required which lets the respective dealer's to access and enter the parts order, perform real-time availability check on parts and save/confirm the orders.

Here are some benefits which can be realized with the new Automotive Dealer Portal for Spare parts.

• Create Parts order easily and process them efficiently


• Monitor the orders - Search for orders by status, part number, etc.


• Parts return process using


• Internal organization can see which deliveries still have open invoices


• Use of web-browser access to perform all the process functions

This Automotive dealer portal is operated by the OEM, importer or wholesale organization as a web-frontend of their SAP ERP solution for their retail network. The automotive dealer portal offers role-based and web-enabled user interfaces and a lean functionality of the Sales & Distribution, tailored for the role of automotive dealers.

 

And now, let's a take look...

The functionality shown here is the business package through the SAP Enterprise Portal.

On the left hand side, you see the navigation panel.  There are primarily two sections under Overview, i.e. "Services" and "Portal Favorites".   On the right hand side you see the active queries which are pre-defined (see below).



The user is able to see a default list of queries based on the organizational assignment such as sold-to-party and sales organization.



The user can easily adapt the queries to the business needs of the organization using the pre-defined selection criteria's.

Sales Order process

From the Orders query (as shown above), you can simply select one order from the list and start working with it by using the buttons as shown below:



To create a parts sales order, you can use the [Create] button or click on the link [Create New Order] on the left hand navigation panel under "Services".



Select the order type, change the delivery date, and enter materials and quantity.  You can click on the [Simulate] button to get availability information under the "Schedule Lines" tab.  Just press [Save] and your order is created in the ERP system.  An easy to read layout, a header area that displays the ship-to & bill-to info with the delivery date and the total value for the order.

During the order processing, the part is checked whether it belongs to a supersession chain (as defined in the ERP system).  If the part belongs to a supersession chain, the ATP check proposes the valid parts based on the date and ordered quantities.

It is possible to integrate external catalogs via OCI in the new Dealer Portal. You can attach documents to the order as well.

Obviously, there are some more options to create the spare parts order such as XML upload, use of Template and Basket feature.   Using the template feature, a list of parts & quantities can be saved (under a template name).  This greatly reduces the effort to order recurring spare parts for the dealers.

 

Return Parts Process

This query lets you see the orders that have parts relevant for returns process and any existing Returns order.



Similarly, the query for Deliveries can be used to create a Return parts order as well.

The queries for Deliveries and Invoices provide the visibility and monitor for the organization as well as the dealers/users.  This information is also visible in the sales orders detail.  Further these queries can be cross-searched using various selection criteria's such as Sales order number, PO number, etc.

 

Query "Materials"



This is a new/enhanced functionality in the automotive dealer portal, which not only lets you see the material details, but you can create an order and/or add parts to the basket (for later use to create new order). Also you can perform the ATP check while you are in the [Detail] screen.

In the navigation panel "Services", there are three entries which allow you to directly jump to the transactions:

• - Create New Order: As mentioned above, you can start the business process of sales order for Spare parts also right from this link.


• - Basket: Lets you take the parts which were temporarily saved earlier from your "Materials" query; and start either the Sales Order process, or even perform a quick ATP(availability) check.


• - Personalization: Lets the user set his preferred customer and organization defaults.

Well this was a short overview on the new Business Package Automotive Dealer Portal for Spare Parts Processing.   Let me know if you would like to read further details.

Raju