I have been looking at software to become paperless. We have 4 plants currently registared to the QS 9000 standard and would like to get them all paperless very soon. I have looked at numerous software programs and demos are deceiving. Are there any paperless QS 9000 registered facilites that can suggest software they are currently using? I have heard lots of horror stories from auditors on several of the more popular softwares. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

isoXpert with Lotus Notes and Powerway are two that I have used that are very good.
The down side of lotus notes is that it is not "user friendly".

Unfortunately our systems personnel are extremely busy. I have even thought of the local college for assistance.

I looked at Powerway and went to one of their seminars. I was close to purchasing their product until I contacted some of the contacts they provided. Some of the replies were not favorable. Powerway is also more expensive than any other software that I looked at because they sell it by module.

No, we do not run Lotus Notes. I will investigate the isoXpert and see what they have.

Have you thought about having your IS folks write a database for you?

Are you folks running LotusNotes? I assume you have a WAN.

My division has been using ISOxpert for almost a year. It is very easy to personalize if you are at all familiar with Notes, if not I would highly suggest the training courses. The training courses are extremely expensive, $250 US for a couple hours over the phone, and a whole lot more for an actual in-person training session. I would suggest that you take a general Notes course and play with the program for a while.
All in all, ISOxpert has worked out very well, and the newer version is supposed to be even better. I don't think Powerway has that much of a better product, its just a lot more expensive.

Steph

ISI has some good stuff.....KeyFile is excellent....and a new one i just saw, but the name excapes me at the moment, was pretty good too (it interfaces with your officeprograms)... (I'll go and check for the name...its out of Canada i think)

All that said....I like a home grown system best. if you go canned be sure you can manipulate it to suit your needs...no sense adding pain to the process.

AdobeAcrobat 'pdf files' is a good way to go as well..ensures compatability with any system, only needs a license for the writers...reader is a free download..nice cause you can do drawings, and send to suppliers, etc. and not worry which version of what software people have...a plus for several locations

[This message has been edited by barb butrym (edited 05 October 1999).]

[This message has been edited by barb butrym (edited 05 October 1999).]

Tell you what ! the way I have my procedures is on Microsoft Word with Visio ( flowchart) embedded and use Microsoft Access for all the rest of the bells and whistles. Couldn't be simpler.

Sounds great, George! But could you give us some more details?

That is my generic plan as well....its clean and neat...but recently, I have taken that one step further and posted on the "system network" using adobe pdf.....so we could add cad stuff. I used to just 'read only' with MS office stuff, but they added sites, not all systems were running the same software...word -vs-worf perfect...all sorts of variations of revs as well.some even had MAC..so as a quick fix we did pdf ...but it worked so well...they kept it even when everyone finially talked to the same software.

I'm being nasty and cross-posting. This guy pissed me off....

--------snippo-------

I was checking out some prices on software for a client and called Powerway. They gave me a guy named David Armstrong. He flat out told me Powerway doesn't work with consultants. I said I just was trying to get some prices on modules and he told me in so many words prices are none of my business.

From this - before you consider Powerway, consider their attitude and karma. And why do they want to hide their prices anyway?

barb:

What can you tell me about ISI? Is their web site ISI.com and do you have any prices?

I talked with CyberMetrics and their SUPPLIERtrak ran about US$1K a seat.

I'm really looking for some basic non-conformance / corrective action stuff. I'm not sure I want to learn Access.... Then again...

What I have is a 120 soul company which is really an equipment supplier. It's an ISO effort, so I realize this isn't exactly the right forum, but the thread topic is close.

This was e-mailed to me. I am posting it because David Armstrong's policy is obviously not Powerway policy. Fair is fair:

Subject: Comments on Powerway
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:47:24 -0500
From: bill cox - dwcox@Powerway.com
To: Forum_Mail@qs9000.com

As a member of the management team for POWERWAY, reading the comments from Mr. Smith were very disturbing. After investigating the incident I would like to offer Mr. Smith or anyone who has similar comments to contact me direct at 1-800-964-9004 X6778 or at dwcox@powerway.com . In reference to POWERWAY products and services sometimes our competitors, become disgruntled when trying to acquire prices before discussing their goals and objectives with us. Each company we work with is very different and the pricing structure is different for the modules depending on whether they are single workstations or a network environment. Our single unit prices are $825.00 per module. and our network unit prices $595.00 per module. (Note: discounts are assigned by the number of units purchased).

If you need further assistance on specifics please feel free to contact us direct. We offer Training and Consulting as well.

[This message has been edited by Marc Smith (edited 19 November 1999).]

I am a little intrigued about all the Software discussions on this web-site. I think i am missing something, maybe becuase i havent had the time recently to go to demo's and i dont very often get involved in QS.

I can see the sense in getting as much of your documentation loaded onto a central server somewhere, and distributing by E Mail. I also have good experience of spreading the message through company Intranets. But can anybody educate me of other advantages from proprietry software.

Regards
Andy

------------------
Andy B

Sometimes a 'canned' solution makes sense. Sometimes not. There are a lot of factors: Company size, intranet/LAN/WAN capabilities/equipment, distribution of desktop computers (access issues), desktop hardware, resources (personnel) to write, say, a specialized database in something like MS Access, current software (like mrp on an AS400) and systems, etc., etc.

Some things like document control can be handled by canned systems OK, but then again. For example, say your level 2's are flow charts. How will the canned software handle it? Canned systems are generally pretty structured. What if you want to add a field or change formatting? My own opinion is that choice 1 should be write a customized database specific to your business.

I guess I haven't really given you positive aspects, though. Well, they can be simple for some companies to implement, I guess.

Some canned software only makes sense - such as gage control with R&R and such.

Sometimes a company doesn't have internal folks who can write, say, an Access or Filemaker database and hiring someone from the outside will sometimes exceed the price of canned software.

Any other takers on this one?

marc...ISI's web site is intergalsolutions.com or something similar spelled out. Haven't been communicating with them lately, actually I just do the Access thing more and more. Its simple to just walk through and the wizard does it all. That and a cheat book I have is all the training I had...the book is "Access for busy people"....and have seen many others that do the trick as well (just like the "dummies" ones).... you can get fancy, but not worth the bother. the Access for 97 was made simple...prior to that I wouldn't attempt it...and I understand 2000 is even better, although have not seen it.

We are using an Israeli product called QSOFT. This is now available in English, whilst it is not PPAP or APQP orientated it is possible to use for a paperless system. It has the advantage of the ability to add your own applications very easily.
Contact qsoft@inter.net.il for more info.

Has anyone out there used MasterControls Document Control System? I would like some feedback from users of this software. This is currently the one I am looking at.

The ISI website url is http://www.integsolutions.com

If anyone has any experience with their software, please let me know if it is a good program as our company is looking at purchasing it.

There is a corrective action software that is put out by the Harrington Group. The Harrington Group also has many other software programs for quality. I have no experience with these programs other than the demos. Their website is http://www.harrington-group.com

Again, I would appreciate any feedback regarding either Integral solutions software or the Harrington Group's, or both.

Thanks!

We use the Audit Master 3 for our internal audits and we are very pleased. You can change the configurations on their documents and incorporate your company logo. It also allows you to control the users access. Not expensive at all and very user friendly.
In the past we used their document control software but it did not meet our needs for the paperless system we are trying to achieve.

I'm closing this thread here and reopening it in the 'new' Quality Assurance Software forum (*not* the Software Quality Assurance forum).

Go to http://Elsmar.com/ubb/Forum27/HTML/000004.html

[This message has been edited by Marc Smith (edited 15 December 1999).]