Service Repairs & GSX

Introduction

Retail stores with repair departments, such as computer stores or sporting goods stores, need the ability to track their repairs, record the work performed, and, in some cases, bill out labor and order service parts. The Service Repair Order module in LightSpeed allows you to enter repairs, assign them to techs, and record their progress, and, for Apple-authorized service providers, integrates with Apple's GSX warranty lookup. 

Processing an SRO

There are 4 steps in the processing of an average SRO. As the status of the SRO progresses, you are able to reflect this by a pull-down status menu at the bottom of the SRO screen. 

• Having completed the Customer information, you must book the equipment in, and you may include information such as Family, serial numbers and original purchase date.  Additional Items is a list of items that you can customize at Tools > Setup > SRO Additional Items and will allow you to indicate what additional items are being checked in that might normally get overlooked when the equipment is returned. Warranty is a pre-defined list of warranty terms you can choose, and can be set at Tools > Setup > Warranties, and warranty details can be entered in the Warranty Info field. The Status of the SRO reflects the stage that the incident is currently in, and is comprised of a pre-defined list that can be edited at Tools > Setup > SRO Status. 

Any statuses you add to this list will also create a  new Tracker that can be installed in your set of Trackers. 

• Once the equipment is looked at, any parts that are required may be ordered as Products may be ordered.  When an Order is created from an SRO, and that Order is then turned into a PO, the PO will have a special GSX tab that includes the Customer’s information. When the parts come in, they will be received and allocated to the SRO as with a regular Order.  
• All work performed on an SRO is logged in the Work tab, and any chargeable labor can be entered as a Product on the Parts tab.  In most cases, you would create a non-inventoried Product for each of your technicians and the Selling Price would be their hourly rate.  When you are ready to bill the SRO, including its labor and parts, you click the Invoice button and an unsaved Invoice will be created.  
• In most cases, you will print both an SRO, which lists the parts and labor involved with the repair, and an Invoice created from the SRO, which bills for the parts and labor. 

Tabs

The Parts tab is where you attach Products to the SRO in the same way you would with Quotes or Invoices. The Work tab is where you log the work that is performed on the incident. Remember, you can use LightSpeed’s date/time stamp by using the key combination Command-=. The Options, Notes, and Deposits tabs all behave the same way as with the other sales documents. 

Action Menu

The Action menu indicated by the gear icon at the bottom of all sales documents will give you access to a range of features unique to that document, as well as features common to all sales documents. Features unique to SROs accessible in the Action menu are the ability to print an SRO Claim Check, SRO Label, or a Packing Slip. 

Invoicing

If you need to charge your Customer for any parts or labor that you have added to your SRO in the Parts tab, click the Invoice button at the bottom of the SRO window. All the Products on the SRO will be put on a new, unsaved Invoice. When you save the Invoice, the status of the SRO will change to Invoiced. 

GSX

GSX, or Global Service Exchange, is Apple Computer Inc’s single service, repair and order management tool available to Apple’s partners to conduct service business with Apple worldwide. GSX Web Services is a data exchange mechanism that allows partners to integrate their applications with GSX.  LightSpeed allows you to instantly access the GSX database for warranty and service parts lookups.  Simply enter the serial number you wish to look up, and hit your Return key. LightSpeed will access the GSX database, returning with the warranty status of that serial number, as well as a list of parts that can be ordered for the equipment. 

LightSpeed requires a properly setup GSX account to enable Warranty and Parts Lookups. Apple recommends that you set up a new GSX account for doing LightSpeed GSX lookups. You must then request that the ‘Can Access Web Services’ privilege be added to this GSX account by Apple. 

Please include the words ‘LightSpeed GSX Setup’ in the notes field to ensure correct setup of your GSX account.

To make this request, follow these steps:

• Create <https://gsx.apple.com> a unique AppleID to be used when accessing GSX (usually a good idea, however you can use an existing Apple ID)
• Apply for GSX access to your SoldTo account in GSX
• Verify that the Apple ID has access to GSX under your SoldTo
• Submit the request form <http://aboutgsx.info.apple.com/integration/WSStart/GettingStarted/helpform.htm> to have API access enabled (selecting the correct environment of Production from the drop down).  Ensure that the User ID entered is the same user ID created in the previous steps.  Fill in the GSX account info and specify the following in these fields:
• Environment: GSX Production (Do NOT select GSXUT, which is the default option)
• APIs Required: PartsLookup, WarrantyStatus

This single GSX account is shared by all users when doing Warranty Lookups, and you may choose to create a specific account for this purpose. The account must have the ‘Can Access Web Services’ privilege enabled by Apple Service Provider Support in order for LightSpeed to authenticate securely to the GSX server. 

Stock, Exchange, Warranty Parts

You can configure LightSpeed to handle alternate costs for Apple’s service parts, particularly in the case of stock or exchange repairs.  To do this, create Pricing Levels named “Apple Stock”, “Apple Exchange” , and “Apple Warranty” in the Pricing Level setup panel, and check their checkboxes to enable an alternative Cost for that level.  For each of these levels, select the “Use Pricing Level Cost” option from each pop-up menu. 

It is important that you have both checkboxes enabled near the bottom of the Pricing Level Setup window. 

GSX Setup

After having set up “Apple Service” as a Supplier in your list of Suppliers, choose it in the “Select Apple Service in your Suppliers” drop-down menu.  In the “Stock Pricing Level” drop-down menu, choose “Apple Stock” level you have set in the Pricing Levels setup panel as explained above.  In the “Exchange Pricing Level” menu, choose the “Apple Exchange” level you have set in the Pricing Levels setup panel. This will now populate the Alternate Price and Alternate Cost you have set up for the Apple Exchange and Stock Pricing Levels when you create a new Product from Apple’s parts list. 

Automated Pricing

To mark up the Selling Prices for both the Stock Pricing and Apple Exchange Levels, use the Set Selling Prices panel in the Tools menu.  Set the criteria for the Product Code to select which Products are affected, and set the drop-down menus in the Action section for the Pricing Level you wish to set.  Once you’ve set your criteria and your action, you can either use the Apply button to apply the pricing change to the existing Products in the database, or use the Rules button to create a Rule which will be saved for later use.  Click the checkbox beside the Rule to make it “live” and applicable on the fly as new Products are created.  For more information, see the Product Rules article in this section of the User Guide.

Costs

Any Costs associated with Apple service parts should be stored as a Pricing Level cost. Because the same Apple part can be associated with several costs - warranty, exchange, and stock - it is adviseable to not enter a Cost for the part in the Supplier Costs grid, and to instead enter the Cost manually on the Purchase Order dependant upon the kind of repair it is. This gives you another level of control, which insures that parts are not mistakenly entered into your inventory at the wrong Cost.

GSX Carry-In Repair

In addition to performing a parts lookup, LightSpeed can send parts orders to Apple's GSX database from a GSX Purchase Order. Once the parts order has been submitted, however, any tracking must be done directly in Apple's GSX system until the part arrives and is received on the Purchase Order. Any return of an Apple part, whether through warranty or exchange, must be processed through GSX and not LightSpeed. 

To create a GSX Purchase Order:

1. Create the SRO and complete a parts lookup for the Apple serial number as outlined above. 
2. Add the desired part(s) to the SRO. 
3. Click the Order button at the bottom of the SRO. Save the Order. 
4. Click the PO button at the bottom of the Order to create a Purchase Order for the part(s). Save the PO. 

To create a GSX Carry-In Repair request from the Purchase Order:

1. Select Submit GSX Carry-In Repair from the Action menu of the PO. 
2. In the resulting GSX Carry-In Repair window, confirm the Tech ID for the technician associated with the repair. 
3. Enter the time and date that you received the Apple unit for repair. 
4. Enter any relevant information in the Symptoms and Diagnosis tabs. 
5. Click Lookup beside the part you are ordering to populate the CompTIA Code choices for that item. 
6. After a few seconds, you will have access to a value list from which to choose your code. Select the reason for the repair, then select a CompTIA Modifier to elaborate on the problem. Complete this step for each part you are ordering. 
7. If the part has been physically damaged, select the Abused checkbox. 
8. Once you have selected a CompTIA Code and Modifier for each part, click Submit. Within seconds, you will receive a Diagnostic Code for each part submitted, as well as a Reference Number you can use to track the submission in GSX directly.

Clicking Submit enters the order into Apple's GSX database, where it can be tracked. When the part arrives, receive it on the appropriate Purchase Order, then either reserve it to the Order to have it show as unavailable, or simply incorporate it into your repair and it will be removed from stock when you convert the SRO to an Invoice.