The QM component is integrated in crucial phases of the procurement process. It supports the procurement activities by means of functions such as:

• Vendor block

• Assigning technical delivery terms and quality assurance agreements

• Certificate processing

• Incoming inspections

• Goods receipt inspections

The QM component provides information for processing quotations and purchase orders. For example, you may be unable to place orders for the material from a specific vendor because the vendor is blocked for quality reasons.

The vendor may be required to comply with the technical delivery terms and the quality assurance agreements when a quotation is made. If one of the required documents is not available or not released when a purchase order is opened, the function is blocked.

If technical delivery terms are indicated for a material or if a quality assurance agreement exists for a material-vendor combination, the long text is printed out (without attached application files) when the purchase order is created.

When the purchase order is placed, the vendor must be released for delivery of the relevant material by the quality department, if this was required. Release of this supply relationship can be restricted to a defined validity period and a maximum delivery quantity.

When the goods are ordered, you can stipulate that a certificate is required from the vendor of the material, in addition to compliance with technical delivery terms and quality assurance agreements. If a certificate was not supplied although required, the goods are either posted to blocked stock (if an inspection lot is not generated) or a corresponding status is set in the inspection lot. Receipt of the certificate must be confirmed at the latest when the usage decision is made.

You can deactivate the goods receipt inspection generally for a material-vendor combination event though an inspection is required for the material.

You can prevent an invoice for a material from being paid automatically if:

• The corresponding goods receipt inspection has not yet been completed

• The usage decision for the goods receipt inspection was "not OK"

In this case, the reason for blocking "I" is set in the invoice.

You can still pay the invoice manually. To activate the function for blocking the invoice, you must set the identifier for the invoice block in the procurement key of the material.

This function is only meaningful with goods-receipt based invoice verification since, in the case of partial deliveries, the corresponding inspection lot for the partial delivery must be selected (irrespective of other inspection lots for the same purchase order).