1/5/2011 Complaints Processing (SAP Library - m…

Complaints Processing

Purpose

You use this process within your sales and service organizations to process customer complaints. A complaint is an
expression of dissatisfaction that a customer makes in relation to a service or product.

Process Flow

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The process begins when you receive a complaint relating to a service or product.
. . .

1. Create complaint (SAP CRM)

You create a complaint. This can be with or without reference to an existing service process or sales order or
with reference to a CRM billing document.
To create a complaint with reference to a service process or sales order, perform the following steps:
a. Display the sales order or service process.
b. Create the follow-up document.
c. Select the relevant items contained in the sales order/service process.
To create a complaint with reference to a CRM billing document, perform the following steps:
. . .

a. Create the complaint.

b. Enter the number of the CRM billing document.
c. Select the relevant billing item.
To create a complaint without a reference, perform the following steps:
. . .

a. Enter customer data (if necessary, additional business partners are determined using partner
determination).
b. Create complaint items for a service or product.
2. Enter a defective object as the reference object (SAP CRM)
You create the reference object for the product or service about which the complaint was made at header or
item level. Reference objects can be products, components of installed bases, or individual objects.
3. Determine valid warranty and contract (SAP CRM)
The system automatically performs a warranty check.
If a warranty is determined, this is apparent from the assigned warranty product and the accounting indicator.
The accounting indicator influences pricing.
The relevant services and spare parts and their related discounts are defined in the warranty. The internal
receivers to whom the incurred costs should be charged are also defined in the warranty.

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The system determines the existing service contract for the business partner for each complaint item.
4. System determines response time from contract (SAP CRM)
Assured response times are determined based on the Service Level Agreements (SLA) defined in the contract.
The times determined by the system enable the monitoring and prompt escalation of overdue complaints.
5. Analyze complaint reason and categorize problem with predefined codes (SAP CRM)
You analyze the complaint reason for each item. You use predefined codes to categorize the problem and can
thereby specify, for example, causes of damage.

In the course of complaints processing, you trigger one or more of the following actions for each complaints item:
6. Trigger follow-up action: Create a credit memo request (SAP CRM)
You generate a credit memo request to create a credit memo for a customer within the context of a complaint.
You can also create a debit memo request to calculate additional customer charges within the context of a
substitute delivery (for example, for a replacement product with a higher value than the original product).
The credit memo request/debit memo request appears in the billing due list in CRM Billing. You generate the
billing documents based on this billing due list.
7. Trigger follow-up action: Create a returns request (SAP CRM and SAP R/3)
Create a subitem of category ‘Return’ for the main complaint item. The unique RMA number (Return Material
Authorization) is made up of the unique complaint number and the item number of the returns item. The
customer uses the RMA number to send the defective product in for repair.
After saving the complaint in SAP CRM, the returns item is replicated in a sales order in SAP R/3 for the
purpose of logistics processing. This means that a sales order is automatically created with a corresponding
returns item. The returns item gets the same number and same item category as the complaints document
and the complaints item in SAP CRM. A unique RMA number is thereby also available in SAP R/3.
Create a returns delivery for the returns item. When the product concerned has been returned, create a goods
receipt for the returned item. The goods receipt triggers accounts receivable accounting and the posting to the
controlling object in SAP R/3.
8. Trigger follow-up action: Create a substitute delivery (SAP CRM and SAP R/3)
You create a subitem of category ‘Substitute Delivery’ for the main complaints item. After saving the complaint
in SAP CRM, the substitute delivery item is replicated in a sales order item in SAP R/3 for the purpose of
logistics processing. The sales order item gets the same number and same item category as the complaints
document and the complaints item in SAP CRM. In SAP R/3, you create an outbound delivery for this item and
then a goods issue.

9. Create / assign a controlling object (SAP R/3)

The goods issue triggers accounts receivable accounting and the posting to the controlling object.

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