Maintaining Master Data for Multiple Results Recording with Free Inspection Points

The master data record of material in SAP S/4HANA is split up into different views. Some views (for example the Basic Data view) are valid for entities defined in the client. Other views (for example the Quality Management view) are plant-specific such that the user can maintain different QM-related settings for different plants.

The Quality Management view of the material master contains the control parameters you need to execute quality processes throughout the logistics supply chain.

The inspection type, which can be set up in customizing, is always assigned to an inspection lot origin which is predefined by SAP. To enable an inspection lot related process, the respective inspection type must be assigned to and activated in the material in the QM view of the material master. Usually, there is one inspection type defined and assigned for each inspection lot origin (for example, inspection type 03 is assigned to inspection lot origin 03).

For each inspection type you can define a combination of parameters influencing the details of the quality inspection process, for example:

• The quality inspection is defined in a task list
• If a task list is used, is it possible to capture actual inspection results or only defects?
• Should the system overrule the sample calculation procedure of each inspection characteristic and trigger a 100% inspection?
• Which procedure for calculating the quality score at usage decision is used?
• And so on

To record inspection results by characteristic for the production order, the indicators Inspect with Task List and Inspect by Characteristics must be set. These are set in the Inspection Type for Inspection Lot Origin 03 in the inspection setup of the material master (Quality Management view).

If quality inspections are carried out during the manufacturing process, production and inspection operations are often very closely linked with each other. For this reason, the routing, the master recipe and the Reference Operation Set in the SAP system also acts as an inspection plan for inspections during production. This means that the team in quality management (QM) enriches the master planning data with a number of inspection specifications.

Inspection points are used as reference objects for recording inspection results below operation level. By maintaining the inspection point identification, you can select the reference object that is used as an inspection point in the Task List Header (field Inspection Point Field Combination). For example, the following reference objects are available in the system:

• Generated inspection point based on quantity
• Generated inspection point based on time
• Inspection point for sample
• Inspection point based on event
• Inspection point based on work shift
• Inspection point based on container
• Freely defined inspection point
• And so on

Each reference object defines a logical entity for which you record inspection results during results recording. For example, for a generated inspection point based on quantity you can refer to a produced quantity and record the corresponding inspection results for this quantity. A different example is a container-based inspection point. Assume that you manufacture roughly forged objects by cutting a bigger metal plate into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces are collected in a container. As soon as the container is full, you replace this container with an empty one and collect an inspection sample from the full container for quality inspection. When entering the inspection results with reference to the container number, you document the product quality for exactly this container.

If you define the use of inspection points in the task list header, you must specify whether the inspection points are to be based on time, quantity, or to be freely defined at the operation level. For inspection points based on time or quantity, you must also specify an inspection interval in the operation (for example one inspection point every 25 PC or 2 h). Usually, time- or quantity-related inspection points are automatically generated by the system at lot release, whereas you manually generate freely defined inspection points during results recording.

In addition, you must maintain which information the user must provide when completing an inspection point, for example, if the last inspection result for this point was entered. In the field Inspection Point Completion, you have the following options:

• The user must enter a production operation confirmation (for example yield, rework, or scrap quantities, respectively, and activity confirmations), an inspection point valuation, and an associated inspection point quantity.

  From a business point of view, you can use this variant if the worker executes the in-process result recording directly on the shop floor and if the inspection results and operation confirmations shall be recorded simultaneously. Furthermore, you want to establish a direct link between the recorded results and the produced quantities.

• The user must provide an inspection point valuation and the associated inspection point quantity. However, there is no production operation confirmation required.

  From a business perspective, you use this variant if the quality technician executes the inspection independently from the production operator. While the former only enters inspection results and valuates the inspection point, the latter only must record operation quantities and times. As in the previous variant, you want to establish a direct link between the recorded results and the production quantities.

• The user must only provide the inspection point valuation. In this case, there is no production operation confirmation and no associated inspection point quantity required.

  From a business point of view, you can use this variant if you want to draw samples at certain time points for continuous in-process quality inspection and do not want to link production quantities directly to inspection results.

• The inspection point is valuated automatically as set up in the inspection point customizing.

  From a business point of view, this variant requires less user input as the SAP S/4HANA system automatically valuates the inspection point based on the inspection results. If all results are accepted, the system positively valuates the inspection point. In the case of rejected results, the inspection point is also rejected.

For each inspection characteristic, you must maintain a sampling procedure supporting inspection points. As usual, the sampling procedure defines the sample size and the valuation of the inspection characteristic. Note that, due to technical reasons, it is not possible to use sampling procedures which do not support inspection points. Assuming that you configured a sampling procedure FIX3-0 (draw three samples and accept the characteristic if there are no defect items) and also want to follow a similar approach when using inspection points, you must define an additional sampling procedure (for example FIX3-0-SP) with identical sample sizes and acceptance values. However, the new sampling procedure must also support inspection points.

In addition, you can also maintain the inspection frequency in the sampling procedure, for example, if you only want to inspect this characteristic every second, third, and so forth, inspection: Assume that you specify an inspection frequency of 3 in the sampling procedure, you must record results for the characteristic at every third inspection point. In this example, you record results for the characteristic beginning with the first inspection point in an operation. You then skip the second and third inspection point, since the characteristic has a skip status for these inspection points. You record results again for the characteristic at the fourth inspection point (and so on).

Inspection point identifiers enable a link between the inspection results and the logical business object. Therefore, you can set up various inspection point identifiers in the SAP S/4HANA system containing the following information:

The system offers the following configuration possibilities:

• Fields which are used to identify the inspection points

  Technically, the inspection point identification corresponds to a set of user fields which you can combine, for example text fields, number fields, a date, and a time field, respectively. As indicated in the figure, you can assign keywords to each field type which are displayed when the Quality Technician records inspection results for the respective inspection point. You can furthermore influence the order in which the fields are displayed by maintaining an entry in the field Field Active. A field type is only displayed if you maintain a sequence number in the field Field Active. In the example, the SAP S/4HANA system creates the following inspection an point identifier "Inspection date <current date>, Time <current time>, Partial quantity no. <a number>", for example "Inspection date 05.10.2022, Time 13:38, Partial quantity no. 4".

• Default values for valuating the inspection points

  You can define codes as the default valuation of an inspection point. If the valuation of the inspection point takes place automatically (variant 4 for inspection point completion), these codes are used by the system. If you valuate inspection points manually, the system proposes the default value.

• Function modules for generating the inspection points

  SAP provides sample function modules that you can use to generate inspection points automatically when the system creates the inspection lot. For example, you manufacture 100 PC in one manufacturing operation. Assuming that you require an inspection point every 25 PC, the system automatically generates four inspection points.

• Function modules for the validation of user input

  During results recording, the system can propose user field entries as default, verify the content of user fields, and/or generate value lists for user fields.

As discussed above, you can set up quantity-based or time-based inspection points.