Quality Inspector can prevent production output from being posted until a Quality Inspection Test for the produced lot, serial number, or package has been completed successfully.

This is useful when a manufactured item must pass an inspection before it can be recorded as production output. The restriction is controlled by the Allow Output setting on Quality Inspection Grades.

This feature applies to items using lot, serial, or package tracking. The Quality Inspection Test must contain the same item, variant, and applicable tracking information as the production output being posted.   The lot/serial/package must also be defined on the test, so if this is used for quality tests on intermediate operations the tracking information must be known ahead of time. This strategy will not work when the lot number is not known and/or is auto-generated when posting output on the final step.

How output restrictions work

When production output is posted for a tracked item, Quality Inspector looks for an applicable Quality Inspection Test matching the item and its lot, serial number, and package number. It then uses the test’s current grade and the Allow Output setting for that grade to determine whether the output transaction can continue.

The Allow Output setting has three possible values:

For a typical inspection process where production output should only be allowed after a test has passed and been finished, configure the grades as follows:

With this configuration, an inspection that is still in progress cannot release the output. A failed inspection remains blocked even after the test is finished. A passing inspection is permitted only after the test has been finished. Quality Inspector evaluates Allow Finished Only against the test’s Finished status in addition to its grade.

Configure Quality Inspection Grades

1. Search for Quality Inspection Grades in Business Central.
2. Select Edit List.
3. Locate the grades used by your Quality Inspection Templates.
4. Set Allow Output for each grade.

For the standard INPROGRESS, FAIL, and PASS grades, a common configuration is:

• INPROGRESS: Block
• FAIL: Block
• PASS: Allow Finished Only

Other transaction fields, such as Allow Sales Shipping, Allow Consumption, or Allow Transfer, can be configured independently. Setting Allow Output only controls production output transactions. The Quality Inspection Grades page exposes these transaction-specific controls separately.

Configure the pass and fail conditions

The grade assigned to a Quality Inspection Test is determined by the grade conditions configured for the inspection fields and template.

Configure the template so that acceptable inspection results produce the appropriate passing grade and unacceptable results produce the appropriate failing grade.

For example, if the standard grades are used:

• INPROGRESS represents an inspection that has not yet been completed.
• FAIL represents inspection results that do not meet the configured requirements.
• PASS represents inspection results that meet the configured requirements.

The evaluation sequence and grade conditions determine which grade is assigned as inspection values are entered.

Create the Quality Inspection Test

The Quality Inspection Test can be created manually or automatically using a production Test Generation Rule.

For automatic creation, use Quality Inspection Test Generation Rules and create a production rule for the applicable Quality Inspection Template. Production rules can be filtered by information such as the item, routing operation, work center, or other production information so that inspections are only created where they are required.

For example, a routing might contain the following operations:

Generation rules can be configured for the operations or work centers requiring inspection without requiring inspections on every operation.

Ensure the test contains the tracking information

For Allow Output restrictions to apply, the Quality Inspection Test must identify the same tracked inventory being posted.

For example, when posting:

• Item FG-100
• Lot LOT-001

the applicable Quality Inspection Test must also identify Item FG-100 and Lot LOT-001.

The same principle applies to serial numbers and package numbers. Quality Inspector matches the output transaction to inspection tests using the item, variant, lot number, serial number, and package number.

This is especially important when tests are created early in the production process, such as when a released production order is refreshed. If the lot, serial, or package number is not yet known when the test is created, ensure that the tracking information is associated with the inspection before relying on the grade-based output restriction.

Record and finish the inspection

Complete the Quality Inspection Test normally.

If the inspection results cause the test to have a FAIL grade, production output remains blocked because FAIL is configured with Allow Output = Block.

If the inspection results cause the test to have a PASS grade but the test is still open, production output remains blocked because PASS is configured with Allow Output = Allow Finished Only.

After the test has a PASS grade and is Finished, production output for the matching tracked item can be posted.

This provides two separate controls:

Multiple inspections for the same tracking number

If multiple Quality Inspection Tests can exist for the same lot, serial number, or package, review the Conditional Lot Find Behavior setting on Quality Inspector Setup.

This setting determines which matching inspection is considered when applying grade-based transaction restrictions. Available options include considering any matching test, the most recently modified test, the newest test/retest, or finished-test-specific options.

Choose the behavior that reflects how inspections and retests are managed in your quality process.

Difference from production test validation

The Allow Output grade restriction is different from the Check That Tests Exist When production validation settings.

Grade-based output restrictions are appropriate when the requirement is:

“Do not allow output for this tracked item until its inspection has passed and been finished.”

The production validation settings are more appropriate when the requirement is simply to verify that an inspection has been completed at a particular production checkpoint, regardless of whether the resulting grade is Pass or Fail.

Related Documentation

• Automate Block and Unblock Lot Transactions in Quality Inspector
• Configure Grades
• Create a Production Rule in Quality Inspector
• Quality Inspector Setup