Modules · For the quality manager

Floor devices and PINs

Open: Settings > Floor devices & PINs at the desk; the tablet itself on the floor. Who sets it up: an owner or quality manager. Who uses it: anyone on the Training > People list, including people who have no Norma account. Purpose: let the floor start, inspect, and complete operations, report problems, and acknowledge readings under their own names, on a tablet that stays signed in as itself.

A floor device is a browser — normally a tablet — registered to your organization once and left at a work center. It never idles out the way a desk session does; the device is the constant, and people come and go in front of it by tapping their name and entering a PIN. Every sign-off made there carries two facts: who the person was and which device they used, so a nonconformance raised this way reads Raised by Maria Alvarez · Tablet 2, not an email address.

Register a tablet

Do this standing at the tablet, signed in on it as an owner or quality manager. As the page says, register it while you are standing at it, signed in on it — not from your own desk or laptop: registering sets a device credential in that browser and sends that tablet straight to its floor home. There is no code to carry to another device.

On the tablet, open Settings > Floor devices & PINs.
Under Register this tablet, enter a Device name that says where it sits, such as Tablet 2 — Cell 3.
Under Site or department, leave Whole organization, or choose the site or department this tablet serves. A placed tablet shows only the people and work centers under that unit.
Choose Register this device. The tablet goes to its floor home and stays paired for about a year of inactivity.

The Registered devices card lists Name, Site, Registered, Last seen, and Status, with Revoke on each active row. Revocation takes effect on the device's next request, ends its open sessions, and cannot be undone — a revoked tablet shows This device was revoked. Ask your quality manager and has to be registered again as a new device.

Set and unlock PINs

A floor PIN is four to six digits. Under Floor PINs, each active person shows PIN set on … or No PIN. Type the digits and choose Set PIN (or Reset PIN if one exists). Setting a PIN also clears any lock.

Five wrong entries in a row lock the PIN; the row shows Locked and the person's tile on the tablet greys out with Locked — ask your quality manager. Choose Unlock to clear it. Separately, five attempts on one person's PIN within an hour pause that PIN for about an hour, and the tablet says Too many tries. Ask your quality manager to unlock your PIN, or wait about an hour. Unlock or Reset PIN clears that too. A person at the tablet cannot unlock their own PIN.

Tip: Set every floor person's PIN on the day you register the tablet, from the same page, and tell them their PIN is theirs alone. A tablet whose tiles all say No PIN yet is a tablet nobody can use, and a PIN that two people share is a signature nobody can trust.

The tablet, screen by screen

Who are you? — one tile per person the tablet can see. A greyed tile reads Locked — ask your quality manager; a person without a PIN reads No PIN yet.
PIN pad — enter the PIN and choose Enter. A wrong PIN says That PIN is not right.
Hi, Maria — up to three tiles, depending on what your plan includes: What's next (the job queue, with Traveler), Report a problem (with Nonconformance), and Readings due (with Training), plus Done. A screen left alone for a minute ends the session: Your session ended after a minute without activity. Tap your name to start again.
What's next — the queue. The scope line says either This tablet is not assigned to an area, so every released job in the shop is listed or Showing work for CNC-3, DEBURR. Each row shows the job, part and revision, the next operation, quantity and due date. A held job is not tappable and shows ON HOLD — Work is stopped on this job. Ask your quality manager.
The job — the screen the printed traveler's QR code opens. It lists the operations with Not started, In process, Complete, or Skipped, flags special and outside processes, and offers Back to the queue.
The operation — the work instruction rendered in the page at the revision pinned when the job was released (never a download); the What the router asks for card with the Instruction, Qualification, and Gages; then the five sign-off cards in order: Start, First piece, Inspect, Complete, Problem; then Signed so far; then the links Report a problem with a photo, Outside process — sent out and received back (only when the router says so), All operations on JOB-0042, and My screen.

A Your PIN box appears on a sign-off form only when it has been more than 90 seconds since the last PIN; inside that window the person signs by pressing the button. If the window lapses while the form is open, the refusal is Enter your PIN to sign this. — reload and sign; it costs no lockout attempt.

If the queue is empty, the message says why: This tablet's area has no work centers yet (add one or move the tablet under Settings > Floor devices & PINs), No work is waiting at your machines, or No jobs have been released to the floor. If Traveler has lapsed from the plan, jobs already released can still be finished and the queue says so; nothing new can be released.

Sign off an operation

Each sign-off checks that the job is released or in process and not on hold, that the operation is not already complete or skipped, and — when the router names a qualification — that the person holds a tagged, accepted, unexpired, unrevoked certificate for it (chapter 20). That qualification check runs every time a signature is written, not only at Start.

Start. Press Start. The card then reads ✓ Started by Maria Alvarez · time, and the job moves to In process.
First piece. After the first part off the operation has been checked and accepted, press First piece. A second First piece is allowed — the card counts them — and the Inspect card then moves on from the first-piece stage.
Inspect. The card heading names the stage due now: Inspect — First piece, — In process, or — Final. Only the router's checks for that stage are offered. For each line, read the characteristic and criterion, enter Measured, choose Pass, Fail, or Not applicable, and, where the router names gages, choose the Gage used (the first option is Not recorded). Press Inspect. A failed line is signed and the notice says Inspection signed — a characteristic failed. Report a problem. The final inspection is the last step: it becomes due only when every in-process check has a result.
Complete. Enter Good, and Scrap or Rework where they apply. Scrap or rework needs a Nonconformance chosen from this job's own nonconformances; if there is none yet, report the problem first and it appears in the list. Press Complete. Completing the last unskipped operation completes the job, takes it off the queue — Job complete. That was the last operation, so it has left the queue — and releases the job's production record.
Problem. Enter What went wrong? and How many parts? and press Problem, or use Report a problem with a photo. This is the one card a hold never closes.

An operation signed while an earlier operation is still open is not refused; it is recorded and shown with an Out of sequence chip on the tablet and Signed while an earlier operation was still open on the desk timeline. A skipped earlier operation does not count as open.

Example: Op 020 MILL on JOB-0042, 40 pieces. Maria starts it, runs the first part, checks hole 1 with bore gauge BG-012 at 10.02 mm, signs First piece and the first-piece inspection. Thirty parts in, the in-process check reads 10.08 mm — Fail. She reports the problem (Reported as NC-0042. Your quality manager will follow up.), keeps the three affected parts aside, and at the end signs Complete with Good 37, Scrap 3, and NC-0042 chosen. At the desk, the job timeline shows every one of those entries under her name, and NC-0042 is in the register with the job on it.

The quantity rules

A typed count is never signed as zero. Good starts blank and is required. A blank Good box is refused — Enter how many parts were good. Nothing was signed. — and all zeros is refused too. Scrap and Rework may be left at None. Because the screen refreshes after every action, the tablet keeps what was typed for thirty minutes and says so: The screen refreshed. These are the numbers you had typed — check them before you press Complete.
A short final count is confirmed. Only the completion that finishes the job asks. If Good + Scrap + Rework is fewer than the job quantity, the tablet stops: That is fewer parts than the job calls for. Check the count, tick the box below to confirm it, and press Complete again. Nothing was signed. Tick Yes — that count is right. Finish the job with fewer than 40. and press Complete again.
More than the job quantity, negative, or fractional counts are refused with the reason.

Inspection evidence is a condition of completion

If the router requires a check on this operation and it has no result, Complete is refused: The router requires an inspection on this operation and it has not been recorded. Record it on the Inspect card, or have a quality manager authorize this below. Nothing was signed. If the latest reading on a characteristic is Fail and no nonconformance answers it, Complete is refused: A characteristic failed and nothing answers it. Take the reading again, report a problem and choose it here, or have a quality manager authorize this below.

Gages are checked when the inspection is signed. A gage past its calibration due date is refused — That gage is overdue for calibration. Use an in-calibration gage, or have a quality manager override. A gage whose calibration cannot be confirmed is refused with no override: That gage's calibration could not be confirmed. Use a gage you know is in calibration, or ask your quality manager to confirm this one's calibration first. Overdue is a known state a quality manager can weigh; unconfirmed is an unanswered question, and the tablet will not let anyone answer it with a reason.

Overrides: a second person, their own PIN

When a refusal can be authorized, an override form appears under the refused button: A quality manager can authorize this. Choose the name of a quality manager or owner, say Why is this allowed? (at least three characters), and have that person enter Their PIN. The form states exactly what is being authorized, for example This authorizes completing the operation WITHOUT the inspection the router requires. The missing check and your name go on the record. The tablet sends only the name and reason; the server confirms that person's authority and membership at that moment, and their PIN counts against their own lock.

Refusal	Override offered
You are not qualified for this operation.	Yes
Required check not recorded; failed characteristic with no nonconformance	Yes, with the warning above
That gage is overdue for calibration.	Yes
Outside process: supplier not approved, or not on the supplier list	Yes, for the shipment
That gage's calibration could not be confirmed.	No
Work is stopped on this job. (hold)	No — release the hold at the desk
This job is not open for floor work.; already started; already finished	No
Quantity, photo and PIN refusals	No — correct the input

If nobody on the tablet's list holds the role, the form says Nobody here can authorize an override yet. Ask your quality manager to be added as a quality manager or owner. Every override is written on the signature and appears on the desk timeline as Override by … — reason.

Caution: An override is a signed decision, not a shortcut. Read the warning text before entering your PIN; the missing check, the failed characteristic, or the out-of-calibration gage goes on the record with your name, and an auditor will read it that way.

Outside processes

On an operation the router marks as an outside process, open Outside process — sent out and received back. The Where these parts are going card states the supplier and its standing at this moment: Anodize Co — approved, or approval was not checked, because Supplier Quality is not on this plan, or is not an approved supplier. A quality manager can authorize this with a reason, or is not on this organization's supplier list — we cannot find them at all, or, when the router names none, There is nobody to send these parts to on the traveler — ask your quality manager before anything leaves the shop.

Press Sent out, optionally with a Packing slip photo. The record shows ✓ OUT — sent to Anodize Co by Maria Alvarez · time. The shipment is on the record. Sign Received back when the parts return.
When they return, press Received back, optionally with its packing slip photo.
Complete the operation as normal. Neither leg completes it.

Parts that are out cannot be sent out twice, and a receipt with nothing out is refused: These parts have not been sent out yet. Record the shipment first — a receipt against a shipment that never happened is not evidence of anything. Out and back twice is allowed. A hold closes both legs: nothing leaves the shop on this job until a quality manager releases the hold.

Report a problem with a photo

Open Report a problem with a photo. The job, part and operation are filled in. Enter What went wrong?, How many parts? (at most the job quantity), and optionally a Photo — Take a picture of the defect. Up to 25 MB. — which opens the rear camera. Press Report it.

This raises a nonconformance with the detection point In process, linked to the job, and the tablet answers Reported as NC-0042. Your quality manager will follow up. At the desk the NC appears in the register and in My Work, reads Raised by Maria Alvarez · Tablet 2, and links from the job's timeline with the photo as a thumbnail. A rejected photo — not an image, empty, or over 25 MB — rolls back the whole report: Nothing was recorded — report it again. Take it again.

Tip: A floor problem is the fastest nonconformance you will ever receive: it already names the job, the operation, the person, the count and the picture. Add the requirement and the actual condition in the quality manager's words at the desk; do not raise a second NC for the same event.

Connection, holds and what the desk sees

The tablet checks its connection every ten seconds. Without one it shows No connection — sign-offs paused — what you have entered is still on screen. Write it on the traveler if you need to, and sign it here when the connection is back. Nothing is queued or sent later; the entered values stay on the screen until the connection returns. A hold placed at the desk closes every sign-off button and the outside-process legs; it does not close Problem.

Holds and skips are desk actions only (chapter 20). At the desk, the job's Traveler card shows every sign-off, inspection result, hold, and photo in time order with the person, the device, the quantity, any override and its reason, and any out-of-sequence note.

Readings due

With Training on the plan, the Readings due tile lists each document the person is Due on, with its number, title and effective revision, and a button I've read Rev … under each. The tablet does not open the document; read the controlled copy at the station first, then press the button. The completion is recorded under the person's name and device against that exact revision, the same as at a desk (chapter 11). When nothing is due the screen reads Nothing due. Nice.

When the tablet stops you

What you see	Why	Way out
This tablet is not registered. Ask your quality manager to register it under Settings › Floor devices & PINs.	Never registered, revoked, or the browser data was cleared	Register it again from the tablet
Tile greyed: Locked — ask your quality manager	Five wrong PINs	Owner or quality manager: Unlock or Reset PIN
Too many tries … wait about an hour	Five attempts in an hour	Unlock / Reset PIN, or wait
No PIN has been set for you yet.	No PIN	Set one under Floor PINs
Enter your PIN to sign this.	The 90-second window lapsed after the screen loaded	Reload, then sign
Empty queue	No work centers in this tablet's area; nothing at your machines; nothing released	The message names the fix
Job shows ON HOLD	A hold is open	Desk: Release hold with what changed
You are not qualified for this operation.	No tagged current certificate	Override at the tablet, or tag a certificate at the desk
Complete refused for a missing or failed check	Evidence is a condition of completion	Record the inspection, or a quality manager overrides
That gage's calibration could not be confirmed.	Unknown calibration state	Use another gage, or confirm the record in Equipment & Calibration first — no override
That is fewer parts than the job calls for…	Short final count	Tick the confirmation and press Complete again
Scrap or rework needs a nonconformance.	No NC on this job	Problem first, then choose it
That characteristic is not on the router… / That gage is not on the router…	The stage moved while the screen was open (another tablet signed)	Reload
These parts are already out at the supplier… / have not been sent out yet	Wrong leg	Sign the missing leg
Photo refused, Nothing was recorded — report it again.	Not an image, empty, or over 25 MB	Retake and report again
No connection — sign-offs paused	Network	Wait; nothing on screen is lost
Nobody here can authorize an override yet.	No quality manager or owner on the tablet's list	Give someone the role
Your session ended after a minute without activity.	Idle	Tap your name again

Completion check: the tablet is registered from itself with a name that says where it sits; every floor person has a PIN; the job's operations are signed in order with the inspection results recorded before Complete; scrap and rework cite a nonconformance; any override carries a reason a quality manager would stand behind; and the desk timeline reads as the shift actually happened.

In the user guide

This article is chapter 21, "The shop-floor tablet: devices, PINs and sign-offs", of the NormaQMS User Guide (NORMA-UG-001), which is under Help > User guide. Chapter numbers in the text refer to that guide.