Total 648 words used.
The Shipped-Not-Installed (SNI) Management System is a cross-department, multi-platform management system that helps ensure that IBM’s Hardware installation program for both Customer Set-up (CSU) and Non-Customer Set-up (NCSU) machines is properly implemented. By ensuring hardware installation is completed, IBM accurately captures the customers’ warranty entitlements, preventing any revenue reversal, and ensuring our customers are able to enjoy the full benefits of the IBM products they have acquired.
Challenges Identified
Previously, we encountered challenges related to installation tickets, accurate and timely documentation of physical installation of machines which impacts machine warranty, and communicating installation completion to the Quote-to-Cash (Q2C) team by the Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS) team. Miscommunication caused a disconnect across departments, impacting the management of technical resources, accurate reporting and projections of revenue and creation of maintenance contracts for customers.
Driving Improvements
Q2C, TLS, Finance and Risk Management teams came together to streamline and improve the SNI Management System by defining scope of responsibilities and blockers that teams were encountering. The Finance and Risk Management teams provided guidance and support with removing blockers.
The SNI Management System has two key components: People and Collaborative Tools.
The different teams leveraged various collaborative tools:
Prefilling information in ARCC
Firstly, on the concerns with raising installation requests by Q2C, a tool was developed to automatically interface with the TLS team’s service request management system. Once an NCSU firmed order has been shipped, a record of this order is prefilled in the Automatic RCMS Call Creator (ARCC) – RCMS is Retain-linked Call Management System. This prefills information about the customer’s orders and Q2C can submit this with the customer contact information, which will automatically create an installation ticket from the TLS team. In turn, the installation ticket managed by the TLS team communicates back to ARCC, capturing the status of the machine installation and the installation date. This information is utilized by Q2C to update local systems with installation dates that trigger the warranty start dates of the customers’ machines.
SNI Dashboard
With the move from Legacy tools to a new platform for managing HW orders, we needed a view of SNI backlog available for teams that have yet to move to the new platform and the ones that are already onboarded to the new one. This gave birth to the development of the SNI Dashboard. This Dashboard receives data from multiple data sources providing both legacy and new platform data sets that captures all outstanding SNI numbers with week-on-week progress.
Data analysis tool
The Global SNI Team has also developed a tool using SPSS Modeler to perform analysis on multiple data sets to capture issues encountered when recording of Physical Installation Dates. This serves as a safeguard on any missed Physical Installation performed but not recorded by TLS. The tool aids in capturing order installations missed, a root cause analysis installation record capture failure, and providing audit trail for physical installation date updates through local systems.
These automations go hand-in-hand with monthly interlock calls between the Q2C focal, Finance Team and TLS Focal to discuss key customer SNI orders.
The TLS and Q2C team can discuss with Finance the current standing of the aging SNI orders. High Load revenue orders are highlighted and challenges with installation are discussed for Finance to provide their help. These give the Finance team a better understanding as well of the aging SNI orders and if any potential revenue reversal may arise.
A fortnightly interlock between the Q2C focal and the different TLS teams has been established to keep an eye on SNI that need further investigation and clearing from the Global report. These checkpoints provide teams with better understanding of why Installation tickets are kept open and the blockers. This provides a venue to discuss how to better improve installation ticket management and understand the help needed between TLS and Q2C.
Because of these tools and interlocks, SNI records in 2022 have greatly improved.
Nomination Title: Shipped-Not-Installed (SNI) Management System
