Observation quality control is an important responsibility of the HSC. Its main purpose is to ensure that the observations have been correctly executed, that their observational data meet the established requirements, and that they can be processed error free. It is important to note that the HSC will not assess systematically the scientific validity of individual observations, but will concentrate on their execution and the data processing aspects.

In combination with the SPG processing, the observational data will be run through the Quality Control Pipeline (QCP). An HSC operator will inspect visually all Herschel observations and will proceed according to agreed observatory procedures. For certain types of problems, the operator will request the assistance of the instrument and satellite specialists at the HSC, ICCs or MOC, who will investigate the reason for the anomaly, assess its impact on the quality of the observational data and determine possible implications for the ground segment. In severe cases, observations may be flagged as "bad" in the database, and made available for re-scheduling. For every observation, quality information will be gathered in a "quality control report summary" product, that will be available in the Herschel Science Archive in addition to the observational data. The report will contain both the automatically generated quality control data and the conclusions of the problem analysis by the experts, when applicable. Items that will be included in the report are: MOC spacecraft and operations information, on-board observation execution anomalies (instrument or satellite related), telemetry gaps, pointing issues, space weather events, instrument specific warnings (e.g., high glitch rate), and data processing problems.