# Trace records and source evidence

Follow each return visit, recovered component, assessment and installation without losing earlier history.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/reclaimstation/trace-records

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: operator, supervisor, author, reviewer, viewer

Trace enquiries begin with an exact identity and a clear question. Establish whether the question concerns a unit, one return visit, a component, an assessment or an installation. Preserve those distinctions when searching and when reporting what the record establishes.

## Search and open the right detail

Use Returned units, Recovered components or History and trace. Search the complete register, then select the intended row. Check Record identity, Current revision, Source unit and Source return. A matching part code alone does not identify a physical component.

Returned-unit detail can list components from the selected visit and recovery visits. Component detail includes installation and assessment history. Follow those links in sequence. A unit returning again should not make an earlier visit disappear, and a removed component retains its earlier fitting history.

## Interpret each decision in context

Receipt records physical arrival. Permission records a supported authority decision. Recovery records the actual part removed from a position. Assessment records complete observations under a method. Component release is an independent decision on that evidence. Reservation and installation add their own destination and custody facts.

Read the latest applicable state along with earlier events. A historical passing assessment can be expired now. Changed source permission, withdrawn evidence, a new route or a hold may block current use while the old event remains a valid account of what was recorded then.

## Preserve uncertainty in the enquiry

When an installed part or location disagrees with the record, report what was physically observed and the exact affected identity. A restore discrepancy does not justify inventing a move or removal time. Independent reconciliation records what is now established while retaining prior installation claims.

For a wider source concern, give the supervisor the starting unit, component, job, policy or evidence identity and the finding. Include the return visit when the same unit has appeared more than once.

Use [Holds, corrections and removal](/manuals/reclaimstation/holds-corrections-and-removal) for subsequent controlled action. Viewing a trace is evidence review, not fresh physical qualification or permission to reuse the component.

## Prepare a retained document for the enquiry

Use [Labels and recovery reports](/manuals/reclaimstation/labels-and-reports) for the exact role, document and print-request controls. A report is a retained record view; a current identity label and its physical attachment are separate from component suitability or release.