RMA’s Can Get Very Complicated
RMA’s Can Get Very Complicated
A Strong ERP Software Can Help Automate RMAs and Make This Process a Lot Simpler
Suppose a customer asks you for a Return Material Authorization (RMA) for an item they want to return. Many transactions need to be made in ERP software to make sure it happens correctly. Many ERP systems may not have all the necessary capabilities to smoothly automate RMAs, which necessitates manual processing for you and your staff.
Three of the most common types of RMA’s include:
Three of the most common types of RMA’s include:RMA with Replacement - This type of RMA is where a customer will return an item and requests a replacement for the item once the returned item is received. It is a typical process because a customer indicates that the original article sent was faulty and would like to receive an excellent replacement.
RMA with Cross-Shipment - This case is similar to an RMA with Replacement, except that the customer receives their replacement item before the vendor gets the original back. This RMA process occurs when the customer requires a replacement as soon as possible. Customers typically prefer this type of RMA, but it presents more risk to the vendor if they don’t receive the faulty item back.
RMA for Credit - In this case, a customer wants to send an item they purchased back and only wants a cash refund for their original payment. The customer may have decided they want this for various reasons; such as receiving a faulty part or simply that they did not like the item once they had a chance to see it.
Questions to Ask When a Customer Requests an RMA
- What type of RMA should we process for this customer?
- If the customer requests an RMA for Credit or Cross Shipment, will the vendor approve it? Some vendors have policies that they will only process RMA’s with Replacements for financial reasons.
- If the customer wants a replacement, what happens if the reserve is out-of-stock?
- What happens on an RMA with Cross-Shipment if the customer receives the replacement item but never sends back the original object?
- If the vendor decides to provide a credit for the RMA, will it be a cash credit refund or just a store credit that the customer can use to purchase something else?
- Has the customer paid the original invoice? If not, can the AR balances be adjusted to account for the RMA?
RMA Process Simplified with an ERP System
Processing an RMA can be more complicated and take more time than processing a simple sales order. Suppose an ERP system does not have a sophisticated approach to automation. In that case, it may require multiple steps:
- Issuing a reference number
- Receive back the old part
- Decide whether to put the old part back into inventory or fix it or scrap it.
- Then enter in a replacement order to ship the new part
- Ship the new part
- Figure out any financial debts or credits required for the customer.
Going through all these steps can be pretty cumbersome and more prone to errors with incorrect software. Fortunately, the Kechie ERP software can automate and integrate as many of these steps as possible. When an RMA process beings, the Kechie ERP system will automatically create transactions in the multiple modules. Fully integrated with the sales, finance, inventory, and shipping modules needed to complete the transaction. Your sales staff will not need to re-enter a replacement sales order; the finance staff will not need to generate credit memos; the manufacturing staff will not need to make adjustments for the return parts. Instead, the separate business processes automatically update in the Kechie ERP system.
Contact My Office Apps
If you would like to understand how your RMA process could operate more efficiently and effectively, give us a call. We have business specialists available to evaluate your business and find ways to minimize the costs and maximize our cloud-based Kechie ERP software benefits. Folks on our team understand the importance of automation and have implemented integrated ERP systems for many years. We have been in your shoes; and will leverage our experience to show you the difference a fully integrated ERP software can make in your business.
For more information and advice on how to optimize your RMA process, visit this link. Or better yet, call us at (714) 486-1487. Ask to schedule a demo to show how we can help solve your business issues—both today and tomorrow.
A Trail of Digital Bread Crumbs Can Lead You Home
A Trail of Digital Bread Crumbs Can Lead You Home
In the tale Hansel and Gretel, the two went hiking in the forest and dropped bread crumbs to find their way home. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do the same thing with your ERP system to backtrack and figure how you ended up in this place?
These capabilities do exist in the Kechie™ 2020 ERP system with logging and traceability functions. The logging capability provides a record of every transaction and change in the system. This includes new order entries, product receipts, product shipments, RMA’s, purchase orders, as well as administrative changes such as adding and removing users and changing the privilege levels of a user. The logging record includes the date of change, who made the change and the value before and after the change.
The logging capability is a powerful tool in helping correct errors and manage your business. Suppose, for example, one of your employees had an incorrect price for one of your products — and for a two-week period, entered new sales orders at the wrong price. The logging capability would allow you to quickly identify all the orders that had the incorrect price and take action. Or, perhaps a customer calls with a complaint that they were shipped the wrong product. How did this happen? Were there changes made to the order after it was originally entered? The logging capability will allow you to figure out exactly what happened and take corrective action to prevent a re-occurrence.
Additionally, the logging capability can provide further analytic data that will allow for deep insights to improve your operations. What percentage of orders needed to be changed before they were finally shipped? Who changed an access privilege for a particular user? How many times has a vendor changed the expected delivery date for a purchase order? When did that vendor notify your company of the change? Having a log data base available makes it easier to find the answers to these types of questions.
Traceability is another related function that is particularly useful in manufacturing environments. Many manufactured items are created with a collection of different parts created internally or purchased through a vendor. Depending upon the nature of the business, each individual part could have a serial number or a lot code from the vendor to track the history of the part. When manufacturing a new item utilizing a collection of many different parts, you will assign either a serial number or a lot code to this new item or assembly. The traceability function provides a data base to associate the serial number or lot code to all the component parts used to manufacture this part.
The traceability function can be extremely useful with a quality problem or customer complaint. Sometimes, a quality problem can be traced to an occurrence with a specific lot or component purchased from a vendor. With this information and the traceability data base, the ability to quarantine other items manufactured or issue a recall to customers in receipt of a bad component.
The logging and traceability capabilities built into Kechie™ 2020 ERP are very advanced and not commonly found in other ERP systems. For those companies seeking excellence in operations and customer satisfaction with the quality and service, these functions will raise the bar. For more information, visit www.myofficeapps.com, or call us at (949) 486-1947. Let us schedule a demo so you can view these features for yourself.
About My Office Apps, Inc.
My Office Apps, Inc. (MOA) is a leader in business improvement software solutions to automate your organization. Building on three decades of software design and development, MOA delivers Kechie™, a transformative business tool. Kechie is a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with a simplified user experience and the latest in cloud technology. It is quick and easy to implement without the expensive price tag. Sold in separate packages – inventory and warehouse management, manufacturing, finance – or a fully configured ERP system to include all of these individual tools. Kechie is easily configured to the scalable needs of your growing business. For more information on managing your business processes more efficiently and effectively, visit www.myofficeapps.com.
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A Strong RMA Process is Vital to Your Business
A Strong RMA Process is Vital to Achieving World Class Customer Service
Most companies strive to achieve world class customer service. It is understood that repeat customers lead to business success. The key to maintaining long-term customer relations is to ensure communications, products and services flow seamlessly back and forth within the relationship.
Building a strong and specialized sales process is top of mind for any successful business. On the flip-side, how much thought and planning goes into ensuring the Return Material Authorization (RMA) process runs equally as well? In an ideal world, customers will never have a reason to return anything they have purchased from you. However, returns are a cost of business. A well thought out RMA process will impress upon customers that your company is easy to do business with and a valued partner.
An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software package can provide great functionality to streamline the RMA process. The application can provide full tracking from the original request and more, such as:
- Conveying the RMA number
- Receiving the goods or materials
- Assessing warranty profiles
- Creating work orders for repairs or replacements
- Tracking locations of goods in the warehouse
- Shipping goods back to the customer
Customers are very appreciative of vendors who support cross-shipments. A cross-shipment is a method some companies will use to ship out a replacement part before the return is received by the manufacturer or distributor. This practice reduces the amount of downtime your customer will experience while displaying good faith within the relationship.
The benefits of utilizing an automated RMA tool provides timely information for continuous improvements for your business. For the selling partner, the process automates many steps as goods or materials flow back into the system by
- Providing detailed tracking of lot numbers, serial numbers, and warranties.
- Reducing possible fraud
- Identifying issues that might affect an entire manufacturing lot
- Allowing your service staff to enter reasons for a return into a database
- Classifying reasons for returns with search capability
- Distinguishing endemic errors in design, manufacturing, shipping or other processes
- Connecting actions that will eliminate or reduce these errors
- Automating updates and credits to the customer’s account
The goal of World Class Customer Service is to reduce the number of RMAs, lower replacement inventory, reduce your overall costs, and keep your customers coming back. Plan your process, listen to your customers and keep the goods and services flowing with a proven ERP process.
My Office Apps, Inc. (MOA) is the leader in business improvement software solutions to automate your organization. Building on three decades of software design and development, MOA delivers Kechie®, a transformative business tool. Kechie® is a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Software as a Service (SaaS) with a simplified user experience and the latest in cloud technology. It is quick and easy to implement without the expensive price tag. Sold in separate modules - inventory management, ERP, finance, manufacturing - Kechie® is easily configured to the scalable needs of your growing business. For more information on managing your business end-to-end or streamlining business processes, visit www.myofficeapps.com.
