Once an inspection lot has been created, an inspection specification is usually assigned to it. The system can assign an inspection specification automatically or you can assign one manually.

An inspection specification must be assigned to an inspection lot if you want to record inspection results for inspection characteristics (that is, the corresponding indicator is set in the inspection settings of the material master). If you do not set this indicator, an inspection specification does not have to be assigned to the inspection lot. In this case, you can only record defects for the inspection lot.

An inspection specification can consist of the following objects:

• A task list (for example, an inspection plan, a routing, or a master recipe)
• A material specification
• Specifications from the variant configuration (for a product variant)
• Specifications from the batch determination

When the system selects an inspection specification, it takes the following criteria into consideration:

• Material, vendor, and customer to which the inspection specification applies
• Key date (or valid-from date) of inspection specification
• Plant
• Task list status
• Task list type (for example, inspection plan, routing, reference operation set)
• Inspection lot origin
• Inspection type
• Task list usage (goods receipt, production, plant maintenance, and so on)

The system can assign an inspection specification automatically or you can assign it manually under the following circumstances:

• If the material for which an inspection lot is being created has been assigned to only one inspection specification, the system automatically selects and assigns this specification to the inspection lot.
• If the material has been assigned to several different inspection specifications (for example, several different inspection plans), the system cannot assign the inspection specification automatically. In this case, you must assign the specification manually.

In the inspection settings of the material master, you can specify that a material can be inspected on the basis of several different inspection specifications. For example, you can set the following indicators simultaneously:

• Inspect according to batch
• Inspect with material specification
• Inspect with task list
• Inspect according to variant configuration

In this case, the system chooses the inspection specifications in the following order:

1. Specifications from variant configuration or batch determination
2. Material specification
3. Task list

Master Inspection Characteristics and Class Characteristics (Effect Upon Lot Creation)