Counting as Quality Management Process

Counting is a quality assurance measure in the goods receipt process used to ensure consistency between the quantities entered in the system and the actual quantities. It is one of the inspection object types supported by Quality Inspection Engine (QIE).

SAP EWM offers two methods of counting: implicit counting and explicit counting.

• Implicit counting is accomplished as part of the warehouse task processing. It does not use a work center. If a difference is determined, the warehouse task is confirmed with differences and an exception code is entered to specify the reason for the difference (for example, if the wrong quantity was delivered, or if something was damaged during putaway).
• Explicit counting requires the use of a work center (independent if the work center transaction or a mobile device is used), and a quality inspection document. Process oriented storage control is used to determine the location of the work center. The inspection document is based on an inspection rule.

The figure, Counting Process, shows an example of a process where the counting step is included.

Differences found during counting are entered and lead to corrections in the system. For the proper system response, it is necessary to enter an exception code to specify the reason for the difference and what happens in the system.

The most probable (but not the only possible) action triggered by the exception code for the counting process would be that the inbound delivery in SAP EWM and, subsequently, the inbound delivery in SAP ERP is changed, to reflect the correct quantity you have received. A goods receipt posting, which has already been posted, is corrected.