> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firstresonance.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> How ION models an issue: its lifecycle states, dispositions, approval gates, and links to inventory, runs, and steps.

An issue (NCR) is ION's record of a quality event and the affected material. It links to the [parts and inventory](/manage-supply-chain/inventory/overview), [runs](/build-hardware/runs-and-execution/overview), and [run steps](/build-hardware/runs-and-execution/step-execution) it touches, and it carries the disposition, approvals, and resolution that decide what happens to that material.

Every issue shows across ION as an orange warning badge with a count on each object it affects. Click the badge to open the linked issues. You [raise an issue](/track-quality/issues/create-an-issue) from a run step, from selected inventory, or from the Issues page, and it moves through a fixed lifecycle until it resolves.

## States

An issue moves through four states in order. You advance it with the status button in its header.

| State           | What it means                                                  |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pending**     | Open with no disposition set yet.                              |
| **In Progress** | A disposition is set and the work it calls for is underway.    |
| **In Review**   | The work is done and the issue is waiting on closure approval. |
| **Resolved**    | All required approvals are in and the issue is closed.         |

**Move to In Progress**, then **Ready for Review** (which moves it to **In Review**), then **Resolved** once reviews approve. **Return to In Progress** and **Reopen Issue** move it back when an issue needs more work. When an issue leaves **Pending**, any open redlines linked to it are released, returning their run step to **To-Do**.

For the end-to-end procedure, see [Resolve an issue](/track-quality/issues/resolve-an-issue).

## Dispositions

A disposition is the decision applied to the affected inventory. Your org defines the set of disposition types, along with each type's approval roles and availability behavior, in [Administration](/administration/quality-settings/manage-disposition-types). You must set a disposition before the issue can leave **Pending**, and changing the disposition type later returns the issue to **Pending** so it goes through approval again.

Each disposition type carries an availability behavior that governs when the affected inventory becomes usable again:

| Availability behavior       | Effect                                                                                                                 |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Available Immediately**   | Inventory is available as soon as the disposition is applied.                                                          |
| **Release on Resolve**      | Inventory becomes available only when the issue reaches **Resolved**.                                                  |
| **Permanently Unavailable** | Inventory stays locked out. This is how you [scrap inventory](/track-quality/issues/scrap-inventory) through an issue. |

Depending on your org's settings, the disposition can lock once its approval is in.

## Approval gates

Two gates govern progression, and the disposition type's roles define who signs off at each:

* **Leaving Pending**: the disposition type's approver roles must approve before the issue becomes **In Progress**.
* **Reaching Resolved**: the disposition type's closure roles must approve before the issue resolves.

Each role requires a set number of approvers, and a person can approve once per role. Approvals happen in the **Reviews** view on the issue. If a disposition type is set to resolve automatically, an approved disposition moves the issue straight to **Resolved**, skipping **In Review** unless an extra Resolved-gate approval was added. The number of approvals required is set in [Administration](/administration/quality-settings/configure-issue-creation-and-approvals).

## Editing and locking

You can fully edit an issue while it's **Pending** with no approvals yet, and while it's **In Progress**. Once an approval is recorded, or the issue reaches **In Review** or **Resolved**, the issue becomes read-only. Custom attributes can stay editable in some states, and a setting can allow editing attributes on a resolved issue.

## Affected and resolution inventory

An issue tracks two kinds of inventory on its **Parts** tab: the **Problem Part** inventory the event affected, and the **Resolution Part** inventory used to resolve it. Linking both keeps a traceable record of which material a problem touched and which material closed it out. See [Associate inventory to an issue](/track-quality/issues/associate-inventory-to-an-issue).

When an issue covers material that needs different handling, you [split or clone it](/track-quality/issues/split-or-clone-an-issue) into separate issues, each with its own disposition and share of the inventory. Splitting units off a run onto an issue is driven from the run itself; see [Split inventory on a run](/build-hardware/runs-and-execution/split-inventory-on-a-run).

## Further Actions

When an issue points to a systemic problem, you escalate it to a Further Action, ION's corrective and preventive action (CAPA) record. See [Further Actions](/track-quality/further-actions/overview).

<Note>
  Your organization can rename the **Cause Condition**, **Expected Condition**, and **Disposition** fields, so the labels you see may differ.
</Note>