Hello To All!
At present I'am in-charge in the QMS/Standardization section of our company. I would like to know which software do you prefer in making of Work Instruction that will involve many pictures and text characters. Is it better to use the Microsoft Word than the Microsoft Excel? I hope you can share your current practice in your company. Thank You in advance for all the invaluable feedbacks.

Best Regards,

domonrage

We use Microsoft Word and paste pictures in approriate sections for those WI / procedures.

We are using Coral Draw 12 for this purpose.

Rashid

Hello To All!
At present I'am in-charge in the QMS/Standardization section of our company. I would like to know which software do you prefer in making of Work Instruction that will involve many pictures and text characters. Is it better to use the Microsoft Word than the Microsoft Excel? I hope you can share your current practice in your company. Thank You in advance for all the invaluable feedbacks.

Best Regards,

domonrage

In general, Word works much better than Excel for this type of thing. Too many people try to make Excel (and other spreadsheet software) do things that are beyond what it's really good at.

Generally, Word works better with the work instructions. Word also provides the ability to do basic annotations on our pictures.

We current use a combination of Word/Powerpoint, but we're looking to move to something that will better manage our docs.

If you're into saving money, OpenOffice has a program like MS Word.

There are some very nice programs out there that are specific for documents like Work Instructions (http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-1385417534940691&channel=6124086287&cof=FORID%3A1%3BGL%3A1%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2FElsmar.com%2FForums%2F%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Felsmar.com%2Fpng%2Fheader-G-search.png%3BLH%3A50%3BLW%3A350%3BLBGC%3A000099%3BT%3A%230000ff%3BLC%3A%23000000%3BVLC%3A%23663399%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3B&domains=Elsmar.com&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&q=work+instruction+software&btnG=Search&sitesearch=).

A lot depends upon your company size, the complexity of your processes, and things like that.

Many companies use Word or Excel for documents like these because they have the programs on thier computers. Programs specific to documents like work instructions are an expense.

Bottom line is, if it works for you it doesn't matter what software you use. Expense wise, companies should be looking at applications like the Open Office suite.

Starting out you are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the new technologies out there. I highly recommend that you use a wiki (http://elsmar.com/wiki/index.php/Using_a_wiki_for_QMS_documentation). You will find it much better than working with any desktop app.

Good luck!
Pancho