Inspections

Quality Manager plans an inspection against a named subject reference, chooses Incoming, in-process, Final or Service, sets its scheduled date and assigns an Inspector. The subject reference should match the item or service record your team uses outside the quality system. Agree how it will be entered so a reviewer can find the underlying work without guessing. The inspection begins Planned; the assignment tells the Inspector which work to open.

An inspection becomes useful when its linked checks state what had to be examined. Each Inspection Check has a requirement, an observation, a result and an evidence attachment. The assigned Inspector starts the Planned inspection and works through those checks. The conduct workflow rejects a start or submission when required check evidence is absent. A result by itself is therefore not a complete handoff.

• Plan. Quality Manager records the subject, type, schedule and assigned person before check work starts.
• Capture. Inspector records observations, selects Pending, Pass, Fail or not applicable for each check and attaches supporting evidence.
• Review. Quality Approver reads the check results before accepting passing scope or rejecting failed scope.

The review decision belongs to a person. When the Inspector submits, the inspection moves to Review. Quality Approver checks that each required result has enough evidence and then decides the outcome. A passing inspection moves to Accepted. Failed scope moves to Rejected and can produce a linked nonconformance. This preserves the path from the rejected result to later correction.

Choose the naming convention for inspection numbers and subject references. Decide who creates check requirements for Incoming, in-process, Final and Service work, and what observation and attachment make each requirement reviewable. Assign Inspectors through People records that connect to Users. Give Quality Approver a clear rule for handling mixed results on an inspection: the workflow separates eligible passing scope from failed scope.

The schedule uses the date on the inspection. It is a planning aid for assigned work, while the check evidence establishes what was actually examined. Quality Manager should decide when a submitted inspection needs to return for more evidence before a final decision. Keep that decision with the reviewer rather than treating an attached file as automatic approval.

Suppose a Final inspection for subject reference Q-104 has three requirements. The Inspector records a Pass for the label check, a Pass for the quantity check and a Fail for the surface check, with an observation and attachment for each. The inspection is submitted to Review. Quality Approver reads the failed surface evidence and rejects that scope. The resulting nonconformance links back to Q-104’s inspection, so the corrective owner can see the original observation.

Rehearse a second case with an empty required observation or absent evidence. The conduct workflow should refuse the work until the missing check is completed. This is the useful test of the handoff: reviewers receive inspectable evidence, and the issue record retains the inspection that found it.

• Planned inspections — Assigned upcoming subjects with type, schedule and owner visible before work starts.
• My inspections — The Inspector’s assigned queue, including work waiting to be completed.
• Inspection review inbox — Submitted inspections waiting for the Quality Approver’s decision.

See inspection conduct, disposition and the data model.