If your business has any kind of continuity planning, you've probably reacted to the coronavirus shutdown with some flexible working practices to keep your operation up and running.
It's crucial that your quality system isn't impeded while your sites and offices are emptied.
And if you're a Qualsys customer, it doesn't have to be.
Here are 5 ways our EQMS software is designed to let you support, manage and maintain your quality system from your own home, or out on the road.
1. Cloud-based access
Unlike some purely on-premise software systems, EQMS is a cloud-based tool. So you need 3 things to access it from your home:
- Power
- An Internet connection
- A laptop, PC, tablet or mobile
That's it.
Load up your Internet browser or launch the iOS or Android app. Enter your company's dedicated EQMS URL. Then log in with your username and password.
You can now access the system in the same way you'd access it in the office.
That means...
2. Access the same information as your colleagues
"Can you email me that over?"
"Share the latest version in Teams after this call."
"I had it on my work PC, but not my home laptop."
Being cut off from your desk and your colleagues can be disruptive and frustrating if you don't have a central information repository.
Accessing Document Manager from home or on the road means you aren't isolated from the information you need to do your job.
Need to check last year's audit report, review a policy, or update a procedure?
The navigation trees housing your business information within Document Manager are exactly the same wherever you're logging in from - so you and your team already know where to go to find what you're looking for.
And built-in version control means if a document is changed, it's changed for everyone accessing the system. So no grappling with multiple local or hard copies of the same document.
I did more training yesterday for 3 guys based in the depths of Devon.
2 years ago, before we had EQMS, they wouldn't have been engaged as they were yesterday. They asked me to go and train them. They want to learn. They don't want the stick anymore or the pieces of paper anymore that have the procedures on, which are forever out of date.
Our trucks had folders in the front - so we were forever trying to update 33 trucks, and our drill rigs, for the guys out there working all day.
It's much easier if they've got tablets or laptops.
- Diane Cartledge, Business Standards Manager, EPC-UK
A typical Document Manager set-up
3. Keep actions moving with workflows and reminders
Manually coordinating people and actions to get things done becomes much more difficult if you can't just walk over and tap someone on the shoulder.
Use Issue Manager to build any kind of process workflow, assign steps and actions to personnel, then track them to completion.
Email notifications, .ics calendar integration and to do lists within EQMS keep the right people informed and reminded at the right time, even out of the office.
And colour-coded visual workflows let you see at a glance which steps are already completed, and which need finishing.
4. Keep tabs with powerful reporting
The dashboard functionality within EQMS is designed to display whatever system information matters to you in a simple, visual format.
Need to check which tasks are overdue?
Who hasn't acknowledged a new document?
Which risks have an unacceptable gross score?
Who's logging into the system (or not)?
Visibility is crucial for triaging and coordinating your QMS and maintaining progress from outside the office.
View your general QMS health from your Dashboard, or dive into specific areas with tailored modular reports.
5. Self-auditing
Eliminating paper and giving your colleagues the ability to assess their own working, equipment and training reduces inefficiency and saves time.
One Qualsys customer, Sirus, applied Audit Manager to cut out inefficient 'back-to-base' auditing for their remote workforce scattered throughout Ireland.
Rather than forcing employees to drive several hours to the nearest Sirus office for assessment of their equipment and PPE, Quality, Training and Health/Safety Manager Pauline Sourdille pushes audits to each team member for individual completion on their mobile phones.
Before EQMS, we were struggling to get all our equipment calibrated on time.
Our lads are always on the road so it was difficult. Equipment Manager prompts us a month before calibration expiry so we can get everything scheduled and completed on time.
- Pauline Sourdille, Quality, Training & Health/Safety Manager, Sirus
When a construction project is complete for a customer, remote access to Sirus' EQMS system is provided to collect feedback directly from the customer at their site.
And if a team member receives remote training, they can review their sessions and log their training records on the road with Training Manager.
So Sirus' workforce is connected, up-to-date and in the loop wherever they are in the country.
Next steps
We also provide remote web demonstrations of EQMS.
Interested? Book in with us below.
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