Note: You need more hard disk space to store data when you turn on defect location tracking. If you need to edit data or notes, you must perform the edits on both the summary record and on the defect location records.
This feature makes it possible to track the defects in different locations on one part.
When enabled, this feature is able to track defect locations by reserving one of the first six traceability field for location tracking. When you store a data record with defect location tracking turned on, DMS stores multiple records for each sample:
One summary record for the entire sample.
This record does not store any location data, and it uses the standard you created for this part and process.
An additional record for each defect and its location.
These records store the defect locations, and they use a variation of your original standard created by appending a prefix and/or suffix to the part number.
Note: You need more hard disk space to store data when you turn on defect location tracking. If you need to edit data or notes, you must perform the edits on both the summary record and on the defect location records.
Follow steps A – E below to set up defect location tracking.
A. Set up a traceability field for Location.
Select a traceability field to be used for location. You may select traceability field number 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6.
Use the Administration module to rename the selected traceability field to identify it as the Location field.
Use the Administration module to create a pre-defined list of possible defect locations.
B. Set up the first workstation for defect location tracking.
Run the DMS Data Entry module. You must log in as a user with access to the Data Entry Options command on the Setup menu.
Select the Setup menu, and then Data Entry Options.
Choose Advanced.
Select the Use Location Feature check box.
Select the Location Traceability Field.
Decide how you want to differentiate the location standards and data from the summary standards and data. You can add a prefix to the beginning of the part number, a suffix to the end of the part number, or both. Prefixes and suffixes can include any combination of characters and numbers, including spaces. If you want to maintain a space between your part number and the prefix or suffix, simply type a space at the end of the prefix or at the beginning of the suffix. You do not need to manually create these modified standards; DMS will create them automatically during data entry.
Note: If you fail to supply either a prefix or a suffix, your location data will be mixed in with your summary data, making it extremely difficult to successfully analyze your data.
If you enter a prefix, the Position list remains unavailable.
If you enter a suffix, you should also specify the character position where the suffix will be appended to your part number.
If you select At End, the suffix will be appended after the last non-space character in the part number.
If you select a number n, the suffix will be appended starting at the nth character of the part number.
Keep in mind that the part number field is 30 characters long. For example, if you enter a suffix of Location (an eight-character string), you may want to set the position either to At End or to 23. If you want to make sure there is always a space before the word Location, regardless of the length of your part number, enter the suffix as Location and set the position either to At End or to 22.
Press OK. You will be prompted to restart the data entry module in order for your changes to take effect.
Exit and restart the data entry module. After you log in, you will notice that the location traceability field has been removed from the screen. You may also notice that the list of defects has been replaced by a large Defects button.
C. Set up the first workstation for bar coding defect location tracking (optional).
If you have not already configured this workstation for bar code entry, log into the DMS data entry module and choose Setup, Data Entry Options, Bar Code and then OK. This process will modify the data entry screen to make bar code entry easier.
Before you can begin using the wand to enter locations, you need to print a new sheet of bar codes for locations.
Click the Setup menu, select Print Bar Codes and then Traceability.
Select the Location traceability field.
Clear the Auto-return check box.
Configure the rest of the options as necessary, then Print.
If you receive the error message "You may not bar code ' Loctn' traceability values from this screen" during bar code data entry, it may be caused by using bar codes that were printed with the Auto-return check box selected. Follow the steps under C2 above to print new location bar codes, and use these new printouts to resolve the error.
D. Set up the next workstation for defect location tracking.
If you want to set up another DMS data entry workstation to use location tracking, you may use either of the following methods:
Go to the next workstation and follow steps 1-8 of step B above.
- OR -
Copy the following lines from your Cms.ini file to the Cms.ini file on the next workstation:
dms_location=
dms_location_trace=
dms_location_prefix=
dms_location_suffix=
You can find Cms.ini in the Windows folder on your computer.
E. Set up the next workstation for bar coding defect location tracking (optional).
If you want to set up another DMS data entry workstation to bar code location tracking, you may use either of the following methods:
Go to the next workstation and log into DMS data entry. Choose Setup, Data Entry Options, Bar Code and press OK.
- OR -
Copy the line de_method= from your Cms.ini file to the Cms.ini file on the next workstation.
You can find Cms.ini in the Windows folder on your workstation.
More:
Entering Defect Data with the Keyboard
Entering defect location data with a bar code reader
Analyzing your Defect Location Data