Inspections

An inspection identifies the subject, type, scheduled date and person assigned to do the work. Use Incoming for received scope, in process for work underway, Final for a release decision or Service for returned or serviced scope. The subject reference should match the identifier used by the team that presented the item. Quality Manager agrees that naming rule before the first operating cycle so an inspector and reviewer can find the same item without guessing.

A planned inspection is work to be performed. Starting it marks it in progress; submitting it marks it Review. Neither move is the acceptance decision. The reviewer sees the check set and the evidence before choosing Accepted or Rejected.

• The inspection header. Keep the human inspection number, subject, inspection type, assignee and schedule together. Completed work retains its completion date and final status.
• Check detail. Each requirement has an observation and a result of Pending, Pass, Fail or not applicable. Evidence belongs to the check where the observation was made.
• Review. A failed check travels with its evidence into the inspection review. On entry to Review, the reviewer checks failed scope and links the resulting nonconformance in Containment before deciding the inspection outcome.

The Business Overview page gives the team a current quality summary, assigned work and recent evidence queue. It is a starting point for opening the underlying inspection, rather than a substitute for reviewing a particular check.

Decide who schedules inspections and who can accept or reject them. Define how inspectors identify the subject, what counts as recorded evidence for each requirement, and when not applicable is permitted. A result alone is too thin when a failed requirement requires follow-up. Agree which person checks the complete set before it reaches Review and which reviewer decides after submission.

Use the same convention for check wording across an operating cycle. If a requirement describes a measured production condition, the observation should let the reviewer understand what was actually seen. Agree how evidence from a workstation reading or board defect is associated with the inspection so the reviewer can investigate the same physical scope.

Consider an in process inspection of a board identified by its production reference. Inspector opens the planned item, records a passing visual check and a failed solder observation with an evidence attachment. The check result is Fail and the inspection enters Review. Quality Reviewer opens the failed check rather than approving from the header alone. The reviewer raises a linked nonconformance in Containment for the failed scope, then records the Rejected inspection decision.

Repeat the case with all applicable checks passing. The review can end in Accepted without creating a failure case. Test a check still marked Pending and a failed check lacking evidence: those should remain with Inspector for correction before a review decision. Keep the submitted and completed dates meaningful so a later audit can reconstruct the sequence.

• Inspection queue — Planned, active and review work with the subject, assignee and scheduled date visible together.
• My inspections — An inspector’s assigned inspections, including those ready to start or complete.
• Inspection review inbox — Submitted inspections waiting for a quality decision.

See inspection review and containment and correction for the decisions that follow a failed check.