Managing Customer Specific Quality Specifications
DEACOM offers the option to define unique Part Numbers, descriptions, sales units, and labels for individual customers by using Customer Part Cross References. If customer parts exist, the system will use the information on the customer part record when orders are entered for the selected item and that specific customer. Customer parts are created and modified via the “Bill-Tos/Ship-Tos” button within an Item Master report, which is further explained in the Process section below.
Customer specific quality specifications for a part can be setup through the cross reference as well. Companies have the ability to assign a Quality Control Group to the customer part cross reference which defines the Quality Control Test(s) and the minimum and maximum ranges for that test to make a Lot eligible to send to that customer. To utilize the feature, companies typically setup separate QC Groups that match these customer part cross references. An example is below. With tighter QC specs, the eligible lots available to ship to Tom’s Widgets will be smaller than the population of lots available to ship to all customers. This separate group for just Tom’s Widgets would be assigned at the customer part cross reference level.
All Customers
|
Test |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| pH | 6.55 | 8.55 |
| Viscosity | 8.00 | 22.00 |
Tom's Widgets
|
Test |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| pH | 7.05 | 8.05 |
| Viscosity | 16.00 | 18.00 |
Configuration
Refer to the Configuration section of Managing QC Tests for the required setup. All other configuration is discussed in the Process section below.
Process
Adding a Customer Part Cross Reference and assigning QC requirements
- Navigate to Inventory > Item Master.
- Enter the Part Number for which a Customer Part Cross Reference will be created then click "View".
- On the resulting report, select the appropriate record then click "Bill-Tos/Ship-Tos" to open a list of all Customer Parts connected to the selected Part Number. If no cross references exist yet, the form will populate with the DEACOM Part Number, Description, Stock Unit, and List Price, and the "Customer Of Part" grid will be blank.
- Click "Add" to open the Bill-to/Ship-to Part Information form and begin customizing the new customer part. Again, the form will populate with the DEACOM Part Number, Description, Stock Unit, and List Price.
- On the General tab:
- Select the Bill-to Company for whom this cross reference is being created.
- If this customer uses a different name or description for the Part on the cross reference, enter that information in the "Cust. Part Number" and "Cust. Description" fields, otherwise leave these fields with the generic part information.
- Enter other details as desired, including a default sales price, minimum and incremental sales quantities, shelf life requirements, etc. This tab is also where a Parent QC Group and unique COA form may be assigned.
- On the QC tab:
- Click "Add" to display the Edit QC/Stability Tests form.
- Select the appropriate Quality Control Group in the "QC Group" field and specify the frequency at which testing should occur.
- Once all selections are made, save and exit the Edit QC/Stability Tests form.
- Part Forms specific to this customer part may be added on the Labels tab and if any User Fields pertain to Customer Part Cross References, complete them on the User Fields tab.
- Once all details are entered, save and exit the Bill-To/Ship-To Part Information form to complete the process for the first Customer Part Cross Reference.
- To add more cross references for the selected Part, repeat steps 4-8. To create cross references for a different Part, close all open forms and begin the process from step 1.
Determining which Lots can be shipped to which customers
The “Eligible Customers” report, available via Inventory > Inventory Reporting, displays all Lots that can be sold to customers by getting Customer Part Cross References with a QC Group, then filtering for Lots that have QC values where the values meet the minimums and maximums on the Customer Part QC Group. For companies that heavily utilize Customer Part Cross References as a method of strict quality control, this report makes the allocation of Lots based on QC Groups much easier.
When shipping inventory, the “QC Status” filter on the Lot Selection form can be set to “Customer Specific”. This will tell the system to show only Lots that meet the customer’s specific QC requirements. If there is an agreement to ship the customer a Lot that is slightly outside of their defined specs, this option can be toggled to “Passed” to show other lots that can be shipped in its place.
Displaying QC Results on shipping forms
QC Test results can be viewed in both the Issue/Reserve Inventory form and the Lot Selection form. These can be shown by configuring the grid layout within each form. All the QC tests will show up as “qc_<<name>>”. For example, if a test for fat percentage is called “fat_percentage”, the grid field “qc_fat_percentage” is available to be added to both grid layouts. If a lot has multiple passes of QC completed, it is important to note that the system will use the Min/Max/Average selection to determine how the QC will be displayed.More information on adding fields to grids can be found in Configuring Grid Layouts and Automated Reports.
Determining on hand quantities based on customer QC requirements
The Basic Item Availability form, which is generated via the "Availability" button on the Edit Sales Order Line form, contains a "View" field with an option of "Item - Customer Specific QC." This option, which will be set by default if the "Cust. Part Number" field is populated, and a QC Group exists for that customer part, results in the On Hand column only displaying the quantity of lots for this item where the QC values meet the minimums and maximums on the Customer Part QC Group.
Planning QC during MRP Job creation
DEACOM offers a method to help companies determine if they can consolidate production Jobs based on customer specific QC requirements for specific Parts. This feature leverages the Customer Part Cross Reference functionality in the system together with the Item Master "Plan QC During MRP Job Creation" flag and a few other options. This feature is helpful for companies who want the ability to view customer specific QC requirements when viewing the Sales Order demand in MRP to determine if customer item QC specs which are nearly the same could be grouped on the same production Job, or if separate Jobs would be needed. The ability to do this within MRP offers a type of pre-production planning process in which viewing the demand in MRP, together with customer specific QC tolerances, allows companies to make these decisions during the Job creation step. Complete information on this function is available on the Planning QC in MRP page.
Note: Customer Cross Reference Parts must have both a Bill-To and Ship-to listed in order for the MRP QC Planning feature to work.
FAQ & Diagnostic Tips
Can customer specific specifications be printed on the COA document?
Yes, if customer QC groups exist and QC results have been entered for these groups, then the QCINFO and QCINFO_PARENT table tags on the COA document will print the QC specifications based on the QC group assigned at the customer part cross reference level. For example, if a lot for Tom’s Widgets is shipped on a sales order, the QC min and max values used on the COA would form the customer part cross reference rather than the group that was actually used for the testing. Additional information on the QCINFO and QCINFO_PARENT table tags is available via the Managing Part Forms Best Practice page.
Can you have customer specific QC based on text results?
The best way to handle customer specific QC based on text results is to create a QC test named with each possible result, and then use 1 or 0 as a Pass/Fail value.
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