The Recall & Traceability screen lets you trace any batch in either direction — forward to the customers it was dispatched to, or backward through every WIP batch and raw-material supplier that fed into it. Results render as either a sortable table or an interactive tree chart, and can be exported as PDF or Excel.
Where to find it: Quality → Recall (or visit /recall directly).
What's new
The screen has been redesigned around three goals: bidirectional tracing, visual exploration, and structured export.
| Capability | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Forward trace from supplier batch | Existing | "S" mode |
| Forward trace from production (FG) batch | Existing | "P" mode, forward |
| Backward trace from production batch | New | "P" mode, backward — walks ingredient chain |
| WIP batch tracing (forward & backward) | New | "W" mode |
| Tree chart view | New | Pan/zoom, click to inspect, expand/collapse |
| Detail side panel | New | Per-node attributes + "Trace from here" |
| PDF report export | New | Captures tree + tables |
| Excel export of grids | Existing | Now also covers the backward ingredient chain grid |
Contract Manufacturing: When the workspace is in contract-manufacturing mode the Supplier (S) issue type is hidden — only Production (P) and WIP (W) appear.
Quick start
- In the Trace Configuration panel on the left, pick an Issue Type: Supplier, Production, or WIP.
- For Production or WIP, pick a Direction: Forward (to customers) or Backward (to ingredient suppliers). Supplier traces are always forward.
- Fill in the lookups for the chosen mode — the form changes to show only the fields that apply.
- Click Initiate Trace. The button shows a spinner while the trace is running.
- When results arrive, switch between Table and Chart in the toolbar above the canvas.
- Click any node in the chart (or any row in the chart view) to open the Node Inspector on the right.
- From the Node Inspector you can Trace from here, View full batch record, or Hold this batch.
- Use PDF or Excel in the toolbar to export the current results.
Page layout
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Masthead: title, mode (S/P/W), direction (Forward/Backward) │ ├────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┤ │ │ [Table] [Chart] [PDF] [Excel] │ │ │ Trace ├──────────────────────────────────────┤ Node Inspector │ │ Config │ │ │ │ │ Tree chart -or- Result tables │ • Type chip │ │ • Type │ │ • Title + status │ │ • Direction│ │ • Attributes │ │ • Lookups │ Empty state shows colour legend │ • Action buttons │ │ │ │ │ │ [Initiate │ │ Closes when you │ │ Trace] │ │ click × │ └────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┘
The masthead summarises the active selection so it's clear at a glance what the visible result is showing.
Trace Configuration (left panel)
Issue Type
A three-way segmented control. The lookups below adapt to the choice.
| Type | Description | Required input |
|---|---|---|
| S — Supplier | Something is wrong with raw material received from a supplier. Find every production batch and customer that received it. | Supplier → Supplier Product → optionally Batch Number / Best Before / Use By |
| P — Production | Something is wrong with a finished-goods (FG) batch. | Finished Product → Batch Number |
| W — WIP | Something is wrong with a work-in-progress (WIP) batch. | WIP Product → WIP Batch Number |
Direction
Shown for Production and WIP only. Supplier traces are always forward.
| Direction | What it does |
|---|---|
| Forward ↑ | From the selected batch to every batch and customer that received it (or its outputs). |
| Backward ↓ | From the selected batch back through each WIP layer to the raw-material supplier ingredients that fed it. |
A short hint under the buttons reminds you which way you're tracing.
Initiate Trace
The button at the bottom kicks off the trace. While it's running:
- The button shows Tracing… with a spinner.
- The canvas shows an animated Running Trace indicator.
- The button is disabled to prevent duplicate runs.
Backward traces poll the backend in 5-second intervals; large multi-level trees may take a few seconds to resolve.
Results area (centre)
Toolbar
| Control | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Table tab | Disabled until a trace returns results. Shows tabular grids appropriate to the trace direction. |
| Chart tab | Disabled until a tree is available. Both forward and backward traces can be rendered as a tree. |
| Generates a structured PDF report of the current trace (see PDF export below). | |
| Excel | Visible only in Table view. Exports the visible grid using the standard Syncfusion Excel exporter. |
Empty state
Before any trace has been run, the canvas shows a short prompt and a colour legend:
| Colour | Node type |
|---|---|
| Blue | Finished Goods batch |
| Amber | Work in Progress batch |
| Teal | Ingredient (raw material) |
| Purple | Customer (forward trace only) |
The same colour scheme is used in the chart, the type chips on the table grids, and the chip at the top of the Node Inspector.
Table view — forward trace
Two grids stacked vertically:
- Affected Batches — every batch that contains material from the source. Columns include batch number (linked to the batch detail page), manufacture / use-by / best-before dates, product, and status. The hand action in the first column applies an immediate hold to the batch.
- Affected Customers — every dispatch that included an affected batch. Columns include customer, contact, phone, email, batch, product, qty, UOM, and invoice number.
Both grids support sorting and resizing, and both feed Excel export.
Table view — backward trace
A single Ingredient Chain grid, flattened from the tree:
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Type | A coloured chip — FG, WIP, or RM (raw material) |
| Product | Indented by depth so the hierarchy is still visible. Batch nodes link to the batch detail page. |
| Supplier | Populated for raw materials only. |
| Batch # | The internal batch number for FG/WIP, the supplier batch number for raw materials. |
| Best Before / Use By / Qty / UOM | Per-node attributes |
Chart view
The chart is a custom force-directed tree built for QTRACA. It works for both directions.
| Interaction | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click a node | Opens the Node Inspector on the right. |
| Click the collapse caret on a node | Hides or reveals that node's subtree. |
| Click and drag the canvas | Pans the view. |
| Scroll wheel | Zooms toward the cursor. |
| + / − buttons | Zoom in / out, centred on the canvas. |
| FIT | Re-fits the entire tree to the viewport. |
| 1:1 | Resets to 100% zoom and re-centres. |
Drag-panning and clicking are mutually exclusive — if you drag while pressing on a node, the node click is suppressed so you don't accidentally open the inspector.
Node Inspector (right panel)
When you click a node in the chart the panel populates with information for that node. The panel is empty until you select something.
Common header
- A type chip colour-coded to match the node (FG, WIP, Ingredient, or Customer).
- The product name as the heading.
- The batch number (or invoice number for customer nodes).
- The current status, if any (e.g.
Released,Held).
Sections
Sections appear conditionally based on the node type and which fields are populated.
| Node type | Sections |
|---|---|
| Finished Goods / WIP | Production (mfg / best-before / use-by), Quantities (Qty In, Qty Out, computed Yield %), Ingredients list (when the children are ingredients), Dispatched To (when the children are customers). |
| Ingredient | Source (supplier, supplier batch, date received), Shelf Life (best before, use by), Usage (quantity & UOM). |
| Customer | Contact (contact, phone, email), Dispatch (invoice, batch, quantity & UOM). |
Action buttons
The footer of the inspector shows the actions available for the selected node type.
| Button | Available for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Trace this batch forward / Re-root trace from this WIP / Trace this ingredient forward | FG / WIP / Ingredient nodes | Re-runs the trace using the selected node as the new starting point. See Trace from here behaviour below. |
| View full batch record | Any node with a batch_id (i.e. not raw materials) | Navigates to the batch detail page. |
| Open email | Customer nodes that have an email address | Navigates to the dispatched batch's record. (The label is a known carry-over; the action goes to the batch, not a mail client.) |
| Hold this batch | FG / WIP nodes only | Triggers the standard batch-hold confirmation. The batch's status updates everywhere it's referenced. |
Trace from here behaviour
The starting point of the new trace and its direction are set automatically by the type of node you clicked:
| Clicked node | New trace |
|---|---|
| Ingredient | Switches to S — Supplier, Forward. Pre-populates supplier, supplier product, and (if available on the node) batch number / best-before / use-by. Runs immediately. |
| WIP batch | Switches to W — WIP, Backward. Drills into the ingredients of this WIP batch. |
| FG batch | Switches to P — Production, Forward. Shows every dispatch that received this batch. |
| Customer | No "Trace from here" button — customers are leaf nodes. |
The form on the left updates to reflect the new selection, so you can see and tweak what's being traced.
PDF export
The PDF button produces a printable, structured report of the current trace.
Backward trace:
- Header with title, generation timestamp, type, direction, product, and batch number of the source.
- Summary line: total ingredients, WIP batches, and suppliers found.
- Ingredient Chain table: Type (FG/WIP/RM, indented by level), Product, Supplier, Batch #, Best Before, Use By, Qty, UOM.
Forward trace:
- Header with title, generation timestamp, type, and direction. (Product and batch are not included in the forward PDF header.)
- Summary line: counts of affected batches and customers.
- Affected Batches table.
- Affected Customers table.
The PDF is generated client-side and downloaded straight to your browser — nothing is sent to a server, so it's safe to use on confidential traces.
The PDF currently does not embed an image of the tree chart — only the tabular data is included. If you need a screenshot of the chart, capture it directly from the canvas.
Excel export
The Excel button is shown in Table view only. It exports the active grid using the standard Excel exporter:
- Forward trace → exports Affected Batches and Affected Customers (visible columns only).
- Backward trace → exports the flattened Ingredient Chain grid.