RMA's in E9

epicor version 9.05.701

We are reviewing how RMA’s are handled within Epicor.

The current method of having just a job on the system is having a detrimental effect on our stock and materials for supply of actual Sales Orders to customers
· Is there another way of creating demand for a job other than using an SO ?
· RMA are raised under Case numbers, if we raise an SO from within an RMA would this allow us to differentiate from other SO?
· Is there a way to differentiate SO at generation, eg for sales for RMA for Supply etc.?
· If we need to create SO can we create a repeatable group which we effectively cycle through, rather than create new one each time?
· Can we use some other demand link to determine part availability i.e. a link that predicts a sales order will be generated, rather than generating one at the point of booking the RMA in. Does MPS work like this?
· Some concerns are that using a SO would present something of a leaky tap when preventing RMAs exiting the building without payment or the proper checks. – Is there a way this could be avoided?
· Can RMA jobs be linked differently to supply in order for them to not show up at all?
· Another way to look at this issue is that we are generating this ‘ghost’ supply in the system. It seems that job completion dates drive allocation of top level parts to orders, with the earliest available parts being used to fulfil the most pressing orders, thus RMA jobs eventually come to the top of the list. There are strange instances where RMAs known to have been completed have their jobs still open, even though this should not be possible. Removing RMA jobs from the supply list would tackle the issues we are trying to deal without a housekeeping headache. In this circumstance, however, these jobs would still need to generate demand when they require new parts to be supplied.

o Taking job manager as an example, is it possible that RMA jobs can appear in the demand box but not in the supply box. Thus RMA jobs only ‘demand’ parts rather than ‘supply’ them.

The main ways of telling the system you want planned MRP job / PO demand are through Master Production Schedule (MPS Entry) and Sales Forecast. If you do a search in the E9 application user guide and you should find information on both.

In what ways do you want to differentiate the SO (what’s the end goal)? If in a report or quick search while you’re trying to select a sales order, you can definitely create a join through the case to flag this order separately. I can’t recall if there is something else unique on the SO itself, but if you needed you could always set a checkbox on OrderHed in a BPM.

If you have an expected quantity of RMAs which will deplete your inventory and you’re expecting to buy to replenish that amount, I would probably add this as MPS.

Place the sales orders on hold when they are created and check the company configuration setting that prevents held sales orders from being shipped.