What are some of the biggest obstacles companies face when implementing or maintaining their QMS?
Participation: One of the biggest obstacles to implementing a quality management system is participation at all levels of the organization.
It’s not uncommon for managers to resist allocating resources when they only see the value of quality management software as a means of achieving ISO certification or FDA registration.
Likewise, most employees who are not directly responsible for quality will see their primary job responsibilities as a much higher priority than “going through the motions” to make the quality manager happy.
Therefore, it is critical to give these “downstream” users easy access to a simple interface that allows them to easily accomplish tasks that makes sense to them, preferably with a mobile friendly web app that is dashboard driven and unlimited licensing doesn’t create a budget constraint to exclude anyone from having access.
Implementation: The hardest part of implementing quality management software from scratch or even converting it to an electronic eQMS software system is the initial implementation.
Getting the necessary procedures identified, written and everyone trained to follow the required quality processes can seem overwhelming, but it is all very necessary to provide an adequate compliance strategy for all areas of the applicable ISO standard.
The features in quality management software for these “upstream” users responsible for implementation need to provide as many shortcuts, tools, and interlinking of records as possible, so that they can create compliance strategies that are the most efficient for the level of risk at that specific business. In contrast to the simple, “hand-holding,” strategy for downstream users, upstream users need expert software, designed to offer a variety of flexible approaches to data management that can adapt to the ideal compliance strategies it is their primary responsibility to develop.
Giving upstream users the tools they need can make the difference between a quality management system that can begin useful service in a matter of weeks, and one that suffers from frequent delays and takes a matter of months, or even years to implement, and worse, adds unnecessary work to maintaining the quality management system, thus draining resources that would otherwise end up as bottom line profit.
The dual application approach to your QMS Software landscape allows both of your QMS software user groups access to quality management system data in a way that supports their ability to do their jobs without wasting their time.
Redundancy: The other advantage of the dual application approach is redundancy. Since everything in the mobile friendly, downstream user web app can also be accomplished in the upstream/expert user main app, there is a backup method to accomplish tasks if needed.
Besides redundancy for data access, upstream users will often use the web app for quick document access while on a different monitor the main app is working on CAPAs, Audits, Nonconforming material reports, etc, giving them the work environment they need to be both efficient, organized, and accurate.
Cost Savings: With unlimited licensing for the web app, TLM allows a company to minimize its licensing costs by serving as many users as possible with the downstream user, mobile friendly TLM web app. This includes supporting a development project a company might want to sponsor so that they can move users into the web app, thus eliminating ongoing main app monthly licensing costs with a modest one-time cost to support and prioritize adding the functionality they need to the downstream user web app that meets the needs of these users.
Total Lean Management’s dual application redundancy approach for managing your Quality Management System, enhances your operational reliability and efficiency while reducing costs and streamlining compliance. This approach ensures robust participation across all levels, empowering organizations to meet their quality goals with greater ease and effectiveness.
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