Grades replace the previous hardcoded states (Incomplete, Pass, and Fail) and the Acceptable Values previously configured on a template.

Grades allow multiple conditions of pass and fail.  Acceptable values can be defined as a default at the field level and at the template level. Fields can have configurable default grades at both levels, improving the defaulting ability to set pass and fail conditions.

Templates can have grade-level acceptable values; when you define grade conditions at the template level, it replaces the acceptable values configuration on a quality inspection template.

Upgrades and migrations from the earlier Quality Inspection module have the default grades of Incomplete, Pass, and Fail. You can add additional grades as needed.

Grade conditions are copied from the default grade condition into a field, from a field into a template, and from a template into the test. If the grade conditions change over time, any tests that occurred still have the grade conditions at the time that the test was created.

Configure Available Grades

Before grades can be configured on a template, you must create them. A default install has three available grades (Incomplete, Fail, and Pass). If you require multiple pass codes, or multiple failure codes, or have some mixed states, configure additional grades here.

Navigate to Quality Inspection Grades in Business Central and view the available grades, from the lowest priority to the highest priority.

The default grades, and what is found on typical installs, is configured similar to the following:

Set Copy Behavior to Automatically Copy the Grade when you want the grade to be copied to a template by default. To decommission a grade, set the Copy Behavior to Do Not Copy. You can use Do Not Copy to have multiple pass/fail/gray state grades but only for some templates or some fields that you choose. In this scenario, have the default set to Do Not Copy, and manually add the grades at the field level or the template level.

The default number and default text condition are the default condition configurations copied to a template when the grade is applied to a template.

To have an Incomplete or In Progress grade, ensure there is a grade with a priority of 0, and set its default number and default text conditions blank.

Following the Incomplete or In Progress grades, have the grades that represent the Failure or Negative scenarios. The number you use for the priority must be larger than the incomplete related grades.

Following the failure grades, have the Positive or Pass related grades. These grades must be evaluated last and must be the highest numbers.

Configure grade conditions on a field

1. Navigate to the Quality Inspector Fields in Business Central.
2. Set the available fields.
3. Select the required field and expand Grade Conditions at the bottom.
4. Select a Grade Code and define the condition:

The first time you configure the field, the default grades are added to the field with the default conditions. You can manually add any grades that may not be defaulted for all others, or manually remove grades that do not apply to any given field.

Grade conditions that indicate Not Done, Incomplete, or In Progress are evaluated first with no conditions, meaning any value (including blank) is the default.

Failure conditions are those where the value is not defined but unacceptable. Define a pass condition and let the failure condition be Not Blank.

Configure grade conditions on a field example

The configuration for room temperature, where the goal is to flag the field as Pass when the temperature is between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius.

We have defined the In Progress condition as blank and evaluating first, meaning that the default condition would be In Progress.

We have defined the Failure condition as Not Zero/Not Blank; any value that is not blank and not zero fails (unless it is between 20 and 24 for the Pass condition).

We have defined the Pass Condition as 20..24; this evaluates last and indicates a pass state if the value is between 20 and 24.

Test the conditions of these grades by using Value to Test and input a value to test (e.g., blank evaluates to In Progress; 3 evaluates to Fail; 30 evaluates to Fail; 22 evaluates to Pass).

Configure grade conditions on a template

When you add a field to a template, the conditions of the field are copied. The default field grade conditions can be altered if they are different when you use the field.

Configure grade conditions on a template:

1. Navigate to Quality Inspection Templates in Business Central.
2. Edit the template with the required field grade.
3. Select the required field.
4. Locate and modify the pass condition.

Grade Visibility and Promoting Grades

The conditions to indicate what is characterized as good need to be more prominent; Fail conditions and In Progress conditions do not need to be prominent. Altering the conditions can be done with Grade Visibility.

Configure Grade Visibility:

1. Navigate to Quality Inspection Grades in Business Central and select Edit List.
2. Select Promoted under Grade Visibility for PASS.

When a grade is promoted, it adds additional visibility on the field configuration, template configuration, test, and the sample COA report.

When the Pass grade is promoted in the field configuration, an additional column is available to configure the Pass conditions in the field template. The first 10 promoted actions are shown, in descending order of grade priority.

Similar to the Quality Field templates, the Quality Inspection template has the promoted grade editable in-line; this is similar to how you could configure in-line the Acceptable Values in the older version on the Quality Inspection template line. The first 10 promoted actions are shown, in descending order of grade priority.

When you enter a Quality Inspection test in Business Central, the promoted grades are available in-line for easy reference, and the first 10 promoted conditions are shown.

The example Certificate of Analysis report displays the first promoted action.