SAP QM is the quality management application of the SAP ERP software from SAP AG. Quality management is tightly integrated with other modules such as MM, PP, and SD.
The QM module can be used as a CAQ (Computer-aided Quality) system or LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System). Therefore a comprehensive range of functionality is covered within the following areas: Quality Planning, Quality Inspection, Quality Certificates, Quality Notification, Quality Control, Audit Management, Test Equipment Management and Stability Study.
Business Functions
Quality Planning Quality Planning includes the first steps within a closed-loop inspection process. All basic master data is defined here, including for example master data in quality management:
- Inspection plan: defines characteristics that need to be inspected and that are plant-specific. These can be defined for each operation. Also, the according test equipment can be defined here.
- Master inspection characteristic: These characteristics are frequently used in different inspection plans and are therefore maintained on master data level.
- Inspection catalog: These catalogs contain unique codes and inspection operations that can be used on client level as well as plant level. These catalogs are then available for usage in all inspection plans.
- Inspection method: Describes how an inspection needs to be carried out.
- Sampling procedure: Determination of the sample size according to certain rules. Based on these freely definable rules, the size of a sample (e.g. 10% out of 100 pieces) can be calculated.
- Dynamic modification rule: the dynamic modification is influencing the quality level which is the basis for the sample drawing quantity. The rules describe conditions under which the inspections are tightened or reduced. Example: if a supplier delivered bad quality at the last shipment, the quality level will be tightened for this supplier for any future shipments. It can be reduced if the supplier delivers good quality in a series of other shipments.
- Quality information record: These records are created when quality assurance agreements or vendor releases are used. The system reads and checks these info records when a quotation or purchase order is created for a certain material/vendor combination. This might lead to the information that a supplier is blocked due to quality issues.
The Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and the Control Plan are also part of the quality planning tools within SAP QM. The FMEA is an approach to reduce risks during Planning and Development. This means that possible product- and process related errors and risks can be identified at an early development phase which leads to a reduction in the overall development costs as well as costs due to later changes. Also, the production process, scrap and rework time can be reduced.
Quality Inspection
This functional capability is used to constantly check the quality of the company’s products. Therefore the inspection plans and characteristics are used. The inspection process mainly consists of the following four steps: Inspection can be triggered at a number of inspection origins:
- Inspection lot creation: in SAP QM, all quality inspections are based on inspection lots. These can be triggered manually or automatically (e.g. at goods receipt from a purchase order, at goods issue of a component, at a certain operation during production, etc.). The lots contain specific information about the inspection size (e.g. based on the sampling procedure), inspection characteristics and methods from the inspection plan or material specification, etc.
- Results Recording: After inspecting the products, the quantitative (e.g. width/height of a product) and/or qualitative (e.g. color of the product) results of the predefined characteristics can be directly recorded in the inspection lot.
- Defects recording: Defects can be recorded additional to the results recording. These defects are also referenced to an inspection lot and contain information about any attribute of a material/product/process that deviates from the defined characteristics. The defect recording can be based on standardized codes that can be taken from the predefined inspection catalogs.
- Inspection lot completion: A completion of the inspection lot is necessary after results recording to finally decide about the usage of a material. Depending on the usage decision, stock postings are performed (e.g. to unrestricted-use stock, blocked stock, scrap, etc.). The usage decision also influences the quality level and the quality score of a material or inspection lot.
Quality Control The quality control capability is used to ensure a continuous quality of the company’s products and processes. Therefore, the quality level has to be constantly updated, control charts can be used to check certain values and the suppliers’ quality needs to be evaluated.
Quality Certificates
Quality certificates document the following of certain quality requirements. They are mostly used during the collaboration with suppliers or subcontractors (incoming certificates) to document the quality standards of incoming goods or when acting as a supplier, to document the company’s quality standards themselves (outgoing certificates). Quality certificates can guarantee:
- the following of certain manufacturing / quality processes
- the execution of predefined inspections. These can be either defined by norms (e.g. GMP: Good Manufacturing Processes), law, customers, ...
- defect-free inspection results for a delivery, assigned to the quality certificate
Quality Notifications
Quality notifications are used to process and document quality related problems within a standardized process. Quality notifications consist of basic header data such as material, reference documents, batch numbers, etc. and detailed information about the problem/deviation. Additionally to that, tasks and activities can be tracked to support an internal CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Actions) process. Notifications are used to process the following main problems:
- complaint against a vendor
- internal problems (material error, etc.)
- complaint from a customer
Test Equipment Management
This capability uses functionality from the quality management and the plant maintenance module. It is used to maintain test equipment data, plan and schedule calibration inspections. This is necessary to ensure that the equipment is always ready-to-use according to the predefined quality criteria. This process includes the following steps:
- Calibration Planning
- Calibration Inspection
- Procurement of Test Equipment
- Maintenance of Test Equipment
Stability Study
Stability studies are mainly used in the process and discrete industry to inspect and test a material during a long-term examination. Multiple test are scheduled to investigate the behavior of a material under different conditions. E.g. the long-term effects of different temperatures on a material.
Audit Management
Audit Management is an integrated component used to process and manage internal and external audits. The SAP Audit Management supports different types of audits, such as assessments, supplier audits, product audits, process audits, system audits and environmental audits. The audit process consists of the following steps:
- Creation of an audit plan
- Creation of a question list
- Audit execution
- Capture of corrective and preventive actions
- Documentation (Report)
- Evaluation
