1st Issue ...
As I have mentioned, I am selling a Care device for the elderly. It requires
configuration and may in the future need to be maintained via a service call
and the configuration altered.
The device initially will not be sold but installed with a recurring service
fee, in the future direct sales may be made.
A direct analogy is selling a managed router which has been configured prior
to shipping and may in the future require a service call to update
configuration. In most cases the router remains the property of the service
provider.
I see 2 competing implementations
Serialized Inventory
==============
Pros
* seems to fit best with the order and shipping process
* We would capture the initial configuration details as the cart order is
finalized.
* We would further provide checks to ensure that shipping is not possible
prior to confirming that the serialized inventory item has beed configured
and tested prior to shipping.
* the configuration would be held in an entity such as CareDevice and a new
entity field InventoryItem.careDeviceId
Cons
* I am not sure how to deal with future service calls, configuration updates
and maintenance management
Question?
Is there anything in place to manage post sale maintenance??
Fixed Asset
=========
Pro
* seems to model what we are actually doing better.
* my assumption is that the Fixed Asset is planned to have some longevity
after the sale
Cons
* I don't think it fits well with the shopping cart and order process. Only
"sale" of assets I can think of is in the travel system. How would this
work?
Core Issue
========
When I make the sale should we sell an inventory Item or sell a service and
deliver a configured fixed asset(if so how).
Thanks
David G
