Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs) in Quality Inspector 7.26

Quality Inspector 7.26 introduces significant improvements to Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs), including new report layouts, simplified setup, enhanced automation, and the ability to separate NCRs from standard quality inspection documents.

What Is an NCR?

NCR is an abbreviation that may have different meanings depending on your industry or region, including:

• Non-Conformance Report
• Non-Conformance Record
• Non-Conformity Report
• Non-Conformity Record

Although terminology varies, the purpose remains the same: documenting, investigating, and resolving quality issues identified during receiving, production, storage, shipping, or other quality-related processes.

An NCR is a document used to record and manage situations where a product, material, process, or service does not meet defined requirements. NCRs help organizations document the issue, investigate its cause, track corrective actions, and verify that the non-conformance has been properly addressed.

What’s New in Version 7.26?

Quality Inspector 7.26 introduces:

• New Word-based NCR report layouts.
• A dedicated NCR Template type.
• The ability to separate NCR documents from regular quality inspection documents.
• Additional demonstration NCR templates and setup accelerators.
• Simplified configuration through the NCR Process Configuration Wizard.
• Automated NCR creation from failed quality inspections.
• New NCR-specific role center activities and KPIs.
• A new Create NCR permission.
• A new Create NCR action on quality inspection tests.
• NCR-specific test generation rules and workflows.
• Additional NCR reporting features, including signatures and PDF attachments.
• A new NCR intent for Test Generation Rules.

When upgrading to version 7.26, users will see a notification indicating that NCR capabilities have improved. Selecting Configure NCRs launches the NCR Process Configuration Wizard.

Do You Use NCRs?

One of the first decisions during setup is determining whether NCRs are part of your quality process within Quality Inspector.

If you do not use NCRs:

1. Run the NCR Process Configuration Wizard.
2. Select I Do Not Use NCRs.

This option:

• Removes NCR lists and KPIs from the role center.
• Hides NCR reporting options.
• Disables NCR workflows created by the wizard.
• Keeps the wizard available so NCRs can be enabled later.

NCR Configuration Models

Quality Inspector supports several NCR process models.

Option 1: NCR as a printable report

Choose Optimize NCRs as a Printable Report Off a Normal Test if:

• NCRs are not separate records.
• NCRs are simply a different report printed from an inspection.
• No additional NCR workflow is required.

In this model, the inspection document remains the only record.

Choose this if you are not using NCRs, use an external system, or want to decide later. Any existing NCR creation workflow made with the NCR process configuration wizard will be disabled.

Option 2: NCR directly from a source document

Choose From a Document Record if:

• NCRs are manually created when an issue is identified.
• NCRs are distinct from inspection documents.
• NCRs originate from business documents such as:
  • Purchase lines
  • Production routing lines
  • Other source transactions

This approach is common when inspections are performed reactively rather than routinely.

Choose this if NCRs are usually created manually from a transaction or source record (e.g., purchase lines or production routing lines). NCRs are not created automatically, but only when an issue or exception is identified. An NCR is different than an inspection document.

Option 3: NCR from an existing test document (typically a Failed Inspection)

Choose From an Existing Test Document if:

• NCRs are created from quality inspection failures.
• NCRs are separate records.
• NCRs may be created automatically when tests fail.

This is the most common NCR configuration.

Typical workflow:

1. A quality inspection test is completed.
2. The test fails.
3. An NCR is created.
4. The NCR is investigated and resolved.

Choose this if NCRs are typically created from Quality Inspection Tests, usually when a test fails. You can configure NCRs to be created automatically on failure, or keep the process manual. An NCR is different than an inspection document.

Automatic NCR Creation

When using the From an Existing Test Document option, you can choose whether NCRs are created automatically.

When enabled:

• A workflow is created automatically.
• NCRs are generated when a test is both:
  • Failed
  • Finished

This is the recommended setup when every failed inspection requires an NCR.

If different failure scenarios require different NCR types, you can configure multiple NCR generation rules.

NCR Permissions

Version 7.26 introduces a new permission:

Create NCR

This permission is configured through the Quality Inspectors and Quality Inspection Permissions page.

During setup, the wizard verifies that at least one user can create NCRs.

If no users have permission, you may receive messages similar to:

• “Nobody has permission to create NCRs. To use NCRs you will need to have at least one person with this permission.”
• “You do not have permission to create NCRs. Do you want to add yourself with permission to create NCRs”

It is recommended that at least one user be assigned the Create NCR permission whenever NCR functionality is enabled.

NCR Templates

An NCR remains a Quality Inspection Template under the hood.

When selecting an NCR template in the wizard, you can choose from:

• Existing Quality Inspection Templates
• Demonstration NCR Templates

The demonstration templates:

• Contain common NCR questions and fields.
• Install automatically into your environment when selected.
• Include sample data for previewing NCR reports.

Selecting Preview displays a sample NCR PDF using the selected report layout.

One NCR Template or Multiple NCR Templates?

When configuring NCRs from existing inspection tests, the wizard asks whether you use one NCR template or multiple NCR templates.

One NCR Template (Recommended for most installs)

Choose:

One for Any Test That Fails

Use this option when:

• All failures follow the same NCR process.
• The same NCR form is used throughout the organization.
• You are unsure which option to choose.

This is the most common setup for most installs as there is typically only one set of NCR questions, and sometimes just a category or root cause on the NCR that defines the difference.  It’s common to have the same NCR process (and thus the same questions).

Multiple NCR Templates

Multiple NCR templates can be found in scenarios where Quality Inspector is used in larger or more complex scenarios with different groups performing different kinds of inspections and different NCR processes.  If you are demonstrating or training with NCRs it can be common to use multiple NCR templates during the demonstration.

Choose:

Multiple NCR Templates

Use this option when different failures require different NCR processes and different NCR questions.

Examples:

The wizard can help create these rules, or they can be configured later using Test Generation Rules.

Note that in many circumstances the cause (i.e supplier vs. internal, vs. customer) is often just a question inside of an NCR template, and that it’s more typical that there is one NCR process that is followed within a given organization.

What Has Not Changed?

If you already use NCRs in Quality Inspector, several core concepts remain unchanged:

• NCR definitions are still Quality Inspection Templates.
• NCRs are still stored as Quality Inspection Test documents.
• NCRs remain fully configurable.
• NCRs can still use Test Generation Rules.
• NCRs can still use separate number series.

The new functionality primarily improves usability, setup, reporting, and workflow automation.

NCR Report Layouts

Quality Inspector includes several NCR report layouts.

For most new implementations, the default Word layout of “Dense grid layout with expanded item and source details” introduced in version 7.26 is recommended because it is easier to customize and provides improved formatting and reporting capabilities.