ServiceDesk 4.4.99 Update 01/23/11

In its standard default mode, ServiceDesk assumes each tech as listed in its TechRoster is an inventory location (or, more properly, that he drives a truck that's an inventory location).  For a good share of companies, this assumption works great.  For those companies where the assumption fails, we have long had an option whereby you can turn off that default by instead explicitly listing your inventory locations. 

That's the background for our new feature.  It arose when we got a call from a new client whose techs (or, rather, some of them) own and use their own inventory.  When items are used by these techs, it's the office's duty to "reimburse" them by replacing the part they've used.  But the office is not otherwise tracking what's on these techs' trucks, so how can it easily manage this replacement process?

My first answer was to suggest using the re-stock method (in the F10 InventoryControl form) that reviews usages and generates a re-stock list on that basis (i.e., rather than comparing remaining stock to minimums, as is the more typical method).   But there was a catch.  If the tech attempts to indicate he used a part from stock, and if the system doesn't recognize he has the part (because, obviously, it's not tracking his inventory as all), it's going to balk at the claimed usage.  Moreover, if you'll actually be pulling from the office to replace what the tech used, that's from whence the indicated usage must come (so that, in other words, there's an appropriate reduction of stock there). 

We have accommodated the above-expressed need via a new option, as below indicated, in the (Ctrl-F1) Settings form:

If you check that box for a particular tech, ServiceDesk then knows to NOT treat him as an inventory location.  This works independently of the feature that allows you to explicitly list locations, and in response to the setting here, if in a PVR a tech claims to have used a part from inventory, the system will assume it was actually office inventory he used, rather than seeking to find it within his own (non-existing) inventory. 

Behind the scenes (and for the above-described scenario) ServiceDesk will actually be making two simultaneous entries in the Journal of Inventory Movements.  One moves the item from the Office inventory to the tech in question.  The other, instantaneously thereafter, moves it from the tech to sale on the job in question. 

While instigated by that new client (and to accommodate the need to replace parts as used by technicians who carry their own inventory), this solution should also be effective for shop techs -- who typically do not have their own inventory and are regularly pulling from office stock regardless.  Either way, we think you'll find it a great solution. 

BTW, the MobileLink program has also been modified to recognize and appropriately respond to this new option (so that tech's working via the Mobile interface, and designated as having no inventory, can likewise benefit).  You will need to be updated to Ver. 1.4.46 of MobileLink to have the benefit there.   

For quite a long while we've had a report in the archived-JobRecords form that's designed to provide you with analysis and data regarding your frequency of use for all parts, both stocking and special order.  Turns out some folks have wanted to do some kinds of analysis that do not exist in the report directly, and wanted more item-by-item type raw data than the existing report provided.  So, we created a new option:

If you're interested in more extended analysis in this area, check it out.