Quality Management (QM)
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Overview
Quality of services and products is of prime importance for all organizations. Needless to mention that a superior quality of products and services carried with itself multiple advantages for a business’s growth prospects. However, how easy can it get to achieve the quality that drives conversions? Here comes the role of the Quality Management module in SAP.
The QM, as it is generally known, is an all-encompassing module solution that helps businesses maintain their quality control processes effectively.
Inclusions of the Quality Management Module in SAP
Let’s learn a little bit more about the Quality Management module. Here are some prominent features that are included in the QM module:
Quality Planning
With this, the users or managers can define quality plans and draw strategies for their processes. They are also enabled to set up characteristics for inspection. Moreover, they can also create control plans and sampling procedures.
The basic functionalities that can be fulfilled with this feature are:
- Manage quality for suppliers, materials, and customers
- Plan a source inspection at the premise of the supplier
- Create inspection plans for goods receipt and stock transfers
- Plan inspections for monitoring the progress of the work
Quality Inspection
As the name suggests, this helps the companies to estimate if their product consistently meets the quality requirements. While this information is only based on the current lot of products, it is still instrumental in the quality control process.
Quality Notifications
With these notifications, businesses can be reminded of the corrective measures that they must take. Any defects or issues are notified and thus, an unforeseen situation can be avoided.
Supplier Quality Management
For a standard product, the raw material or the goods received from the suppliers must always be kept in check. This feature of the QM module allows the quality managers to monitor and assess the quality of the incoming goods. With this, they can also establish supplier evaluation criteria which take them closer to their quality goals.
Additionally, they can successfully track supplier performance based on the quality of the materials received from them. This can further guide them to create goals for enhancing product quality and enhancing customer happiness.
Batch Determination
This is the feature that empowers businesses to monitor the products manufactured in batches. This process ensures complete uniformity in the quality of the products. Furthermore, this step facilitates consistent quality throughout the batch and eases traceability.
Things to Consider While Implementation of Quality Management Module
There are some critical points one should consider before embarking on the journey to implement the SAP QM module. Let’s look at some of those points:
Process Analysis: Here, businesses are required to analyze their existing quality control processes. They must know the areas they need to work on and how the solutions can be found. They can also work on data to understand if this implementation will be helpful.
Cross-functional collaboration: This calls for involving stakeholders from different departments in a discussion. They can discuss how operations such as procurement, production, and quality control will take place. This step is important as it will help address the different business needs comprehensively.
Customization and standardization: This consideration will help address the level of customization required. Also, will the customization impact the regular processes already in place? Such questions will assist in understanding maintenance issues in the long term.
Defining performance metrics: Organizations must define the KPIs that will enable them to understand the benefits and performance of the implementation. Some key observations could be improvements in the quality of the products, improved production cycle times, and customer satisfaction rates.
Testing and Piloting: The users or the concerned managers must test the QM module thoroughly in a controlled environment. This exercise will help the teams identify and rectify any issues with the processes.
How will BPX Help Implement the Quality Management Module?
Implementing a new system can be a tough job. Therefore, BPX enables them to configure and customize it based on their expected and desired goals. Here is how the process moves:
1. As-Is Process
The as-is process is the ongoing process of the system used by the company. The analysis of this system helps BPX know the real state, the shortcomings, and the issues with it. By recording and documenting these drawbacks, BPX chalks out an analogy of the given current procedures.
2. Business Blueprint (Gap-Fit & To-be)/ SAP functional specification document
BPX is instrumental in drafting the business blueprint based on the gaps and the desired operations of the system. The gap-fit analysis is undertaken by BPX which is then used to design the to-be process.
3. Master Data Migration/ Item Master Configuration
BPX holds expertise in bridging the gap between business needs and technical implementation. With them in the picture, companies can be assured that the QM module implementation is in alignment with their goals and growth.
Here are some steps BPX takes to ensure master data migration:
- Data mapping
- Data cleansing
- Data standardization
- Data transformation
- Data testing
4. System Configuration / Realization (as per To-Be) along with customization
The BPX prepares to take steps in this stage based on the data gathered in the as-is stage. The existing scenarios are the real picture of the shortcomings of the current system. This lets the BPX know how and which route should be taken to achieve the desired system.
Along with this, the BPX also assists in configuring and customizing the system based on the expected outcomes of the system. The desired outcome is likely the quality assurance of the products and services of the company.
5. UAT
This is the User Acceptance Testing phase. As the name goes, the stage is all about how the system performs in test scenarios. BPX presents test cases to the system and with users testing them, the actual efficiency of the system can be known.
6. Go-Live Preparation (update as per feedback during UAT)
This stage is about the final preparation to make the system go live. After the final testing and evaluation have been done, BPX proceeds forward with the go-live stage.
7. Go-Live
This is the stage where the system finally goes live. Real users and managers can finally use it for business operations.
8. After Go-Live Support
BPX is consistent in extending its support even after the system has gone live. There might be some issues or problems that could persist after the implementation; therefore, BPX is always present to help the users or managers to get rid of the issues at the earliest.
FAQs
Here are some FAQs related to the SAP quality management module:
The Quality Management or QM module in SAP is an important part of the ERP system. It is designed to support businesses in managing and controlling product quality. It also helps them control and improve their processes.
The module is instrumental in the creation of inspection plans and the management of inspection lots. Aside from this, it also helps in recording inspection results and handling quality-related issues.
The QM module can easily integrate with the other modules of the SAP system. This includes Production Planning (PP) and Material Management (MM). This integration paves the way for ensuring quality checks throughout the supply chain.
With the help of this module, businesses can define inspection plans and specifications for each product. The module provides quality checks at all stages of production and supply chain. All these steps ascertain that the products meet predefined standards of quality.
Apart from this, the module also assists in recording the results. This practice further guides businesses in taking corrective measures. In other words, the product quality goes in improving over time.
As the quality management module records performance, it allows businesses to track and evaluate suppliers’ versions as well. Owing to its ability to assess performance, managers can rate the suppliers. They can also make informed decisions pertaining to supplier selection.
The quality management module in SAP definitely ensures compliance with industry regulations. It achieves this by recording quality-related incidents and issues.
With quality certificates and documentation, the system demonstrates industry compliance.
Besides these aspects, the module also supports audit management. This factor allows businesses to undergo internal and external audits. In essence, the audits assess the efficiency of quality management processes.