I'm biting the bullet, and looking at investing in some calibration/tracking software. Problem is, there are so many packages out there, and they ALL look and/or sound terrific.

But the proof is in the pudding, so I turn to those of you who have been using these for years...what software do you like/dislike, and why?

I am considering Gagetrak as one of my options, but I would love to hear from others who have used it....

Thanks

I'm biting the bullet, and looking at investing in some calibration/tracking software. Problem is, there are so many packages out there, and they ALL look and/or sound terrific.

But the proof is in the pudding, so I turn to those of you who have been using these for years...what software do you like/dislike, and why?

I am considering Gagetrak as one of my options, but I would love to hear from others who have used it....

ThanksRon, if all you want to do is track the cal status, look at Harrington Group Calibration Recall (http://www.harringtonsoftware.com/products/calibration/features.asp) software. It's cheap and simple.

Ron

As Al Rosen says, gage tracking software can be simple or elaborate.

Gagetrak is really nice, Ron. GagePACK, however, is a different product and so don't get them mixed up.

The thing with these packages is that they are made for doing gage R&R and MSA studies, calculating uncertainty, and lots of other features, as I'm sure you've seen. The specific measurements to record, before/after cal data entry, procedures, pictures of the tool, records of its accuracy and trend, MSA, and uncertainty are all combined in these packages and that gives you THE tool to have a world-class calibration system.

How many tools do you keep in calibration? Do you have a rigorous system of calibration that could use MSA and uncertainty and statistical analysis?

Anyway, sounds like a lot of fun. We're using GageTRAK and it's certainly adequate. I tried a demo of Gagepack and I liked it better. Fit/finish and comes from a better company.

Erik

If you send all of your calibration out, our company has an online service that will track all certs, produce reports, and let you change status, location, and department. One of our companies does some calibration in house and they house a software called Pilgrim. This is a more complete quality software program. Go to pilgrimsoftware.com let me know what you think.

calibrationd

I use GageTrak and love it. Yes it has all of the bells and whistles, some I use and some I don't. It gives you the ability to expand. There are parts that I did not use 5 years ago and would be lost without today. Remember that you get what you pay for. I have had nothing but great experiences with their tech support and have done beta testing for them. Make sure that you have enough gages to track to make it worthwhile. I would say 500 or more.

Well, I guess my vote is for GAGEtrak. We initially converted our cal program over to using this product based on my calibration tech's experience using it. We bought the validation package, but found it to be of little use and riddled with problems. At present, we are still working with Cybermetrix(sp?) to resolve issues as recently we found problems with the recalling of equipment. As best we can tell, we found two bugs (one that they knew of) that failed to recall 44 gages out of about 1500pcs of equipment logged into the database. I guess my disappointment here is that they tout their validation package to target businesses where this is a requirement, but it fails to meet expectations on the basic level. I'm also disappointed that they do not have a program in place to notify customers of known issues. This would have been helpful in potentially containing/preventing a recall observation during an audit. Luckily for us, we caught it during internal auditing.

Still, in comparison with Engage and another piece of software (I don't recall the name), the package does appear superior on many levels, especially with navigation. The other good thing is that their customer service with regards problem resolution gets a general thumbs up. While we've found problems, they seem willing to work them out to maintain customer satisfaction.

Regards,

Kevin

I'm biting the bullet, and looking at investing in some calibration/tracking software. Problem is, there are so many packages out there, and they ALL look and/or sound terrific.

But the proof is in the pudding, so I turn to those of you who have been using these for years...what software do you like/dislike, and why?

I am considering Gagetrak as one of my options, but I would love to hear from others who have used it....

Thanks


In my audits, I see GageTrak at least half the time. It is the clear winner as far as popularity. It seems to do all the standard things in a straightfprward manner. GagePACK is also common. I see it maybe 25% of the time. Everything else falls into the remaining 25%. No clear winner there.

It was said that this company bought GAGEpack from PQ systems instead of GAGEtrak from Cybermetrics by mistake, because of the similarity of the name. Maybe that's why you see GAGEpack 25% of the time.

I'm kidding it's a really good package. They're both good. I think they're about $700 or $1200 or something. I'm rebuilding the calibration system here to include industry standard procedures and full on MSA and without the total package software, it wouldn't be any fun.

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Yes, I was aware of the difference between GAGEPak and GAGETrak; I have used the PQ Systems package before, and found it less than outstanding.

ALthough I have a small number of gauges/instruments at present, the number will only continue to grow, so I feel it is more proactive to go with the 'good' package now, rather than implement something that will do for a while, and then have to repeat the whole exercise again in a few years.

Thanks again

MUDCATS from ESI Edison:2cents:

I have built a simple, easy to use access database for managing calibration. It meets the needs of our organization. What do you want this software to be able to do?

Hi Ron,

I'm new to this site and saw your question about calibration software. I have been using GageTrak for 7 years and find it easliy to use. Tech support is very good. I currently have 5600 items in the system with very few issues.

Bruce R..
Calibration technician

Since I have not seen anyone mention, I have been using Blue Mountain calibration software for about five years or more. They have a new version that is really nice.

Strengths:Ability for custom reports through Crystal; ER/ES compliant; designed to be validated; can handle different events (calibration/maintenance/performance check); for a fee, Blue Mountain can merge existing data into the new database.

Weaknesses: Not sure; I am certain it has some, but I have not found any glaring deficiencies while using it. I am not that familar with other calibration software to provide a comparison. I did have one of the packages on a trial basis. The trial software had a fixed number of reports, with an additional fee for extra reports.

I have also taken one of the Access sample databases (that comes with Access) and developed a fairly decent calibration database. I had calibration reports, queries, cal due status, standards, etc.

I think it has already been mentioned, but some considerations are how many instruments you have, the level of complexity/diversity in your instruments, how many people will view the data, the level of users required, etc.

Just a correction, but we're looking for calibration software also. The quoted price of $700-1200 is way off. GageTrak starts at $1995 for a one user package with no yearly maintenance, which is required.

I'm leaning toward writing my own at this point.

Just as an FYI, we have an Access database that we've been using (we're AS9100 registered), but got dinged because we couldn't justify our recall date methodology. Apparently, he wants to see a 95% confidence band calaculation on every gage. Good luck.

Echoing the past:

Gagetrack is an acceptable tracking software but if you are in an industry which requires validation, you might find that this is a tricky endeavor. We were never able to validate it to Part 11 despite three attempts. In the end, the $1200 pricetag is dwarfed by the validation expenses. Based upon your needs, it could be an acceptable tool. For the Medical Device Industry, it's a challenge that may not be solved. We opted to develop an SAP application using their PM module that ended up being a better solution. Again, the development and validation expenses here dwarf the $1200 expense. Be pragmatic in your decision on the tool is all I can say.

Regards,

Kevin

My company began using Gage InSite by IndySoft. www.indysoft.com (http://www.indysoft.com)

It has everything you need, custom reports, alarms, portable version, procedures and more.

We are very happy with it so far.

I have used a few purchased systems all of which worked okay but currently I am tracking less than 100 gages and all are hand tools - caliper and micrometes and the like. I stopped using the program they had as it wasn't flexible at all and put it all in excel, sort by date due, conditional formatting to highlight gages due and I'm there! Just need to check it regularly!