APQP — Advanced Product Quality Planning, AIAG 3rd Edition

Gate review enforcement

Phases advance through a gate state machine: GateScheduled → GateInReview → GatePassed. GatePassed is terminal. Required-role signatures are enforced per gate — a phase cannot pass without the configured set of roles signing off. Roles include Quality, Process Engineering, Customer Representative, Supplier Quality, Manufacturing, and others.

Deliverable tracking

Each phase tracks the AIAG APQP deliverable set, keyed for traceability back to the AIAG manual (e.g. P1-D01). Deliverable status: NotStarted / InProgress / Approved / Waived / Overdue. Waivers require a written justification and an e-signature. The launch readiness scorecard shows per-phase completion percentage and days-to-SOP.

Reopen log — immutable audit trail

GatePassed is a terminal state. If business conditions require reopening a closed phase, the Reopen command creates an immutable reopen log entry — capturing the reason and the signature of the person who authorized it. The log cannot be deleted or amended. This is the record auditors ask for when they see an approved phase with a later reopening date.

Team assignments

APQP programs have named team members, each assigned a role (Quality, Process Engineering, Customer Representative, Supplier Quality, Manufacturing, Design Engineering, Regulatory, SupplierQuality, or External). Team composition satisfies the cross-functional team requirement for gate reviews.

Program scope categories

APQP 3rd Edition defines four program scope categories that drive deliverable applicability and timeline: New Product / New Technology, Carryover Product / Changed Technology, Changed Product / Existing Technology, and Re-sourced Part. Program scope and customer SOP date are set at creation.

Regulatory mapping

Standard	Clause	Qontiv feature
IATF 16949	§8.3.4.1	Product approval process (PPAP / APQP)
AIAG APQP	3rd Edition (March 2024)	Five-phase gate framework
AIAG Control Plan	1st Edition (March 2024)	Prototype / Pre-Launch / Production / Safe Launch types
21 CFR Part 11	§11.50	Gate review e-signatures

Recently added — AIAG APQP 3rd Edition + Control Plan 1st Edition

The features below shipped recently and are available to all design partners today. Workflow-enforcement gaps (e.g. gate-pass blocking on open change requests, automatic Phase 5 feed from the Lessons Learned library) are tracked on the roadmap below.

• Gate 0 project-launch checklist — sponsor-signed project-readiness checklist seeded at project creation, distinct from the per-phase gate machinery.
• Per-gate exit-criterion entities — `ApqpGateExitCriterionEntity` with identity-bound `IsChecked` / `CheckedAt` / `CheckedByUserId` atomic check-offs (entity model + seed templates shipped; the gate-pass blocking enforcement and check-off UI ship next).
• PFMEA Action Priority integration — AIAG-VDA Handbook (2019) AP risk scores aggregated and snapshotted at gate-pass, not legacy RPN.
• Sourcing Decisions and Supplier APQP cascade — dedicated entity tracks supplier readiness as a first-class APQP deliverable; high-risk-supplier flag auto-seeds a `SupplierApqpCascadeEntity` row atomically with the sourcing decision.
• Change Management workflow — submission → review → e-signed approval lifecycle for engineering changes linked to APQP programs.
• Risk Register — program-level risk and mitigation plans tracked separately from PFMEA line items, satisfying the 3rd Edition requirement to document program risk independently.
• Lessons Learned knowledge base — cross-program searchable library indexed by phase, deliverable, and root cause; queryable today and surfaces in the API.
• Control Plan 1st Edition extensions — Safe Launch type with required production stop criterion (DB-enforced), Reaction Responsibility column, Pass-Through Characteristic classification, Reverse FMEA findings entity, Layered Process Audit cross-link, and Poka-Yoke rows.

The 3rd Edition framework — Gate 0 through Phase 5, all four program scope categories, the complete AIAG deliverable set, and Control Plan 1st Edition — is available now. Request a Demo to see the current implementation against your program's evaluation checklist.