About Basic Questions
There are two different kinds of question that are used in ATS Inspect:
Unit Questions: Displayed to the operator in a checklist in Data Collect.
Defect Questions: When entering a defect in Data Collect, with the specified part/concern combination, the question will be shown to the operator after they have selected the concern.
Both kinds of question are based on a Basic Question which must be created first as described below.
-
You need to create at least one question type before you can create a basic question.
Select the Attribute tab.
Click Questions.
All available questions are displayed in the right-hand pane. The list of questions can be filtered by Category, Question Type and Result Type.
Click the add icon (
) beneath the right-hand pane.
A dialog with several tabs opens, allowing you to define the question and its various settings.
Complete the tabs as required.
When finished click OK.
A dialog opens asking whether the question should be added to unit questions.
Click Yes or No. If you click No the question can still be added from within the Unit Questions window.
If needed you can use question folders to group the questions. This can make it easier for them to be found in later configuration as it reduces the amount of scrolling required. Simply create folders in the left-hand pane and then drag questions from the right-hand pane into the folders. The folders pane can be hidden by clicking Show Folders beneath the right-hand pane.
General Tab
Enter a Description of the question. (maximum length is 150 characters).
The description is just for administrators. It is not the actual question as it will appear to the inspector. The description is often just a shorter version of the question. For example, if the full question is "What type of battery unit is installed?" the Description might simply be "Battery type."
Enter a unique Code for the question.
Select a Question Category.
Select the Result Type for the question. This will define the way the inspector will answer the question:
Multiple choice – Select from a set of pre-defined answers which appear as buttons.
Number – Enter the answer in the form of a number. The answer must consist of only numbers, without the use of any letter characters.
Text – Enter the answer using any combination of letters or numbers needed.
Date - Select a date.
Time - Select a time.
Select a Question Type.
The main purpose of the question type is as a filter when generating reports. The question type can be any categorization method you want to use: department names, type of inspection being performed (such as a Final Inspection), and so on.
In the Prompt field specify the actual question the operator will see (maximum length is 50 characters).
Use the checkboxes at the bottom of the popup as follows:
Disable Validation - Enable if no validation is required on the answer.
Active - Enable to make the question available for use.
Inclusion Tab
The Inclusion tab is used to define when this question will be included in the checklist displayed to the inspector. For example, you might want to include a specific question only if the defined model year is 2007 – for any other year, the question is hidden.
There are two types of inclusion method that can be used - Static and Dynamic. The question is included in the checklist if any of the inclusion tests pass.
Select the Answers tab and enter the details for a Static or Dynamic inclusion as described below.
Including Questions Based on Product, Model Year and Build Group
Static inclusions use the product/product group, model year or build group information of the item to determine whether the question should be included. You can select specific products, model years or build groups for which this question should be included, or you can use an "include all" function to ensure this question is always asked.
Select the Static tab.
Use the checkboxes to select the conditions under which this question will be included.
Use the Include All checkboxes to include this question for all Products, Model Years, and Build Groups.
Using Dynamic Inclusions
Dynamic inclusions only include the question if certain criteria are met. There are two types of dynamic inclusion:
Dynamic Lookup: When using dynamic lookups the system selects the correct items to display by checking a unit’s Build Codes in the unit_lookup_codes table. The codes are generally imported from an external system. For information on creating dynamic lookups see here.
Checklist Procedure: Checklist procedures decide whether a question should be included by calling a stored procedure which will return values dependent upon the current situation. For information on creating checklist procedures see here.
Select the Dynamic tab.
Use the checkboxes to select the available lookups you would like to assign to this question.
Answers Tab
The Answers tab is used to define the possible answers for Multiple Choice questions. If you are defining a question that uses a Number or Text value answer, there will be no Answers tab for you to use.
For multiple choice questions, there are two methods that can be used to determine which answers appear for the question - static and dynamic.
You can use both static and dynamic lookup answers for a multiple choice question. Any duplicate answers generated will be discarded before being displayed to the operator.
Select the Answers tab and enter the details for Static or Dynamic answers as described below.
Using Static Answers
Static answers are those answers that are always displayed to the operator. They do not change based on any other information. For example, if you select to display static answers of No. 3392, No. 2983 and No. 9118 for a question, those answers will always be displayed, regardless of any other product information available.
Select the Static tab.
Enable the answers in the lower pane that you would like to assign to this question.
Drag and drop the answers to the top pane.
The answers are now assigned to the question.
You can create and modify answers here by clicking the 
and 
buttons.
Using Dynamic Answers
Dynamic answers decide which answers should be displayed by calling a Checklist Procedure. The Checklist Procedure calls a stored procedure which returns answers dependent upon the current situation. For example, you may want to display different answers depending on whether a car is a two-door model or four-door model.
Select the Dynamic tab.
Enable the checkboxes of the defined lookups that will be assigned to this question.
Click the Add Checked button (
) or drag and drop them to the top pane.
Validation Tab
What is Validation?
Validation is used to define the "correctness" of the answer – it verifies whether the answer chosen or entered by the operator is what was expected.
For example, assume a question of "What color are the wing mirrors?" is defined. This question may have one of three possible answers - Red, Blue or Green.
Let's assume this particular unit is supposed to have Blue wing mirrors, but when the operator performs his inspection, he finds that Green wing mirrors have been installed. The operator therefore selects that answer from the list.
This is the "right" answer in terms of accurately reflecting which wing mirrors are installed. However, it is the "incorrect" answer because this unit is supposed to have Blue wing mirrors.
The Validation tab does not have the same options for all question types. Refer to the appropriate sub-section below for the type of question you are defining.
Using Groups and Tests
Validation rules are created using Groups and Tests. You should use one group for every valid option. For example, if a multiple choice question can be correctly answered with "Red" or "Blue" then two groups should be used, each containing one of the answers. The selected answer will be true if any of the defined groups is true.
The tests within a group must all be correct in order for the group to be correct. For instance, if an operator needs to enter a unit ID that must contain both "300" and "BLUE" then there must be two tests within a group - one for "300" and one for "BLUE".
Configuring Validation
Click the Add Group button (
) to add a new group for value comparison.
Select Static, Procedure or Lookup Type for the first test in the group.
Static: The answer must match a specific value.
Procedure: The correct answer is determined by looking up certain product information using a Checklist Procedure. The Checklist Procedure calls a stored procedure which states whether the answer is valid or not dependent upon the current situation. For information on creating checklist procedures see here.
Lookup Type: A Lookup Type can be used to validate the correct answer by using a sub-section of the Unit Lookup Code. For more information on creating Lookup Types, please click here.
Click Next.
A group can contain both static and dynamic answers.
Enter a description and click Next.
For Static answers enter the Match Value that must be matched for the test to be true. For Procedure answers select the Checklist Procedure that will generate the answer that must be matched. For Lookup Type answers choose a Lookup Type from the list provided.
Click Next.
Select an error message to be displayed if the answer selected doesn't pass the test.
Click Finish.
The group is added with a test already in it.
Click the Add Test button (
) to create new tests within the group or the Add Group button () to add a new group.
Use the arrow buttons to change the order in which the validation tests will be performed. As soon as one test fails, the remainder of the tests will not be performed.
Adding Rules
-
Only for questions with a Number or Text answer.
A rule is a basic test to determine if the entered value is reasonable.
For example, you might use a rule to ensure that the operator does not enter a wild number such as 999,999 for the brake fluid level. The rule check can immediately indicate that there is a problem. The operator can then make another attempt at entering the correct number.
It is important to remember that the rule check is completely separate from the validation tests. The rule check is not verifying that the "correct" answer was entered – it is checking that a "reasonable" answer was entered.
Number:
Use the Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields to define the acceptable value range for this answer.
Modify the Scale field to specify the number of decimal places the value can have.
The maximum number of usable digits is 9 (eg. 999,999,999). Data Collect cannot work with numbers of 10 digits or more.
Scale is always applied even if the Enable checkbox is left unchecked. The Enable checkbox applies the values specified in the Min Value and Max Value fields.
Text:
Use the Min length and Max Length fields to define the length of the value entered. For example, if the value entered must be at least five characters long, enter "5" as the minimum.
Use the Format field to define the allowed characters. If you use the Format field, you must define the format for each character of the expected answer individually. For example, if you have defined that the length of the answer must be four characters and they must all be numbers, then you would need to specify "0000" as the format – one "0" for each of the four characters.
The Format field uses Extended Regular Expressions.
Format is always applied even if the Enable checkbox is left unchecked. The Enable checkbox applies the values specified in the Min Length and Max Length fields.
Specify Base Error Message
Below the Validation Tests pane you can select an Error Message from the drop-down list. This will be the base error message which will be displayed to the operator if a validation test fails but it has no error message assigned.
You can also create a new Error Message by clicking next to the drop-down list.
Create a Defect When Wrong Answer is Given
When the operator enters an incorrect answer one or more defects can be created.
Add a defect by clicking the Add button () below the Defects pane (lower pane of the Validation tab). Filter the parts using the Part Folder drop-down and then select a part, location, concern, detail and rank.
If the question is answered incorrectly the defect will be created in the middle of the part that has been specified.
Disable Validation
The Disable Validation checkbox at the bottom of the window can be used to turn off all the validation tests for a question. This is necessary in the following two cases:
If you do not want to perform any validation for a question, then this checkbox must be activated.
If you have several validation tests defined for a question but want to temporarily disable validation for any reason, you can use this checkbox to do so, rather than deleting the tests.