Quality supports three types of specifications: item, supplier, or customer. The specification type that you can select is determined by your business application. For example, Item specifications can be used to define requirements for items without regard to the customer or supplier that may purchase or sell them. Conversely, customer and supplier specifications can be used to define the requirements for items sold to or purchased from specific customers or vendors respectively.
The following table presents the three supported specification types.
Specification Types
| Specification Type | Business Example |
|---|---|
| Item Specification | For a given item, thickness must be 0.55 inches, plus or minus 0.002 inches; torque strength must be between 4.5 and 5.2; burn-in hours must be 48. |
| Supplier Specification | Carbon black received from supplier Acme Corporation must be tested to ensure its particle size does not exceed 0.0026 millimeters. |
| Customer Specification | Steel coils sold to customer ABC Corp. must always contain at least 1.5 percent molybdenum, 2.5 percent manganese, and have a tensile strength of at least 60. |
Quality also supports specification subtypes. Specification subtypes are used to create more detailed specifications. For example, if a similar, yet different supplier specification is required when a supplier ships from one location to another, you can use a specification subtype to ensure that the correct specification is applied.