RMA Processing (Oracle Order Management)

Order Management offers several options for authorizing returns. The Sales Orders window enables you to authorize a new return.

In the Returns tab of the Sales Order Line Items window, you can enter all the data for a return line or you can use reference sources to speed data entry. A reference source is usually a document currently existing in Order Management that supplies default information to the return line. A reference source can be a sales order line or invoice line. You reference a sales order either by the sales order number or a purchase order number you entered on the sales order. You reference an invoice by the invoice number. Once you specify a reference document, you must specify which line on the document the customer is returning. Order Management takes the item, quantity, unit, credit (selling) price, original price adjustments, and original sales credits information from the reference line and defaults it on the return line. The selling price defaults as the credit price on the return. You can modify this amount through price adjustments.

The Sales Orders and Quick Sales Orders window have the Customer Product Reference LOV in the Lines region (Services tab). This LOV is populated from Install Base and is used to make searches for products faster. The Customer Product Reference LOV consists of three columns:

The first column is a concatenation of the values in the fields with ":" as the delimiting character. In the sales orders window, you will be able to search on either, or all of the values in the concatenated string of Product/Serial Number/Reference Number instead of searching by product name alone. The value of the first column (i.e., Product name: Reference Number: Serial Number) will be stored into the field Service Ref Customer Product (for display purposes only).

For referenced returns, the ordered quantity of original (outbound) sales order is used as the default, instead of shipped quantity. When the value of the system parameter Overshipment Invoice Basis is set to Invoice Shipped Quantity, the ordered quantity on the referenced RMA is equal to the shipped quantity of original (outbound) sales order.

If the return workflow includes the Invoicing Activity, you can create applied credit memos or account credits from your returns. In this case, if you use a reference source, the Credit to Invoice field is automatically populated if there was an invoice on the referenced line and the return creates an applied credit memo.

Note: The Credit to Invoice field cannot be updated by a user.

If you use an invoice as a reference source, it defaults as the Credit To Invoice. If you leave the field blank, the return creates an on account credit. If you do not use a reference source, you cannot specify a Credit To Invoice.

When there is an invoice on the referenced line, the return quantity defaults to the quantity on the invoice line, superseding the quantity defaulting from the reference source. Regardless of the default source, you can decrease the quantity if your customer is returning less than the original amount.

You cannot, however, increase the quantity above the original quantity on the Credit To Invoice line or reference source line if there is no Credit To Invoice. This has significance if you business process supports the creation of multiple invoices for a single order line. Oracle Order Management does not allow the creation or generation of multiple invoices for the same order line.

Note: Order Management does however, automatically split an order line into 2 separate lines if a order line has been shipped partially. This eliminates many of the business practices for creating multiple invoices for a single order line.

Note: Please note that internal order lines are never split, either manually or by the system.

Order Management also provides the option of not using any reference source and entering return line information without defaults. This results in the creation of a single return line and an on-account credit. If your customer returns the full order quantity and receives an applied credit memo, you would enter 2 return lines regardless of the reference document, as you must specify each invoice as a Credit To Invoice. You would not have the option of entering the line without a reference source because a reference source is necessary to create the applied credit memo.

Order Management automatically manages your sales credits when interfacing a credit memo to Oracle Receivables. If you create an applied credit memo, the sales credits from the original invoice are reduced accordingly, regardless of the sales credits entered on the return. If you create an on account credit from a return, sales credits are reduced according to the sales credit information you enter on the return.

Configurations are a special class of returning items. Configurations are unique to a sales order because customers may choose different options on each order line and the underlying bill of material may change between orders. Consequently, when returning a configuration, it is useful to copy the original sales order or have a reference source to tie the return to the sales order or invoice.

In Order Management, returning configurations is applicable for both ATO and PTO configurations.

Configuration Return without a Reference Source:

Configuration Return with a Reference Source

You can select any of those lines above. Order Management explodes the children underneath a referenced line, including the ATO configured item or PTO included items. The Sales Orders window displays the returnable configuration lines. Users can delete lines that they don't want to return.

Only Returnable children will be populated automatically. You need to make sure that you set the item attributes correctly.

ATO configured items will be populated only if the reference is to the ATO model line. Referencing an ATO class line or option line does not create any configured item lines.

You can use Copy Order functionality to create RMA lines. Copy Order will behave the same way as the Reference functionality from the Sales Orders window.

If you want to create reference RMA's for model, then you must create reference on a model line before any of its components have been added. Once a model line is configured and/or child lines are created, you cannot create reference details on that line and the application displays a message that return reference is not allowed on configured RMAs.

Configuration Workflow Considerations:

Non-shippable, non-transactable, non-stockable return lines will complete Receiving Activity (Receiving and Inspection) with a Not Eligible result. Oracle Order Management automatically puts all return lines for a configuration in a fulfillment set. This ensures that goods are received before credit is generated for related return lines.

The table below describes line creation options for processing an RMA for configurations with either an existing reference source or no reference source.

You can institute business reviews of returns through approvals, such as legal or management reviews. If your return workflow has order level or line level approvals, use the Workflow Notifications window to approve the return. View approval history using the Workflow Monitor. RMA approval notification receivers can view the details of the returned product on the notification. They do not have to log in to the application to view the detail prior to approving/rejecting the RMA. The approval notification displays order details for the first five open RMA lines. Notification receivers can view the following RMA line information in the notification:

Configuration Type	Reference Source	No Reference Source
PTO and ATO Option Selection Method	List of values in Reference Line field for individual RMA lines.	Enter individual RMA lines.
Automatically Return PTO Included Items?	Yes, return lines automatically created for included items.	No, enter included items as individual RMA lines.
Automatically Return ATO Configured Item?	Yes, return lines automatically created for ATO configured item.	No, enter the ATO configured item on an RMA line to add the item back into Oracle Inventory.

Note: The Return Reason, Order Reference, and Invoice Reference fields are hidden by default and you can view them using the Personalization feature on the page.

The application displays these additional order details in the RMA approval notification for the orders that use the following seeded workflow processes since these processes use the message 'Approve Return Order Message' in the approval notification:

Notifications pertaining to orders that use any other workflow process (customized) that use the seeded message 'Approve Return Order Message' also display these additional order details.

When the approver rejects an RMA order with approval, the order and return lines display Rejected - Pending Cancellation (for workflows 'Order Flow - Return with Approval' or 'Order Flow - Return with Approval and Header Invoicing') or Return Rejected (for workflow 'Order Flow - Mixed or Return with Approval') as the RMA order header/lines status. Once the approver rejects the return order, you cannot create new return lines on it.

Create replacement orders for items your customer is returning using the Sales Orders window. You can copy the entire RMA, or just the lines, directly to a sales order. Once you copy an RMA or the RMA lines to a sales order, you can use the Sales Orders window to modify the new sales order. You can also directly enter the replacement order in the Sales Orders window.

You can create a replacement order for any RMA regardless of the return line type used. However, if your RMA generated a credit to the customer, then you probably want the replacement order to use a workflow that includes the Invoicing Activity so that your customer receives an invoice for the replacement order.

If your RMA did not generate a credit to the customer, then you probably want the replacement order to use a workflow that does not include the Invoicing Activity to avoid double-billing your customer.

Receive returning items into Inventory using the Purchasing Receipts window. Oracle Purchasing communicates quantities received in this window to Order Management. Entries in this window affect the order lines in Order Management. If any partial amount of the returning quantity is accepted, Order management splits the lines into one part that is fully received and one part that is not. When the full returning quantity is accepted, the remaining line is then fulfilled.

Note: It is not advisable to accept items requiring inspection directly into a subinventory and then process those items through inspection. When an item is accepted into a subinventory in the Receive Customer Returns window, it may become eligible for the next action in its workflow depending on the prerequisite, and the next workflow activity would be performed whether the item passed or failed inspection. If the next workflow activity is Invoicing Activity, it would result in creating credits for rejected and accepted items.

Use the Return to Customers window in Oracle Purchasing to return items to a customer that you earlier received into a subinventory through the Receive Customer Returns window.

Note: When RMA line processing involves inspection and if all quantity is rejected, then returning all quantity back to customer automatically cancels the RMA line. However, in other cases returning all quantity back to the customer does not automatically progress/close/cancel the RMA line. To progress, you must manually cancel this RMA line from the Sales Order window.

Indicate RMA lines you want to generate credits for by running the Invoicing Activity. Order Management interfaces to Oracle Receivables any returns that include the seeded Invoicing activity for the Order Lines workflow. Upon completion of the Invoicing Activity, you submit AutoInvoice from Oracle Receivables to import credit data into Oracle Receivables.

Order Management automatically closes returns that have progressed through and successfully completed their order flow if you have the Close Orders activity in your orders flow.

You can see the current status of a return or return lines using the Order Organizer and Sales Orders windows or the Workflow Monitor.

Perform cause analysis for your returns based on return reasons entered on RMA lines in the Return By Reason Report.