In Release 3.0, you can use the quality notification components within the QM module. The quality notification system is a recording, information and control system for handling problems, especially notifications for quality defects in products or services.
Quality notification types
Various business views for quality notifications are supported via different quality notification types; for example:
Various objects (e.g. material, inspection lot, vendor or customer) are
assigned to a quality notification, depending on the notification type.
The relevant information can be described in a long text.
Processing of a quality notification can be controlled via priorities and submission and completion deadlines which are dependent on these.
Notification data and structure
In addition to the general notification data, defect items can be recorded for problem diagnosis purposes. In doing so, you can describe the defects according to their type and cause and then define corrective actions and activities.
You can also initiate immediate tasks and immediate activities which provide quick help, irrespective of the defect diagnosis.
You can assign each task to a person who will be responsible for processing the task. The current processing status, which is managed for each task in the system and indicates the extent to which a quality notification has been processed, can be viewed at any time.
You can store information at all levels in the form of plain text and/or in coded form by using the QM catalogs. Predefined defect, defect cause and task catalogs, for example, can be represented in this way. The catalogs which are also used for inspection planning and processing are used for this purpose.
Quality notification costs
The corrective actions taken to eliminate defects generate costs. These
costs can be recorded, settled and evaluated using QM orders.
You can create a QM order from the notification
automatically by means of pushbutton. This QM order is then used as a
cost collector. The order is charged via Controlling (CO) functions, e.g.
internal activity allocation.
The processing level of the quality notification indicates whether an order already exists for the notification. The processing sequence can be controlled individually via the status management function. You can change the default sequence by defining your own user statuses.
Connection to the SAP Business Workflow component
In order to ensure an optimum information flow for trouble-free notification processing, the quality notifications are connected to the SAP Business Workflow component. The available media can then be used to reduce the communication paths and times to a minimum.
Connection to the ArchiveLink component
The connection to ArchiveLink enables printed documents or documents transferred electronically (e.g. as fax) to be archived and managed. The system places outgoing documents in an optical archive in parallel with the print or fax operation. Incoming documents are first recorded centrally and then forwarded via SAPoffice to the relevant person who can then display the original and open a quality notification directly.