Overview of Collection Plans
Collection plans determine what data to collect, where to collect it, when to collect it, and what action to take based on this data. Collection plans are similar to test or inspection plans. You can define an unlimited number of collection plans.
Purpose
You can create any number of collection plans to support your enterprise wide quality data collection and analysis need. You can create collection plans for your various departments, functional areas, or product lines. You can create collection plans for a specific purpose. For example, you can create collection plans to collect the following information:
- supplier defects in receiving and inspection
- shop floor defects resulting in scrapped assemblies
- quality characteristics, such as acidity and viscosity, for lots produced
- recording serial number test history
- root causes and resolutions for discrepant material
- repair codes and quantities for rework
- symptoms for field returns and DOA situations
Collection Plan Elements
Collection plan elements are the building blocks of collection plans and determine what data is to be collected. You can create collection plan elements by adding collection elements to collection plans. You can also create collection plan elements by copying all collection plan elements from a source collection plan. Collection plans can contain both predefined reference information collection elements as well as user-defined collection elements.
Examples:
- Predefined Reference Information: Item, department, or supplier
- User-Defined Characteristics: Symptom, cause, action, key measurements
Size and Complexity
You can add up to 100 user-defined collection elements to collection plans. In addition, common collection plan elements are automatically added as collection plans are created. Context elements may or may not be automatically added depending on other factors.
For example, a simple equipment maintenance collection plan might be used to collect only machine number and date maintained information. However, a complex equipment maintenance collection plan might include machine number, serial number, maintenance personnel, machine supplier, machine parts supplier, and a historical record of all routine and remedial maintenance.
Data Collection Methods
Collection plans can be invoked manually for direct results entry. They can also be invoked as you enter transactions in other Oracle Applications.
Attachments
You can attach illustrative or explanatory files -- in the form of text, images, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video, and so on -- to collection plans. Attachments can be used to document instructions and corrective action procedures. They can be viewed by operations personnel during quality data collection.
