Quality Control Processing

The inspection process can be performed in many ways according to different factors, such as vendor historical data, quality performance characteristics of the received part (new technology, critical part, safety requirements, etc.), or the organization's quality assurance policies.

The Purchasing application allows two approaches to quality control decision reporting:

·     A positive approval is required from the quality control department, indicating the successful completion of inspection tasks; the accounting department can then perform invoice matching only on quality control completed receipts.  This policy reinforces general control procedures, so that payments could be made only after quality control operations on the receipts that have been completed.

·     No positive approval is required from the quality control department for the receipt.  This possibility means that the receipt does not need to be inspected, and invoice matching can be performed without waiting for any quality control decisions.  Invoice matching will not be performed if the receipt is awaiting quality control and has an accepted quantity of zero.  You will need to perform quality control before being able to match the invoice.  This procedure could be used when strong quality assurance programs are implemented with the vendor delivering the part.  Any problems concerning the quality of the receipt would be recorded on an exception basis and would be made either as a receipt transaction if no invoice matching has been made or a debit memo transaction if invoice matching has already been performed.

The choice between these two approaches should be made according to vendor qualification for a part.  For this reason, this information is contained in the receiving type code given by the user at the item/vendor relationship level and can be overridden at the purchase order detail line level.  When the receipt is created, the receiving type code is taken from the purchase order and cannot be changed on the receipt line.

The different steps of quality control processing are tracked through quality control status codes defined on the Reference File.  The system maintains five status codes:

·     No control required

·     Awaiting control

·     In-process

·     Awaiting receipt adjustment

·     Complete

The table below shows how these status codes are applied for both receiving types.

        Quality Control Status Codes

An approval status code is also defined on the Reference File, to allow closer tracking of disputed differences between counted quantities and accepted quantities.  The system maintains five approval status codes:

·     Awaiting approval

·     Dispute

·     Approved

·     Awaiting vendor approval

·     Not approved

The next figure shows how these approval status codes are applied for both receiving types.

Note that when the receiving type code indicates that no quality control is required, the quantity control step would be performed only when quality control problems are detected outside of the official quality control process.

       Quality Control Approval Status Codes

The quality control and approval status codes are maintained simultaneously and automatically by the system, as shown below.

           Quality Control Status and Approval Codes Processing

Processing Quality Control Transactions

The Quality Control conversation is used to record the results of quality control processing performed by your receiving staff.  According to your internal policy, inventory quantities may be updated immediately in this conversation, or only the quality control results recorded for later inventory update in the Receipt Adjustments conversation.

1.   Choose the Quality Control option.  The Quality Control Function Select screen is displayed.

2.   Fill in the receipt number for which quality control information is being entered.  Press the Enter key.  The Recap screen is displayed.

3.   If a receipt line number had also been entered on the Function Select screen, the Detail screen would be displayed.

4.   Enter the quantity to be adjusted in the quantity field in the lower portion of the screen.  Enter the adjustment code (from Reference File category 497) for the adjustment being made.

5.   Enter other data as appropriate.

6.   Press the Enter key.

7.   If you wish to record comments for the receipt, enter Y in the comments field.

8.   If you wish to record the result of the quality control step but do not want to update the inventory, set the quality control status to A (awaiting receipt adjustment) and enter Y in the comments field.  Record the results of the control process in the comments field.  Subsequent selective reporting and inquiry of receipts can be performed to identify receipts awaiting receipt adjustment.  Update inventory levels using the Receipt Adjustments conversation.