QM: SPC - New Functions for Quality Control Charts

Description

This release note contains information about the new functions and transactions for quality control charts in Release 4.0A. You can only use certain functions if you change the settings for the control chart type in Customizing accordingly (see Quality Management -> Quality Planning -> Basic Data -> Sample, SPC -> Control Chart -> Define control chart type). These changes also apply to the control charts that already exist.

New transactions for quality control charts

Using the new transactions, you can also process and display quality control charts independently of the functions for recording, changing, and displaying inspection results.

You can access these transactions in the SAP main menu by choosing Logistics -> Quality management -> Quality planning -> Work list -> Quality control chart -> (...).
Using these new transactions, you can select, display, and process control charts for inspection lots or for inspection characteristics in a task list. In each case, the system displays a configurable list of the control charts from which you can make selections.
You can use the following functions in the list:

You can define general or user-specific selection variants and list variants in Customizing for the selection screens and list configuration.

New functions for quality control charts

You can use the following new functions for the control charts:

• Enter control limits manually
  In a control chart track, you can display the control limits in a window. If you have the necessary SPC authorization, you can enter or change the control limits manually, provided this is allowed by the corresponding settings in Customizing.

• Display control limits
  In Customizing , you specify whether the lower limiting value, upper limiting value, and target value for a characteristic should be displayed in the control chart track. With the corresponding settings, you can also display and hide this information.

• Display statistical values
  In the control charts for qualitative characteristics, you can calculate and display the process capability index cpk.

• Use the paging function
  If you select object numbers for the reference axis in the control chart type ( Customizing), you can also specify the number of samples the system will display in the graphic. If a chart contains more entries than the preset interval size, you can display other sections of the control chart using the appropriate pushbuttons.

• Display current timeline
  If you select a reference axis with a time reference in the control chart type, you can use a pushbutton to display the current date and time in the graphic.

• Update the display
  You can update the display in a control chart. When you do this, the system reads and evaluates the inspection results from the database again.

• Generate statistical evaluations via QM-STI interface
  To evaluate the sample results for a control chart statistically, you can call up an external statistics package using the QM-STI component. For more information about the QM-STI interface, refer to a separate release note.

Technical changes

The following technical enhancements were made for the quality control charts:

• Colors and lines
  The colors and lines used in the control charts were changed for ergonomical reasons.

• Reserved namespace
  The delivery class for the control chart types and SPC criteria was changed from C to G. A separate namespace has been defined for customer entries. This namespace includes all entries that begin with the number 9 or with a letter from A through Z.

• Deleting quality control charts
  The deletion program for inspection results has been enhanced. Following a reorganization run, the system also deletes the control charts that no longer reference inspection results.

• Additional parameters for function modules
  The interface of the function modules for the control chart tracks has been expanded by two integral parameters. This allows you to define additional parameters for the statistical algorithms. This enhancement is upward compatible. You do not have to change existing function modules.