What could cause a quality blocking reason for an item in an invoice?

A quality blocking reason for an item in an invoice can be attributed to the lack of a usage decision for inspection lots associated with that item. In the context of quality management and procurement processes within SAP S/4HANA, a usage decision is a critical step that determines whether the goods received meet the required quality standards and can be accepted for use or further processing.

When no usage decision has been made for any inspection lot, it means that the quality of the goods remains uncertain, leading to a quality block on the invoice. This prevents the invoice from being processed further until a clear decision has been reached regarding the acceptance or rejection of the goods based on their quality inspection results.

In contrast, if goods-receipt-based invoice verification is not applied, or if all inspection lots have been approved, or if the item has been successfully delivered and confirmed, those situations may not necessarily result in a quality block. In those cases, the process would move forward unless other specific quality issues arise. Thus, the absence of a usage decision directly ties to the integrity assurance of the goods involved and supports the correct management of quality control faults during the invoice verification process.