A re-test is used when the outcome of an initial inspection is inconclusive, questionable, or potentially unrepresentative of the true quality of the product or material.

Common scenarios

Borderline or out-of-spec results

Borderline or out-of-spec results is when test results are close to the acceptance limits or specification tolerances.

A re-test helps confirm whether the failure was due to measurement variation, operator error, or genuine nonconformance.

Suspected measurement or handling error

A suspected measurement or handling error occurs if there is evidence the first inspection may have incorrectly performed (e.g., instrument malfunction, incorrect calibration, sample contamination, mislabeling, or human error).

A re-test ensures the result reflects the true condition of the lot or item.

Sample damage or anomaly

A sample damage or anomaly occurs if the tested sample was found defective for reasons unrelated to product quality (e.g., broken during preparation or mishandled).

A new sample from the same lot may be re-tested to ensure fairness.

Verification for critical characteristics

A verification for critical characteristics is for high-risk or regulated industries (e.g., pharmaceutical, aerospace, and food safety).

A re-test may be mandated by policy when key product characteristics fail; the re-test provides additional evidence before rejecting or releasing a batch.

Customer or regulatory request

A customer or regulatory request is if a customer disputes results or a regulatory body requires additional verification.

Re-tests may be performed to confirm compliance.

Process variability checks

Sometimes re-tests are performed on a second sample to verify whether the variation is consistent across the batch or isolated to the first sample.

Create a re-test

You can create a re-test automatically (with Business Central workflows) or manually. The following steps guide you through a scenario of creating a re-test using an existing test.

Goal

Ad-hoc inspections from the template are useful for demos and training; however you are more likely to use the Create Test action available in several spots or to automate test creation. Supervisors can sometimes use this to create or re-create tests, but this action is rarely a main flow.

Prerequisite

• Ensure the Assisted Setup Wizard was run.
• Have a quality inspection test template.
• Have a quality inspection test generation rule.

Steps

1. Navigate to Quality Inspection Templates in Business Central.
2. Select a Quality Inspection Template with a rule associated to it.
3. Select Create Test.
4. Select the button for the Source field if it is blank, and select an appropriate source (e.g., a purchase line).
5. Select the  button on the Choose Record field, select an appropriate record, and Select OK.
6. Select OK on Create Quality Inspection (creates a Quality Inspection test with the selected record’s values).
7. Input the pass values and select Finish.
8. Select Create Re-Test.

A new test document appears with the same document number, item, and lot, but the test values are blank and the re-test number on the document is incremented by 1.