Traveler — parts, routers and jobs

Open: NormaMES from the product switcher at the top of the sidebar. Traveler is part of NormaMES, a separate product in the Norma family rather than a NormaQMS module. If your organization has not started NormaMES yet, an administrator can choose Start NormaMES free; other members see who to ask. Typical leads: Quality Manager, Department Manager, and Quality Inspector / Technician for setup and jobs; the Quality Manager alone releases and withdraws routers. Purpose: replace the paper traveler with a released routing, a job that carries a frozen copy of it, a printed sheet the floor scans, and sign-offs that are recorded on the tablet instead of in pen.

NormaMES opens on its home, a hub with five cards, and the NormaMES sidebar links to the same pages. The hub cards are Jobs, Dispatch, Parts & routers, Work centers, and Qualifications. Until you have a work center the hub shows Set up your shop floor with the order to follow: work centers and qualifications first, then a part and its router, then the first job. Every page in Traveler reports a refusal in a banner at the top; the messages quoted in this chapter are the ones you will see there.

Who can do what

Action	Who
Add or edit work centers, parts, revisions, qualifications, and certificate tags	Quality Manager, Department Manager, Quality Inspector / Technician, or an administrator
Build a router's operations, create a new router version	The same roles
Release router and Withdraw	Quality Manager or an administrator only
Create, release, hold, skip on, cancel, and print a job	Quality Manager, Department Manager, Quality Inspector / Technician, or an administrator
Read every page	Any member of the organization

An auditor's read-only session can open Traveler pages but is turned back to the Audit Room if it tries to write. A department manager can therefore release a job; only a quality manager can release the router the job is built on.

Set up work centers

1. Open Work centers. The Work center register lists Code, Name, Site, and Active; filter by Status.
2. Under Add work center, enter a Code and a Name. Choose a Site if the work center belongs to one unit; leave it as None otherwise.
3. Choose Add work center.
4. To rename, move, or deactivate one, open its row under Edit work centers, change Name, Site, or the Active box, and choose Save.

Codes are unique regardless of case: a second MILL-1 is refused with work center code MILL-1 is already in use. There is no delete. Deactivate a work center you no longer use; a router operation that already names it keeps it, labelled (inactive), so history stays readable.

Tip: Name work centers the way the floor talks about them — CNC-3, DEBURR, FINAL — and put the site on each one only if you run more than one building. Dispatch lists are printed per work center, so a code an operator recognises from across the shop is worth more than a formal asset name.

Add a part and its revisions

1. Open Parts & routers. The Part register lists Part number, Description, Customer, Current rev, and Active.
2. Under Add part, enter the Part number, Description, an optional Customer, the UoM (it defaults to ea), the First revision label, and optionally the Drawing from Document Control.
3. Choose Add part, then open the part.
4. On the part page, the Part card shows customer, unit and status and lets you edit them. The Revisions card lists every revision with a Current or Superseded pill and its drawing. To add one, enter the New revision label, pick the Drawing, and choose Add revision. The previous current revision becomes Superseded in the same step.
5. The Routers for this part card lists this part's routers with their status. Start a router here: choose the Revision, add Notes, and choose New router.

A part number is unique in the organization (part number BKT-204 is already in use), as is a revision label within a part (revision C already exists). Each part revision can have one router reference; a second attempt is refused with revision C of BKT-204 already has router RTR-0007; create a new version instead. When the drawing revision changes, add a part revision and build a new router for it; a router version stays on the revision it was built for.

Export status and declarations

Every part revision carries an export status, shown on the part page under Revisions. A revision is Controlled unless someone with the authority has declared otherwise. While it is controlled, Norma will not hold its drawing or any characteristic values, because a controlled drawing belongs in your own secured environment, not here. The line under the revision tells you which case applies, for example Controlled: no declaration on Rev C, or Controlled: declared on Rev B (2026-10-20), not on Rev C. A declaration made on an earlier revision does not carry forward; each new revision needs its own.

If NormaECS has classified the part, that classification comes first and the status line says so (chapter 43). When a classification and a declaration disagree, the part page shows the conflict in a red message and the revision stays controlled.

To declare a revision not controlled:

1. Open the part and find the revision under Revisions. Declaring is offered on the current revision only.
2. Choose Declare not controlled. Read the statement: that this part revision is not export-controlled and not CUI, so its drawing and characteristic values may be held in Norma.
3. Add a Note if you want one, enter your password under Re-enter your password to sign, and choose Sign.

When an export-control classification from NormaECS applies to a revision, Declare not controlled is not offered. Only a Quality Manager, a Document Controller, an executive or an administrator can declare. Consultants cannot. The declaration is a signed record that cannot be edited; it is added to the chain, and so is any later withdrawal.

To withdraw a declaration, choose Withdraw declaration on the same revision. Withdrawing deletes the revision's drawing and characteristic values from Norma, so choose Download first and keep the file where your controlled data belongs. Enter a Reason, sign with your password, and choose Sign. The balloon numbers and operations stay; the values and the drawing do not.

Every time Norma allows or refuses to take a drawing, a balloon, an import or a purge on a revision, it records the decision and where it happened.

Caution: A drawing kept in Document Control is not removed when a revision becomes controlled. The characteristics page will not show it and the Download leaves it out, but where that drawing may be kept is a decision for your wider controlled-information practice.

An uploaded drawing is never part of the organization's evidence export, because an export is kept for good and a drawing in it could not be removed later. The Download on the part page is how a revision's drawing leaves Norma.

Characteristics (ballooning)

Each part revision has one list of characteristics, the numbered features on its drawing, with what each one requires and how it is toleranced. It is the master that inspection plans and router checks draw from. Open it from the Characteristics link beside the revision on the part page.

1. Choose Start characteristics. If an earlier revision has a list, the new one starts from its balloons. The drawing is not carried over, so the balloons start unplaced; use Place on each row once the new drawing is in. On a controlled revision it starts from the balloon numbers and operations only, with no values.
2. Add the drawing under Drawing: Upload PDF (PDF, up to 25 MB) or Use the drawing document from Document Control if the revision names one. Enter the Drawing number and Drawing revision and choose Save. A PDF that carries content Norma refuses is turned away with That PDF contains active content Norma won't store. Print it to a new PDF and upload that.
3. Click the drawing where a feature is to get a balloon. Fill in the Requirement, Tolerance type, Nominal, Upper, Lower, Units, Decimals, an optional GD&T callout and Note, then choose Save balloon. Drag a balloon to move it. Use Edit and Delete on its row in the list, and Renumber (a From balloon number and a Move by amount) to open a gap or close one. While the balloon form holds changes you have not saved, a click on the drawing is ignored and the page says Save or cancel balloon 4 first. (with that balloon's number), so nothing you typed is lost.
4. To bring in a list you already have, use Paste from Excel or upload a CSV. Paste the rows or choose a file, match each column in the list to a field (Not imported skips it), and check the row-level messages: a row with a problem is reported by line and not imported, and the rest are. Columns headed USL and LSL (or Upper limit, Lower limit, Upper spec, Lower spec) are read as the limits themselves, so the row becomes a range; a row that names another tolerance type with them is refused with USL/LSL are limits; use tolerance type range. Columns headed Upper tol, +Tol, Lower tol or -Tol are the plus and minus allowances.
5. When the list is complete, choose Release characteristics.

Tolerance types are symmetrical, bilateral, range, minimum, maximum, basic and attribute. For symmetrical and bilateral, Upper and Lower are the plus and minus allowances around the nominal: both are 0 or more, and a symmetrical tolerance has the same allowance both ways. For a range they are the limits themselves, the lower at or below the upper; a minimum takes its limit in Lower and a maximum in Upper. A balloon whose numbers do not fit its type is not saved, and the message says what is missing or wrong.

Release is blocked, with the reasons listed above the button, while any balloon is missing its requirement or tolerance type, while a balloon's numbers do not fit its tolerance type, while the drawing number or revision is empty, or while a balloon number appears twice. Once released, the list is frozen; to change it, add a revision on the part page. Quality Managers, engineers and inspectors can edit a draft list; a released list is marked superseded when a later revision's list replaces it.

A drawing from Document Control stays on the document revision that was effective when you linked it. When the document later gets a newer effective revision, the page says, for example, The drawing document has a newer revision (Rev D). These balloons are on Rev C. Nothing moves by itself; to move the list to the newer drawing, choose Use the drawing document again on a draft list and check the balloons' places.

Two outputs leave the page. Print ballooned drawing gives a PDF of the drawing with its balloons and the characteristics table. Export CSV gives the list in a file that imports back unchanged.

A router operation's check can point at a balloon on the released list of its own part revision. Open the check on the operation and pick the balloon; the requirement and limits then come from the list.

Tip: Import from your existing inspection sheet first, then click the drawing to place the balloons you have numbers for. It is quicker than typing every feature by hand.

Build a router

A router is the ordered list of operations a job will follow. Open it from the part page or the router register; the router register itself is read-only and reminds you to Create a new router from a part's page.

1. On a Draft router, open Add operation under Operations.
2. Enter the Sequence (the form offers the next multiple of ten), the Work center, an operation Code, and a Description.
3. Pick the Instruction — a document from Document Control — or leave it as None. The job will pin the revision that is effective at the moment the job is released.
4. Pick the Required qualification from the catalog, or None. If the catalog is empty the control is disabled and reads Add qualifications under Traveler › Qualifications.
5. Under Gages, tick each instrument the operation uses. Only in-service equipment is offered; if there is none the fieldset reads No in-service equipment.
6. Under Checks, fill in up to three rows of Characteristic, Criterion, and stage (First piece, In process, or Final). Leave rows blank if the operation has fewer checks; the form always shows three.
7. Tick Special process or Outside process where they apply. For an outside process, choose the Supplier.
8. Choose Add operation. Repeat for each operation, then edit any row by opening it and choosing Save operation, or drop it with Remove.

Naming a supplier on an operation that is not ticked as an outside process is refused: only an outside-process operation names a supplier. The reverse is allowed — an outside-process operation can be saved with no supplier — so check the Supplier field before release if the floor's sign-out will depend on it. A deactivated work center or qualification that an operation still names is kept and shown as (inactive); pick a live one or reactivate it.

Operation field	What the floor gets from it
Instruction	The instruction opens on the tablet at the pinned revision
Required qualification	Start is refused unless the person holds a tagged, current certificate
Gages	Each gage's calibration state is checked when the inspection is recorded
Checks	The characteristics the tablet asks for, by stage
Special process / Outside process	Printed on the traveler; outside process adds the send-out and receive-back sign-offs
Supplier	The approval check when parts are sent out

Example: A bracket router might read 010 SAW at SAW-1; 020 MILL at CNC-3 with instruction WI-2208, gages a 6" caliper and a bore gauge, checks "Hole 1 diameter / 10.00 ±0.05 mm / First piece" and "Hole 1 diameter / 10.00 ±0.05 mm / In process"; 030 PLATE at OUTSIDE ticked Outside process with the plating supplier named; 040 FINAL at INSPECT with the final check. Each of those choices is what the tablet enforces later.

Release, version, and withdraw a router

1. Review the operation table: Seq, Work center, Code, Description, Instruction, Qualification, Gages, Checks, and Flags.
2. A quality manager chooses Release router. A router with no operations is refused: a router needs at least one operation before it can be released.
3. Once released, the table is followed by Released by … Released routers cannot be edited; create a new version to change it. The forms disappear.
4. To change a released router, choose New version. Norma copies the operations, checks and gages into a new Draft under the same reference at the next version number. Edit, then release it. The earlier version is not withdrawn by this step.
5. Choose Withdraw on a released router when no new jobs should be opened on it. Withdrawal is not editing; a withdrawn router can still be the source of a New version.

The states are Draft, Released, and Withdrawn, and the only moves are Draft to Released and Released to Withdrawn. New version on a Draft is refused with router RTR-0007 v1 is a draft; edit it instead.

Caution: Withdrawing a router strands any job that was created on it but not yet released. That job's release is refused with router RTR-0007 v1 is withdrawn; create the job on the current router, and the only way out is to cancel it and create a new job on the current router. Release or cancel planned jobs before you withdraw.

Open and release a job

1. Open Jobs. The register lists Job, Part, Customer, Qty, Due, Status, and Next work center; a job with an open hold shows On hold in place of its status. Filter by Status, Hold, Next work center, Customer, or Due.
2. Under New job, choose the Router (only released routers are offered, as BKT-204 Rev C · RTR-0007 v2). Enter a Job number or leave it blank for a JOB-#### number, the Quantity, Due date, PO, and a Customer (default From part).
3. Choose Create job. The job is Planned. Its Operations card reads Operations are copied from the router when the job is released.
4. Open the job and choose Release job. Norma copies every operation, with its instruction at the revision effective right now, its qualification, its gages, its checks, its flags and its supplier, onto the job. Those copies are what the floor works from; changing the router, versioning it, or making a new instruction revision effective later changes nothing on this job.
5. At the same moment Norma opens a Production & Process Control record for the job and marks it ready. The job's Evidence tab links to it under Production record.

If no router is released the New job card is replaced by No released routers — Release a router before opening a job. A job number is unique regardless of case; the quantity must be a whole number above zero.

The production record is opened after the release is committed, so the job is released and printable whatever happens next. Read the notice:

Notice after Release job	What it means	What to do
Production record opened for this job.	The record exists, filled from the router, in Ready state	Nothing
No production record was opened: Production & Process Control is not on this organization's plan. The job is released and the traveler can print.	The module is off the plan; the job records that it was not checked	Nothing, unless you want the module
The job is released, but opening its production record failed. Use Create production record on the job to try again.	The record was not created and nothing is linked	Evidence tab > Create production record
A production record is already being opened for this job. Refresh in a minute.	Someone else's retry holds a two-minute claim	Wait, then refresh
A production record is already linked to this job.	The link exists	Nothing

The production record carries the router's summary as its controlled-condition evidence: the instruction references, the gages, the required qualifications, and the count of inspection checks. Traveler drives it to Ready at release and releases it when the last unskipped operation completes on the floor. Chapter 19 covers the record itself.

Print the traveler and run dispatch

The primary action on a released job becomes Print traveler. The print page has Back to job and Print traveler; choosing the latter records the print and opens the browser's print dialog once. The sheet shows the job, part and description, revision, customer, PO, quantity and due date, a QR code with its address printed underneath so a failed scan can be typed, and the operation table with Seq, Work center, Operation, and Instruction at the pinned revision. Operations marked special or outside process say so. A blank line is left for Material / Heat / Lot / Qty, and the footer reads Sign-offs are recorded on the tablet. There are no sign-off boxes on the paper.

The second and every later print carries a boxed Reprinted stamp with the date, so two sheets for the same job cannot be mistaken for one. The job's Evidence tab keeps the Print history. A job that is still Planned or has been Cancelled cannot be printed.

Open Dispatch, choose a Work center, and choose View. The list shows every released or in-process job whose next open operation sits at that work center — Job, Part, Quantity, Due, Status, and Hold — soonest due first, jobs with no due date last. A held job shows ON HOLD. Print / Save as PDF gives the work center a paper queue with the time it was printed.

Tip: Print the dispatch list at shift start and the traveler when the job is released, and stop there. Because the QR code opens the job on the tablet, the paper only needs to carry the job to the right machine; everything that used to be initialled on it is recorded on the tablet under the person's own name.

Hold, skip, and cancel

• Place hold. On a released or in-process job, the Hold card asks Why work is stopping. While the hold is open, sign-offs on this job are refused at the tablet and the dispatch list shows ON HOLD. Choose Release hold and say What changed before work resumes. A second hold on a held job is refused until the first is released, and a planned or finished job cannot be held: job JOB-0042 is planned and has no floor work to hold.
• Skip an operation. In the Operations card the Desk column offers Skip on a pending operation of an open job. Say Why it will not be performed and choose Skip operation. Skips are refused on a held job and on an operation that is already complete or skipped. A skipped operation is recorded as such; it does not count as done.
• Cancel job. Under the more-actions menu on a Planned or Released job, give a Cancellation reason and choose Cancel job. A job that is already in process cannot be cancelled; place it on hold instead.

Read the job record

The job page uses the standard tabs. Overview carries the Job, Hold, Operations and Traveler cards. The Traveler card is the sign-off timeline: each entry shows the time, the operation, what happened — Started, First piece signed off, Inspection recorded with the characteristic and Pass, Fail or N/A, Completed, Sent out for outside process, Received back from outside process, Job placed on hold, Hold released, Problem photo, Packing slip — who did it, and the quantity. An Override by … — reason line records a desk override; Signed while an earlier operation was still open records an out-of-sequence sign-off. Photos appear as thumbnails and linked nonconformances as their NC reference. Operation statuses are Pending, In process, Complete, and Skipped.

Evidence holds the production record link and the print history. Linked records shows the part the job builds, the router it follows, and the production record it travels with. Activity is the record chain. Chapter 21 explains how each timeline entry is made on the tablet.

Qualifications and certificate tagging

Traveler keeps its own catalog of qualifications — the skills a router operation can require — and reads the evidence for them from Training's accepted certificates. A person is qualified for an operation only when a certificate that is tagged to that qualification is Active or Expiring today. Titles are never matched; the tag is the only mechanism.

1. Open Qualifications. Under Add qualification, enter a Title and optional Code and choose Add qualification. Edit or deactivate under Edit qualifications. Titles are unique.
2. In Training, record the person's certificate and accept it (chapter 11). Only accepted certificates are offered for tagging; a recorded-but-unaccepted or rejected certificate never appears.
3. Open the qualification. Under Certificates that prove this qualification, tick each certificate that demonstrates it. Each row shows the person, the certificate, provider, completed and expiry dates, its reference, and its status: Active, Expiring, Expired, or Revoked.
4. Choose Save tags. The summary line tells you the effect: Nothing is tagged yet, so nobody is qualified for an operation that names this qualification, or 3 tagged, 2 current, or 2 tagged, none of them current — every tagged certificate is expired or revoked, so nobody is qualified today.

Saving posts the whole ticked set: unticking a certificate removes its tag. As the page says, that never changes a sign-off already made — a signature recorded what was true when it was made. Expired and revoked certificates stay listed with their status so you can see why someone is being refused at the machine and renew the certificate in Training.

Training is free on every plan, so certificates can always be tagged. Whether the floor checks them depends on the organization. An organization that held an active Training entitlement (from the Training module, a Complete bundle bought while it included Training, or a grant) or any active standards tier when this release's database migration ran keeps the check; one bought later does not change that. Any other organization, an MES-only shop among them, checks qualifications only once Enforce training on the floor is on (chapter 11); until then, an operation that names a qualification records not checked and never blocks the work. Organizations created after Training became free start with the switch on. If there are no accepted certificates yet, the page reads No accepted certificates yet, so nothing can be tagged against … and links to Training.

Example: Your router's 030 WELD operation requires "Certified welder". Maria's AWS D17.1 certificate is recorded in Training and accepted by the quality manager, then tagged here. On the tablet, Maria can start 030; a colleague without a tagged, current certificate is refused, with the reason. When Maria's certificate expires, the summary here changes to "1 tagged, none of them current" and she is refused too — until the renewal is recorded, accepted, and tagged.

When Traveler stops you

What you see	Why	Way out
No Release router or Withdraw button	You hold a department-scoped role	A quality manager or administrator releases
a router needs at least one operation before it can be released	Empty router	Add an operation
router RTR-0007 v2 is released when saving an operation	Someone released it while you were editing	New version
revision C of BKT-204 already has router RTR-0007; create a new version instead	One router reference per part revision	Open that router and use New version
only an outside-process operation names a supplier	Supplier chosen without the Outside process box	Tick the box or clear the supplier
Required qualification disabled	Empty catalog	Add one under Qualifications
No released routers on the Jobs page	Nothing to build a job on	Release a router
job number 4581 is already in use	Numbers are unique regardless of case	Use another or leave blank
router RTR-0007 v1 is withdrawn; create the job on the current router	Planned job on a withdrawn router	Cancel the job; create it on the current router
Print returns not found	The job is Planned or Cancelled	Release it
job JOB-0042 is already on hold — release that hold first	Second hold	Release the open hold
say what changed before releasing the hold	Empty note	Write what changed
job JOB-0042 is released and is not open for floor work on Skip	The job is on hold	Release the hold
Cancel job not offered	The job is in process	Hold it instead
The job is released, but opening its production record failed…	The production seam failed after release	Evidence > Create production record
that certificate is not an accepted training record of this organization	The certificate is not accepted, or belongs elsewhere	Accept it in Training, then tag
Everyone refused at the machine despite tags	N tagged, none of them current	Renew the certificate in Training

Completion check: every operation names its work center, instruction, qualification, gages and checks as the floor actually needs them; the router is Released by a quality manager; the job is Released with its production record linked; the traveler is printed once and handed to the first work center; and the qualification pages show at least one current certificate for every qualification a router requires.

In the user guide

This article is chapter 20, "Traveler: work centers, parts, routers and jobs", of the NormaQMS User Guide (NORMA-UG-001), which is under Help > User guide. Chapter numbers in the text refer to that guide.