The area of complaints makes it possible to handle complaint processes related to items both purchased by customers (sales complaints) and from vendors (purchase complaints). Complaints may be created in relation to items of both the Merchandise and Service type.

Depending on the complaint type, the lists of complaint documents registered in the system may be accessed in the menus Sales and Purchase by selecting the button Complaints.

The list of complaints presents the following information:

• Document numbers and dates of issue
• Names and codes of customers/vendors relevant to complaint processes
• Current states and statuses of complaint documents

The system makes it possible to reopen and close complaints:

• Closing a complaint means that a given complaint process has been finished. To close a complaint, it is necessary to select the button [Close Complaint].
• Reopening a complaint is usually connected with a situation where a customer/vendor appeals a decision made by a claim expert. The button [Open Complaint] is only available for documents which have been closed before.

With the use of the complaints feature, it is possible to:

• Register complaints for multiple items simultaneously (with a single document)
• Control the consistency of a claimant/vendor from a complaint document with a customer/vendor from a document associated with the complaint
• Generate documents to and from a complaint warehouse
• Specify additional statuses of complaint documents and items, e.g. To Consider, Accepted, Rejected, Processed
• Define and handle complaint handling patterns forming schemes of dealing with complaint documents
• Analyze the timeliness of complaint consideration
• Register various complaint execution options – removing of defects and item return, refund, item replacement, and others, with a possibility to define additional ones by the user
• Generate trade and warehouse documents directly from the complaint document window
• Correct sales and purchase documents associated with complaint documents directly from the complaint document window
• Associate warehouse documents with complaint documents
• Pass the handling of a complaint between different centers, e.g. between a sales center and a complaint handling center, a service center, etc.

The feature of complaint handling patterns aims to facilitate the handling of complaint processes by providing a default path according to which subsequent actions are to be performed in complaint documents.

A pattern does not prevent performing other actions; it only acts as a suggestion of subsequent steps to be taken in a complaint process.

Selecting the parameter Handle complaints according to patterns (available in System → Configuration → Trade):

• Activates the list of complaint handling patterns, together with functions necessary to use the list
• Displays the field Pattern on the header of new complaints

The list of patterns is available in the menu Configuration → (Trade/Warehouse) → Complaint Handling Patterns.

When creating a new pattern, it is necessary to:

• Enter a code and name identifying the new pattern
• Select a document type for which the pattern is to be available (SCL or PCL)
• Specify whether the pattern is to be default and active
• Specify whether actions added in the pattern are to be processed according to the pattern’s numbering
• Define subsequent complaint actions to be included in the pattern

After adding at least one action, it is no longer possible to change a document type for which a new pattern is to be available.

When adding actions, the user may change their order with the buttons [Move Up] and [Move Down] available on the ribbon and in the quick access menu above the list.

On the list of complaint actions, in the column Generation Mode, it is possible to specify how particular documents are to be generated. The user may choose one of the three options:

• Show generated document (default) – a document will be generated with the status Initiated
• In the background – unconfirmed – a document will be generated with the status Unconfirmed
• Confirmed in the background – a document will be generated with the status Confirmed

The user may define automatic actions in a complaint pattern by selecting the parameter in the column Automatic. After selecting the parameter:

• A given action will be performed automatically – if the action is to be supervised by a user handling a complaint process, the system will present relevant windows
• An operator executing the last action which has triggered an automatic action will be set as responsible for executing the automatic action as well

Changing a pattern in a complaint document in the course of a complaint process does not change the rules of adding subsequent actions for document items. If the parameter Order of actions in accordance with numbering is set in a newly selected pattern, the next action suggested by the system is the first action unregistered for a document item, calculated starting from an action with the ordinal number 1 in this pattern. If the parameter is deselected, and it turns out that after changing the pattern there is already an action from the new pattern registered for a complaint item, but that the pattern requires another action before it which has not been performed, the system ignores the unregistered action and suggests the next action specified after the already registered action.

The user may define complaint actions which are later used in the course of complaint processes.

Complaint actions may be managed and defined in Configuration → (Trade/Warehouse) → Complaint Actions.

Predefined complaint actions are marked in blue, and it is not possible to delete them; actions added by the user are marked in black.

Defining a complaint action

In order to add a new complaint action, it is necessary to select the button [Add].

The form of a new action is composed of the tab General, which contains the following fields:

• Name (required) – the field allows the user to enter a name (composed of no more than 50 characters – letters or digits) used to identify a new action. Complaint action names must be unique.
• Description – it makes it possible to enter more details related to a given complaint action
• Status after action completion – it may be used to define a status which will be assigned to a complaint item after performing a given action (or registering it)
• SCL/PCL – these parameters determine for which complaint type (sales/purchase) a given action is to be used
• POS – it makes a given action available on POS workstations
• Published on Internet – it makes a given action available in web applications
• Active – if the parameter is selected, a given complaint action may be selected for a complaint item

Complaint form

In order to add a new complaint document, it is necessary to select Sales/Purchase → Complaints and click the button [Add].

The complaint document form is composed of several standard tabs – Customers/Vendors, Associated Documents, Attributes, Attachments, and the Items tab containing elements characteristic to the complaint document only.

The document header contains the following data:

• Document number
• Field for a document reference number
• Name of a claimant and vendor – in the case of sales complaints
• Name of a vendor and customer – in the case of purchase complaints
• Code of an employee handling a given transaction
• Name of a center to which a given document belongs
• Code of a pattern followed in the complaint process – the field is only available if the parameter Handle complaints according to patterns has been selected in the system configuration window. The field makes it possible to select a pattern defined for a given complaint process. Once a relevant pattern is selected, the system suggests subsequent actions to be taken when working with a given document. A value in the field Pattern may be changed until a complaint is closed. More information may be found in the article Complaint handling patterns.
• Current state and status of a given complaint
• Date of issue
• Expected date – it is used to determine an actual date of complaint completion. Once a given document changes the status to Processed or Closed, the system automatically sets a current date in this field.
• Date of consideration – it determines a date by which a given complaint should be considered, and by which a claimant should be informed about a relevant decision. In the definitions of SCL and PCL documents, it is possible to specify a default number of days for the consideration of a given complaint. Afterwards, when a new document is being issued, the system automatically sets its expected date as the date of issue plus the number of days defined in a given document definition. The user may edit this date until document confirmation.

A confirmed complaint document is editable to a large extent. The user may:

• Edit document items
• Associate a complaint document item with a document
• Add, edit, or delete item processing stages
• Generate documents for processing stages
• Associate documents with processing stages

When a document is being issued, the status is by default set as To Consider. The status of an entire document corresponds to the earliest status of any document item and changes its value automatically.

Control of the compatibility of customers/vendors

If a document on the basis of which a complaint has been submitted is entered in a complaint document, customer/vendor data may be copied from the source document, from which the most currently added item originates.

In the company structure configuration opened in the context of a given center, in the definition of the sales/purchase complaint document, it is possible to activate the control of the compatibility between a claimant (SCL) or vendor (PCL) and a customer/vendor in a sales/purchase document being a basis for a complaint document.

If the parameter Control compatibility of customers/vendors is active, the system filters the list of sales/purchase documents by a customer/vendor set in the field Claimant/Vendor in a complaint document. If, nevertheless, the operator removes a customer/vendor set in the filter below the list and selects a document issued for a customer/vendor different than a claimant/vendor from a complaint document, the system blocks such an operation and displays a notification informing the user about the incompatibility between customers/vendors. If an Undefined claimant/vendor is selected in the header of a complaint document and the user selects a given document, the system sets the claimant/vendor as a customer/vendor from that document.

Adding items to a complaint document

In order to add a new item in a complaint document, it is necessary to select the button [Add].

The button opens a form where it is possible to define the details of a defective item. The form is composed of several tabs – General, Execution, Attributes, and Attachments.

General tab

The General tab contains the following fields:

• Handled By – in this field, it is possible to select an employee handling a transaction related to a given item
• Document – the field contains information on a document associated with a given complaint item. In the case of sales complaints, selecting the [Document] button opens the list of receipts (by default). Additionally, after clicking the arrow button, it is possible to open the list of invoices, orders, or expenses. In the case of purchase complaints, the button opens the list of purchase invoices. On the list, it is necessary to select a document containing a defective item.
• Item – it enables the user to select a defective item. If an image is attached to a selected item, the complaint item form displays an additional field presenting that image. If a given item has multiple images attached, the system displays the first of them.
• Description
• Quantity and UOM of a defective item
• Defect – it is a drop-down list of the most frequent defects defined by the user in generic directories (Configuration → Generic Directories → Complaints → Defects). The directory may be regularly modified and expanded with new defect types.
• Date of Defect – when a new complaint item is being added, this field is by default filled in with a current date
• Defect Description – in this field, it is possible to provide more information on a defect and specify how and when it has been discovered
• Claimant’s Request (required) – it is usually defined as Removing of Defects, Exchange to a New Product, or Refund. The list of requests can be expanded with the use of the generic directory Complaint Demands (Configuration → Generic Directories → Complaints).
• Status (non-editable) – it displays the current complaint status of a given item

Execution tab

The Execution tab enlists subsequent stages of complaint process execution, displays actions that have been taken together with the dates of those actions and the details of a user who has completed them, and presents the status of a given complaint item following completed actions, as well as the number of a generated document.

After the user adds items to a document and confirms it, two actions are automatically created on the Execution tab, recording the item addition and document confirmation.

It is always the last stage registered for a given item that can only be edited or deleted.

The user can only generate documents to separate complaint actions if a given complaint document is confirmed and only for actions that allow such a possibility.

After the confirmation of a complaint document, the user can add subsequent complaint execution stages on the basis of complaint actions on the tab Execution.

The user should specify the type of an action being defined. For the user’s convenience, the system makes it possible to select an action from a drop-down list, the options of which are defined in Configuration → (Trade/Warehouse) → Complaint Actions. In such a case, an action’s name and status are filled in automatically. If a necessary action is missing on the list, the user can select the option <Other> and specify the action’s name and a status that is to be assigned to a defective item after the action is completed.

Also, selecting an action determines the type of a document (IR+, IR-, WM-, WM+, SI, PI, RQC, etc.) which can be associated with a given action.

If the user registers the action Pass the Handling of Complaint, the system displays an additional field To center below the Complaint Status field, allowing the user to specify a center that is to become the new owner of a given document.

The field Warehouse, determining a warehouse for which a document is to be issued as a result of a selected action, is displayed for the following actions:

• Item Receipt from Customer (IR+)
• Item Release to Customer (IR-)
• Release of New Item (SI)
• Item Release to Vendor (IR-)
• Item Receipt from Vendor (IR+)
• Receipt of New Item (PI)

Additionally, the user may define an action date and characterize a given action briefly.

If a document is generated after saving an action, the document is displayed on the list of documents presented after editing the action again. Generated documents are editable until they are confirmed.

Documents for complaint actions may be generated in two ways:

• Automatically – while saving predefined actions for which appropriate documents are to be generated
• Manually – in the case of actions for which appropriate documents are not generated automatically and which are not yet associated with any documents

By default, documents are generated for a customer/vendor selected in a complaint document. If no customer/vendor has been selected, documents are generated for Undefined customers/vendors. The system makes it possible to change a customer/vendor in an already generated document (as long as its status is Initiated or Confirmed).

In the definition of the SCL and PCL documents, it is possible to select warehouses assigned to these documents and mark one of the warehouses as default. Marking a warehouse as default for SCL/PCL documents does not mean that such a warehouse is always set by the system in documents generated from complaints. In SI, PI, IR+, and IR- generated from a sales/purchase complaint document, the system follows the rules presented below:

• A warehouse is retrieved from the Warehouse field on the form of a complaint action assigned to a given complaint item
• If the Warehouse field on the form of a given item’s complaint action is empty, documents are generated for a warehouse set as default for a generated document type
• If the Warehouse field on the form of the complaint action Receipt of New Item (PI) is set as <All>, the same option is set in the document header, and a warehouse marked as default for purchase invoices is suggested for PI document subitems. The operator may nonetheless change it to another warehouse available for PI documents.
• If the Warehouse field on the form of the complaint action Release of New Item (SI) is set as <All>, a sales invoice generated from a given SCL document retrieves resources from all warehouses available for SI documents. It is not possible to change resources retrieved by the system in such a case.

In WM- documents generated for complaint actions, the system follows the rules presented below:

• A source warehouse is retrieved from the field Source Warehouse on the form of the action Item Movement to Another Warehouse
• A target warehouse is set as a warehouse marked as default for the WM+ document type within a given center
• Correction documents are generated according to the regular generation rules binding for this type of documents