Issues

An issue records something that went wrong and the work it takes to put it right: a customer who ran out of gas, a batch of valve seals from a supplier that leaked, a delivery made to the wrong tank. It keeps who is working it, the tasks still open, the customers, suppliers and paperwork involved, and what was decided about any stock that was affected. The screens and exports also call an issue an NCR, short for non-conformance report.

How to raise an issue when something goes wrong

1. Open Quality → Issues and choose to add a new issue.
2. Fill in the required fields: Name (a short summary), Issue Type, Location (the depot where it happened) and Open Date.
3. Set Priority (Low, Medium, High or Critical; it defaults to Medium) and Source: Internal when your own people found it, External when it came from a supplier or a customer.
4. Pick a Workflow if one fits this kind of problem. A workflow fills in the priority, source, required actions, approval requirements and a written template for you.
5. Choose the Required Actions (the tasks this issue needs, such as containment, a corrective fix and a verification) and any Approval Requirements.
6. Add the Items involved and a Description, then save.

For example, when a customer runs out of gas, NFPA 58 (the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code) requires a leak check by a licensed technician before service resumes. An issue with a containment action (keep the tank shut off) and a verification action (the leak check passed) records that the rule was followed.

A new issue is Registered. It moves to In Progress when someone presses Start, or on its own the first time someone types a note into one of its tasks.

How to work the tasks when you own an issue

Each required action becomes a task on the issue, in order. A task is Pending, In Progress, Completed or Skipped. Tasks do not start themselves; set each one as you work it, give it a due date (or Clear due date), and assign it.

The issue's containment state follows its containment task: Contained once that task is in progress or completed, Uncontained while it has not started, and not applicable when the issue has no containment task. You never set it by hand.

Quality → Actions lists every task on every issue in one table, with Action Status, Action Type, Assignee, Due Date, Issue Status and View Issue, so a manager can see everything due this week.

How to link the records an issue concerns when you want the trail

On the issue, use Add under its associations to link any of these: Customer, Supplier, Sales Order line, Shipment line, Purchase Order line, Receipt line, RMA line (a customer return), Supplier Return line, Tracked Entity (a serial-numbered or batch-tracked unit), Inspection, or Job Operation. Delete Association removes a link.

Linking is what lets you answer later questions: how many issues a supplier caused, which receipt a bad batch came in on, which customer was affected.

How to decide what happens to affected stock when material is involved

When an issue involves stock, each affected line gets a Disposition:

Use Split line to put part of a line under a different disposition, and Move entities… to move tracked units between lines of the same issue. Create Supplier Return drafts a supplier return for the material going back; the supplier is filled in for you when the app can tell who it is.

How to close or reopen an issue when the work is done

Press Complete. Before closing, the app checks every affected line that has linked units and refuses with "Cannot close: …" followed by the reason, for example "Disposition is still Pending", or a quantity mismatch between a line and its linked units. Fix what it names and press Complete again.

A Closed issue is locked: no field, task or disposition can change ("Cannot modify a closed issue. Reopen it first."). Reopen sends it back to Registered. When accounting is on, closing posts the write-offs for scrapped and returned material, so once those entries exist, a correction is made as a new adjustment rather than by unwinding them.

How to ask a supplier for a corrective action when the problem is theirs

Use SCAR in the issue header (supplier corrective action request). It opens a private page you can send to the supplier contact: they see the problem, its status and the tasks assigned to them, can update those tasks and write notes, and cannot see the rest of the issue. Anyone holding the link can open it, so send it only to the supplier. Once the issue is closed the page becomes read-only.

The header also has Report (a printable report of the issue) and Create Change Notice, which starts a change notice from the issue when the fix is a change to how an item is defined.

How to set up a workflow when the same kind of problem keeps coming

Open Quality → Issue Workflows and add one:

1. Give it a Name, a default Priority and Source, and any Approval Requirements.
2. Under Available Actions (click to add), pick the actions it needs; they appear under Required Actions (in order).
3. Write the Issue Template, the investigation write-up every new issue of this kind starts from.

Picking the workflow on a new issue copies all of this in. For example, an out-of-gas workflow could carry the containment and leak-check verification actions and a template listing what the technician records.

The one approval requirement is MRB, a Material Review Board review: the group that decides what happens to suspect material. Adding it to an issue creates an approval task, and the issue's reviewer list holds the people who review, each with a Title. The dispositions above are where that group's decision is recorded, line by line; Split line exists so they can decide part of a quantity one way and the rest another.

Where this fits

• The Quality area and its dashboard: Quality.
• Issues opened automatically when a received lot is rejected: Inspections and inspection plans.
• Goods going back to the supplier: Supplier returns.
• The customers and suppliers an issue links to: Customers, Suppliers.
• Equipment repairs raised because of an issue: Maintenance.