Overview

The Supplier Quality Assurance application is a robust, scalable, and secure solution built to digitize the supplier audit process—from checklist import to final evaluation—all within a unified, low-code Mendix platform. It empowers quality managers, engineers, and suppliers to collaborate efficiently, streamline assessments, and maintain complete visibility across the supplier quality lifecycle.

We have designed it with core capabilities to handle:

• Master data management (suppliers, commodities, parts, checklists)
• Seamless checklist import and version control 
• Task scheduling, assignment, and notification workflows
• Score-based evaluation with thresholds and pass/fail outcomes 
• Interactive dashboards for managers, engineers, and suppliers 

Business Value:

Whether you're scaling supplier operations or strengthening compliance, the SQA app accelerates audit processes, improves traceability, and enables continuous supplier development—so you can stay ahead on quality, not paperwork. 

Go and ensure supplier excellence!

Documentation

Typical Usage Scenario

The Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA) application is designed to streamline external supplier audits and quality evaluations. Here's how it typically flows: 

Master Data Setup and Checklist Import

• A Quality Manager uploads supplier data, commodities, part details, and template-based audit sheets.
• The system supports multiple checklist types (e.g., pre-assessment, VDA 6.3) and maintains version control.
• Managers can import new sections, subsections, and checkpoints as needed, automatically creating entries in master data. 

Audit Scheduling and Assignment 

• The Quality Manager schedules an audit by assigning tasks to SQ Engineers and departmental users (e.g., logistics, procurement, engineering).
• Each section and subsection can be allocated to different roles, and email notifications are triggered upon assignment. 

SQ Engineer Audit Execution

• An SQ Engineer logs in to view assigned audits in the “My Inspections” tab.
• The engineer navigates through each section (cover sheet, questionnaires, bonding, etc.), enters scores (e.g., 0–5 scale or N/A), adds observations, uploads evidence (documents or images), and marks critical checkpoints.
• The interface supports next/previous section navigation for ease of use. 

Automated Evaluation and Submission

• Once the engineer completes scoring, the system calculates section-level and overall performance percentages—applying thresholds to set the supplier’s pass/fail status.
• Engineers submit the audit, and the supplier is automatically notified via email. 

Supplier Review and Action Plans

• Suppliers access submitted audits in read-only mode, viewing scores, conclusions, and radar charts summarizing performance.
• They can download evidence, and for any section scoring below threshold, initiate and attach action plans (descriptions and supporting documents). Submitted plans update the audit in real-time. 

Manager Oversight and Completion

• Quality Managers review completed audits via the “Completed Tasks” tab.
• They can inspect action plan details, verify attachments, and finalize the status by marking it as passed (to proceed to the next checklist flow) or failed (to halt progress). All interactions are logged for audit traceability. 

Image & Document Handling

• Supplier Quality Engineers can upload PDFs and images, annotate defects directly in images, and make them available for suppliers to review—all seamlessly embedded within the audit workflow. 

Features and Limitations

Features

• Comprehensive Master Data Management: Capture suppliers, commodities, parts and dynamic checklists with version control 
• Title-Based Checklist Import Easily: import audit templates with customizable sections, subsections and checkpoints
• Role-Based Workflow Assignment: Task assignment across roles Quality Manager, Supplier Quality Engineer, Logistics, Engineering and Supplier
• Score-Based Evaluation Logic: Automated pass/fail decisions based on client-defined thresholds 
• Interactive Audit Interface Section navigation, document/image uploads, and checkpoint-level scoring with critical point marking
• Visual Performance Summary: Radar charts display audit outcomes for quick insight 
• Action Plan Management: Suppliers can submit corrective actions with evidence, directly linked to audit checkpoints 
• Secure, Role-Based Access Controlled visibility: Manager and Supplier Quality Engineer (full access), Supplier (read-only + action plan input) 

Limitation

External ERP or third-party integrations require additional configuration

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. How are roles managed within the app? 

Quality Managers assign tasks by selecting user roles (e.g., SQ Engineer, Logistics, Procurement) and entering their email IDs during audit scheduling. 

Q2. What indicates audit outcome visually? 

A radar chart displays the supplier’s performance across evaluated sections. Overall status (Pass/Fail) is based on score thresholds.