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Quality Data Manager — User Guide

A plain-language guide to using the app day to day. No technical background needed.

What it does

You drop your daily QC "Quality Part Pull" Excel files onto it. It reads each file, checks every row, and keeps all the good data in one place you can search and export. Anything that looks wrong or duplicated is held for you to look at before it counts. Everything stays on your computer (or your shared drive) — nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Installing

  1. Download quality-data-manager-1.2.0.exe (from the Releases page, or a test build link if you were given one).
  2. Run it. Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" warning because the app isn't code-signed yet — click More info → Run anyway.
  3. Follow the installer. It adds a desktop and Start-menu shortcut.

The four tabs

1. Import

  • Drag and drop your .xlsx/.xlsm files onto the big drop area — or a whole folder (a week or a month); it looks inside every subfolder automatically.
  • Or use Choose files… / Choose folder….
  • A progress bar shows it working through the files. When it finishes you get a summary: how many rows were committed (saved), held, sent to review, and the total.

Re-dropping a file you already imported is safe — it's skipped automatically.

2. Review

This is where anything questionable waits. Each row is a card that shows what's wrong (in plain text, color-coded) above the editable fields.

  • Fix inline, then Approve & commit to save it. Approving records whether you changed anything ("corrected") or accepted it as-is ("no corrections").
  • Reject sets it aside. Rejected rows aren't deleted — open Show rejected to restore or permanently delete them.
  • Sort the queue (by issue type, date, part number, and more) and filter it (by text, or by problem type: Invalid / Ambiguous / Duplicate / Warning) using the bar at the top — handy when there's a lot to clear.
  • Duplicates are highlighted in purple, with the matching fields marked, so you can see exactly what lines up with what.

If you'd rather not review certain things every time, see Auto-allow below.

3. Data

  • Stats at the top: committed rows, rows in review, files imported.
  • Browse the store: a searchable table of everything saved. Type in the search box to filter across every column. The Review column shows how each row got in (e.g. "allowed: duplicate", "corrected"); duplicated rows are highlighted.
  • Export for a report: pick a range (Last/This week, Last/This month, Year to date, This year, Custom, or All time), choose .xlsx and/or .csv, and click Export…. The count of rows in the range updates live.
    • Include allowed duplicates (checkbox): leave it on to include auto-allowed duplicate rows in the report, or turn it off to leave them out — without deleting them from the store.

4. Settings

  • General — active year, and the sheet name it reads (default QC Form).
  • Validation rules — valid press lines, shifts, and the patterns for part number / forge order / heat code.
  • Import behavior
    • Auto-commit clean rows — good rows save immediately (on by default).
    • Use filename for missing date/time — falls back to the date/time in the file name when an operator's entry can't be read.
  • Review acceptance
    • Auto-allow duplicate rows — duplicates save straight away (tagged "allowed: duplicate") instead of waiting in Review.
    • Auto-allow ambiguous date/time — best-guess dates/times save automatically, tagged "allowed: ambiguous".
    • Duplicate-match fields — the columns that decide whether two rows are the same. Two rows are duplicates only when all of these match. Add Heat Code if different heats of the same part were being flagged as duplicates.
  • Store & sync
    • Store folder — leave blank to keep data on this PC, or point it at a network path (e.g. P:\...\QCPull) to share one store across the team.
    • Database journal mode — leave on auto.
  • Store health — the app checks the database for corruption at every launch; this shows the result and lets you re-check on demand.
  • Check for updates — the only time the app touches the internet.
  • Danger zone — a deliberate 3-step wipe of all data (for clearing test runs).

Common questions

Where is my data kept? In a qcpull.db file — on this PC by default, or in your Store folder if you set one. It stays there when you close the app. Exports (.xlsx/.csv) are separate copies you create on demand.

A row I expected isn't in my export. Check the range and the Include allowed duplicates checkbox on the Data tab, and make sure the row was committed (not still sitting in Review).

It flagged a duplicate that isn't really one. Add the field that makes them different (often Heat Code) to Settings → Duplicate-match fields. Rows are only duplicates when every listed field matches.

The whole batch is "held" and nothing saved. That happens only if Auto-commit clean rows is turned off. Turn it on (Settings → Import behavior), or open Review and commit the held rows.

Windows warns the app is unsafe. It's just because the app isn't code-signed yet — More info → Run anyway.

Backing up your data

Until an in-app backup exists, copy the qcpull.db file somewhere safe periodically (especially before a big import or a database reset). If you use a shared Store folder, back up that folder.