Trace evidence

First article checks record part number, revision, characteristic number, requirement, actual result and disposition. Each check references an inspection. That link lets the team move from the inspected case to a specific characteristic and its recorded outcome. Material trace links retain a part serial, heat number, supplier certificate, process certificate and verifying person. These records preserve two kinds of evidence. A first article check references an inspection; a material trace entry stands on its serial, heat and verifier identity.

Consider a revised part entering final inspection. Inspector records the first article characteristic, its required dimension, the actual result and pass or fail disposition against the inspection. Separately, a material trace link holds the part serial and heat number with the available certificates. Quality Manager can review the inspection and first article result, then locate the separate certificate record using the serial and heat identity discussed by the team.

• First article check. Each characteristic has a requirement, actual result and disposition tied to an inspection.
• Material identity. Part serial and heat number identify the material trace entry.
• Certificate evidence. Supplier and process attachments sit with the person who verified the trace entry.

Agree the part number and revision convention used on first article checks. Define how characteristic numbers correspond to the team’s engineering or inspection material. Decide how the actual result is recorded so another reviewer can compare it with the requirement. For material trace entries, agree how part serial and heat number are entered and which attachment is the supplier certificate versus the process certificate.

Choose who verifies a trace entry. The verifying person is a record in the people directory. That named responsibility matters when a certificate is replaced or a serial is questioned. Agree how the team will find the correct inspection when it records first article characteristics, because the inspection link is the path back to the operational case.

Create a final inspection for the revised part and add two first article characteristics. Record one passing and one failing result, with the correct part revision on both. Open the inspection and follow its linked first article entries. Then create a material trace link for the same part serial, attach the supplier and process certificates available for the case, and name the verifying person. Ask a reviewer to find the first article result through the inspection and the separate certificate entry through its serial and heat. The inspection decision depends on its linked inspection checks.

Keep the first article result and the material certificate review as separate questions. One describes the measured characteristic; the other identifies retained source evidence. Quality Approver still decides the inspection outcome by reviewing its linked inspection checks.

• Open inspections — Operational cases that first article characteristics can reference.
• Inspections in review — Cases awaiting a decision after characteristic checks are recorded.
• Approved revisions — Current quality documents used beside inspection work.

Inspection to disposition covers the decision. Data model shows how first article checks reference inspections.