Quality assurance involves product testing and managing nonconforming material. Product testing is typically referred to as quality control, and it entails the use of quality orders. Using the quality control functionality, you can:

• Predefine the tests that need to be performed for material, including the quality specifications, the applicable test instrument, the documents that describe the test, the sampling plan, and the acceptable quality levels (AQL).

• Create a quality order that identifies the tests to be performed for a specific order (such as a purchase or production order) or a specific inventory quantity. You can manually create a quality order or automatically generate a quality order based on quality guidelines.

• Define the quality guidelines within each business process (related to purchase, quarantine, production orders, or sales orders) for automatically generating a quality order that identifies the testing requirements for incoming or outgoing material.

• Record the test results for tests within a quality order, validate the test results against the AQL, and print a certificate of analysis that displays the test results.

Managing nonconforming material is typically referred to as quality management, and entails the use of nonconformance orders (termed nonconformances). Using the quality management functionality, you can:

• Create a nonconformance order that describes a quantity of nonconforming material in terms of the problem source, problem type, and explanatory notes. You can predefine a classification of problem types to facilitate the analysis of nonconforming material.

• Print a nonconformance tag and nonconformance report to guide the disposition of nonconforming material, such as indicating a condition of unusable or restricted usage.

• Create one or more corrective actions that identify the diagnostic action to perform on nonconforming material, as well as identify who should perform the diagnostic and the requested and planned completion dates.

• Estimate the work and costs that are associated with a nonconformance, expressed in terms of the required material, labor, and miscellaneous charges.

• Create a quality order for the nonconforming material that identifies the tests to be performed and the test results.

• Link one nonconformance order to another to reflect the interconnection between quality problems.