Does a Quality Management System Really have two user types?
Every quality professional we have talked to seems to agree that quality system participants basically fall into two categories.
- The quality professionals who are directly responsible for compliance, continuous improvement, implementation, and auditing of the quality management system (QMS) who have the ability to interpret QMS ISO standards and understand how all the moving pieces of a QMS are interconnected.
- Everyone else. These users all have a limited role in their QMS Software participation and job functions that make other responsibilities a much higher priority in their minds than making the quality staff happy, despite the availability of the best QMS software.
For simplicity, let’s call the quality professionals Upstream users and everyone else Downstream users.
Can the same software meet the needs of both Upstream and Downstream User?
There are two very distinct categories of needs of each user type that makes using the same software for both users very problematic,
- flexibility and
- features.
The first category is Flexibility, giving the user multiple options to accomplish tasks, or navigation, so that the software can adapt to the circumstantial variation in their needs on a day-to-day basis.
Upstream users are served best with more levels of flexibility than downstream users who depend on a single workflow to guide them properly through a workflow in as few “hand-holding” steps and decisions as possible.
The second category is Features. The more features there are, the more complicated the software gets in order to support where those features are located, how they interact with each other, and how they are organized, which adds complexity to the navigation, or the number of steps needed to use the feature.
As you can probably guess by now, Upstream users need all those features, as each serves an important capability that might only be an infrequent need, but a need that is critical in avoiding extra work when a particular implementation or administration situation requires that feature.
In contrast, not having to navigate a complicated feature environment to find the high frequency, daily task features in the simplest way possible is going to be ideal for the downstream user.
The Best of Both Worlds: The Dual Application QMS Landscape
The obvious evolution of QMS software is to provide each user type with a dedicated application, and structure the licensing so that there are no obstacles in giving everyone the access they need. Too often we talk to quality managers who are using software that keeps getting more expensive each year, and forces management to reduce licensing costs by restricting access which ends up being an unnecessary risk to the effectiveness of the quality management system, which defeats the very purpose of the software.
Will a Dual Application Landscape have other Advantages?
Yes! In our next blog, we will explore the many advantages this has provided TLM customers in terms of their quality management system. Of particular note is that quality systems have historically suffered from a lack of interest and participation from other users, so much so that the ISO standards felt compelled to specify requirements for management support and resources for the QMS to address this obstacle.
In addition to addressing the specific needs of both user types, the dual application landscape has other benefits resulting from redundancy. It also gives upstream users the option of using either application or both simultaneously, depending on the nature of their tasks, which can often be complex, unique, and involving data from multiple areas of the QMS.
Total Lean Management’s dual QMS applications streamline the experience for both upstream and downstream users, enhancing engagement and compliance across the organization. This tailored approach ensures that everyone benefits from the best QMS software, fostering a more effective and user-friendly quality management system.
Demos