Table of Contents
Monthly Cost Entry
Enter monthly scrap, rework, and downtime costs for your plant areas. Quick entry takes about 2 minutes per area; detailed PAF entry adds line-item precision.
Enter CostsWhat Is the Cost Entry Form?
The cost entry form is where you record monthly quality costs for each area (or plant-wide). It supports two levels of detail:
- Tier 2 (Quick Entry): 6 cost categories -- scrap, rework, downtime, complaints, safety, re-inspections
- Tier 3 (Detailed PAF): Line-item breakdown under Prevention, Appraisal, Internal Failure, and External Failure
- Entries are per month and per area -- you can also enter plant-wide if you do not track costs per area
- Editing existing entries: if an entry already exists for the selected period/area, the form pre-populates for editing
Before You Start
To enter costs, you need:
- CoQ enabled at Tier 2 or higher via the Setup page
- At least one area configured in the system (or use plant-wide entry)
1 Open the Cost Entry Form
From the CoQ dashboard, click "Enter Costs". The form opens with the current month selected by default.
- Click "Enter Costs" on the CoQ dashboard toolbar
- The form defaults to the current month -- use the date selector to enter past months
Click to view screenshot
2 Select the Period and Area
Choose the month/year and area for this cost entry. If an entry already exists, the form loads the existing values for editing.
- Select the month and year using the date picker
- Select an area from the dropdown, or choose "Plant-wide" for aggregate costs
- If a previous entry exists for this period/area, the form pre-populates with existing values
Click to view screenshot
3 Enter Quick Cost Data (Tier 2)
Fill in the cost fields for the selected period and area. All fields are optional -- enter what you have available.
- Scrap cost: total value of scrapped material for the month
- Rework cost: total labor and material cost of rework for the month
- Downtime hours: hours of production downtime (auto-calculates cost using the configured hourly labor rate)
- Customer complaints: count of customer complaints received during the month
- Safety incidents: count of safety incidents during the month
- Re-inspections: count of items requiring re-inspection
- Notes: optional free text for context (e.g., "Machine 3 down for 2 days due to motor failure")
Click to view screenshot
4 Save the Entry
Click Save to create or update the entry for the selected period and area. A success message confirms the save.
- Save creates a new entry or updates the existing one for the selected period/area
- The CoQ dashboard updates immediately to reflect the new cost data
Click to view screenshot
5 Add Detailed PAF Line Items (Tier 3)
If Tier 3 is enabled, you can break down costs into specific line items under the four PAF categories. Navigate to the detailed entry from the quick entry page.
- Four PAF categories: Prevention, Appraisal, Internal Failure, External Failure -- each with predefined and custom line items
- Each line item has quantity and unit cost fields -- the total is auto-calculated (quantity x unit cost)
- Add custom line items when the predefined ones do not cover your specific cost drivers
Click to view screenshot
6 Review Category Totals
Each PAF category shows a running total as you enter line items. The grand total at the bottom sums all categories.
- Per-category totals update in real time as you add or modify line items
- Grand total at the bottom sums Prevention + Appraisal + Internal Failure + External Failure
- Compare the grand total against your Tier 2 quick entry total to ensure consistency
Click to view screenshot
Tips & Best Practices
- Enter costs as soon as the month closes while numbers are fresh.
- Use the plant-wide option if you do not track costs per area yet -- you can always add area-level detail later.
- The downtime cost auto-calculates from your configured hourly labor rate -- just enter the hours.
- For Tier 3 detailed entry, start with the predefined line items and add custom ones only when needed.
- Entering zero is different from leaving a field blank -- zero means "we measured this and the cost was zero."