PLMK table — Task List Inspection Characteristic Assignment

One row in PLMK represents a single inspection characteristic attached to one operation, or sub-operation, of one task list. The task list can be an inspection plan, a routing, or a rate routing used for quality inspection planning. The characteristic can be locally defined so it only exists in the context of that task list operation, or it can be a reference to a reusable master inspection characteristic maintained in the QM characteristic master. PLMK sits between the routing or inspection plan structure and actual inspection execution: when an inspection lot is created for a material that uses this task list, the characteristics found here become what the inspector is asked to evaluate for that operation, carrying whatever sampling, tolerance and control settings were configured on the task list.

Always restrict on MANDT plus the task list identity, PLNTY, PLNNR and PLNAL together, before looking at anything else. Never select on PLNKN or ZAEHL alone; both are only meaningful inside a specific task list group and version and will silently mix up characteristics from unrelated task lists if used as the sole filter. The table is not enormous compared to the results tables, but a plant with many inspection plans and many versions of each can still make an unfiltered scan slow and misleading. It is usually more productive to start from PLPO to get the operation description and confirm which operation is in question, then come back to PLMK for the characteristics under that operation.

Symptom: a characteristic that should print on the inspection lot for material Y is missing. Find the task list assigned to that material and plant, note its PLNTY, PLNNR and PLNAL. Select PLMK for exactly that combination and check whether the expected characteristic row exists at all, and whether it carries a deletion or validity-period flag that would keep it out of newly created lots. Cross-check the same key against PLMZ to see whether the control data marks the characteristic inactive even though the PLMK row itself is present.

PLMK is a classic transparent table from the routing and task list data model shared by PP and QM, and it continues to exist on S/4HANA without being replaced by a CDS-based compatibility view, unlike some finance and MRP objects. The underlying task list structures were not restructured in the S/4 move, so maintenance still goes through the standard inspection plan and routing transactions rather than a Fiori app built directly on this table.

This is core QM master data. Ownership sits with whoever maintains inspection plans and routings for the plant, typically the quality planning role in QM, working with production planning when the task list is a shared routing carrying inspection operations. A missing, wrong, or extra characteristic on an inspection lot is a question for that quality planner, not for basis or for the person recording the inspection result.

PLKO is the task list header for the same group and version. PLPO carries the operation the characteristic is attached to. PLMZ carries the control and value data for the same characteristic row. QPMK is the master inspection characteristic catalog referenced when the characteristic is not locally defined. Inspection lots and their results tables are written from these definitions when the lot is created and processed through the standard QM inspection transactions.