Nonconformity Source Definitions

The source records where a nonconformity came from — an internal audit, a customer complaint, a supplier inspection, an employee observation. It is one of the few fields that lets management judge whether the quality system is finding its own problems or having them reported by customers.

A source is not a category. The category says what kind of problem it is; the source says how we found out about it.

Purpose

• Detection effectiveness. The balance between internally and externally sourced records is a direct measure of how well the system works.
• Traceability. A record sourced from an audit can be traced back to that audit's findings.
• Routing. Sources can be associated with modules, which shapes where records are raised from.

Fields

• Code
  Auto-generated and unique. Read-only once the record exists.

• Name
  The source title. Example: Internal Audit, Customer Complaint, Supplier Inspection, Management Review, Employee Observation.

• Description
  Optional detail about when this source should be selected.

• Source type
  Classifies the source. When the type is Organization Unit, a specific organization unit must also be selected as the source detail.

• Modules
  The modules this source is associated with, which controls where it is offered.

• Active
  Inactive sources are no longer offered on new records.

Typical source list

Source	Used when
Internal Audit	A finding raised during a planned internal audit.
External Audit	A finding raised by a certification body or customer audit.
Customer Complaint	Escalated from a customer complaint record.
Supplier Inspection	Found during incoming goods inspection.
Process Monitoring	Detected by routine measurement or SPC.
Employee Observation	Reported by somebody who noticed it.
Management Review	Raised as an output of management review.

Excel import and export

The source list supports bulk import from and export to Excel.

Authorization and Access Control

Creating and editing sources is restricted by role-based permissions. The list is normally short and stable, and maintained by quality administrators.

tip

Resist the urge to make the source list long. A dozen well-chosen sources produce useful reporting; forty produce a dropdown people pick from at random.