# Temperature excursion system map and linking keys | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/guides/temperature-excursion-handling-records-across-systems
Last updated: 2026-10-18

Four keys rebuild one out-of-range event across business systems: the air waybill or shipment ID, the device serial number, timestamps stored with their time zone, and the QMS deviation number. They join the monitoring platform's readings and alerts, the handling log, the product owner's instruction in email or a customer file, and the deviation and release decision in the QMS. The platform and the QMS rarely share a key directly, so the air waybill usually carries the join. A cold-chain systems advisor confirms which keys are stored, then introduces the quality director.

This system map is part of the [temperature excursion handling hub](/guides/workflow-temperature-excursion-handling), which covers what to inventory before an audit.

## Four systems, one excursion

One out-of-range event leaves pieces in at least four places, each built for a different job.

- **Sensor platform.** Readings, alerts and gaps per device, keyed by device serial number. Often stores time in UTC.
- **Handling app or warehouse system.** Transfers, storage check-ins and who handled the shipment, keyed by air waybill or internal shipment ID.
- **Shared quality mailbox or customer file.** The customer's handling instruction and notifications. The EU's Good Distribution Practice guidelines expect out-of-range events in transport to be reported to the distributor and recipient, so the notification usually exists, but often only as an email.
- **QMS.** The deviation, investigation and release or reject decision, keyed by deviation number, often in local time. In U.S. drug warehousing, procedures must hold product in quarantine until the quality control unit releases it, so that decision is normally captured here.

None of these alone tells the story. The sensor platform knows the temperature but not the decision; the QMS knows the decision but often only summarizes the readings.

## The map: system, record, linking key, owner

| System | Record it holds | Linking key | Owner | Join quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor platform | Readings, alerts, gap events | Device serial; air waybill when entered at assignment | Operations or cold-chain team | Fair: depends on manual entry of the waybill |
| Sensor platform | Backup probes on trucks and storage rooms | Equipment ID and time window | Fleet or facilities | Poor unless linked to the shipment |
| Handling app | Transfers, check-ins, staff names | Air waybill or shipment ID | Station operations | Good when station formats match |
| Shared mailbox | Shipper instruction, notifications | Air waybill typed in the subject line | Quality | Poor: free text |
| QMS | Deviation and investigation | Deviation number; air waybill in header if typed | Quality | Fair |
| QMS | Disposition approval | Deviation number | Quality, often the customer's quality unit | Good within the QMS |
| QMS and platform | Audit trails of edits | Record ID, user, timestamp | System owners | Varies by product |

Time zones deserve their own line in any handoff. A platform in UTC and a QMS in local time can make an alert appear to follow the decision it triggered. Ask which zone each system stores and whether the zone is recorded with the value.

## One fully joined case (Illustrative)

Fictional, written for this page. A 340-person healthcare freight forwarder trucks a 15-25°C consignment from its warehouse to an airport terminal.

| Step | Record | System | Key carried | Value in this case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Device assigned to shipment | Sensor platform | Device serial, air waybill | Serial ends 4471; waybill entered |
| 2 | Alert: 27.4°C for 22 minutes on the truck | Sensor platform | Device serial, UTC timestamp | 08:12 UTC |
| 3 | Driver check-in at terminal | Handling app | Air waybill | 10:30 local time |
| 4 | Customer notified per instruction | Shared mailbox | Air waybill in subject | Instruction on file for this customer |
| 5 | Deviation opened | QMS | Deviation number, air waybill in header | Deviation raised next morning |
| 6 | Release approved with deviation | QMS | Deviation number | Approved by the customer's quality unit |
| 7 | Deviation number written back to shipment | Sensor platform | Deviation number | Present in this case; often missing |

Steps 2 and 3 look out of order until the time zones are aligned: 08:12 UTC is 10:12 local, eighteen minutes before check-in. Step 7 is what makes the case fully joined in both directions. Without it, the sensor side can only find its investigation through the waybill typed in the deviation header.

## Weak joins to ask about

- **Waybill formats:** were prefixes, dashes and spaces consistent across stations and years?
- **Backup probes:** are truck and storage-room probes linked to shipments, or only to equipment?
- **Write-back:** did staff record deviation numbers on the shipment record, and since when?
- **Instructions:** where are handling instructions filed for each customer?
- **Edit history:** can a change to a deviation be traced to a person and a time?

On the last point, where 21 CFR Part 11 applies it calls for secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails that record when electronic records are created, changed or deleted, kept as long as the records themselves. A QMS that kept them can show how a disposition was reached, not only the final answer. What each sensor platform and QMS can export varies by product and contract; the company confirms that with its own vendors.

Shift notes sometimes fill gaps between systems; the [shift handover log](/data-types/shift-handover-log) page describes that record type, and [quality assurance workflows](/data-types/quality-assurance-workflows) covers a related family.

## Who can describe the map, and what stays unknown

A systems administrator can answer most key questions, but administrator access is not authority to license. The quality director owns the deviation records and is the right first contact; the [who-can-say-yes tree for excursion records](/questions/who-can-license-temperature-excursion-handling-records) maps the path to the approver and to the product owner's role.

The company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English.

Until SourceX reviews it, nobody knows how customer agreements divide rights to monitoring data and release decisions, whether lot details must be excluded, which years a buyer would want or whether an offer follows. Joined cases of this kind, with a problem, an authorized action and a checked outcome, are the shape described in [exception handling data for AI agents](/guides/exception-handling-ai-agents-data). When the key questions are answered, the [excursion referral brief template](/resources/temperature-excursion-handling-referral-brief-template) turns them into a handoff. Sector context is under [logistics and warehousing](/industries/logistics-and-warehousing).

## Next step

> **Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000.** Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.

If a forwarding client stores the waybill on both sides and its QMS kept audit trails, [register as a partner](/register), check the company against [who qualifies](/who-qualifies) and read the [program terms](/terms) before introducing the quality director.

## Sources

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-11/subpart-B
- https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=oj%3AJOC_2013_343_R_0001_01
- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-211/subpart-H/section-211.142
- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms