QMS/ Training Management Software

[BeaBea]

Hi there,

It's been a year now that we received our ISO 9001 certification. I created a QMS entirely from scratch including a Training Matrix to capture certifications and employee OJTs.
My small business company is growing and we are now over 50 employees.

I maintain the entire QMS manually, by file share and excel. It is now starting to get challenging keeping track of document control and revisions, but more specifically keeping up with employee required trainings.

I was wondering what sort of QMS software you all use and the pros and cons.
I'm looking for an affordable simple software to help me stay organized with my needs, but everything I have looked into so for is well over 10k a year. As I said I'm a small business and 10k is way out of our budget.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Ninja]

Howdy BeaBea,

FWIW, we found them all far too expensive as well, and built our own using FilemakerPro and Filemaker server.
We could build in whatever functionality we wanted in order to tailor it to our specific needs...and we could build as much or little as actually needed...
...but we had to build it.
See Document Control Software

I do not work for Filemaker or Apple or Claris.

 

[Randy]

I've seen and audited extremely well managed systems that just use MS Office

 

[Jen Kirley]

Hi BeaBea,

It is great news that your small business is growing!

I agree with Randy: is it possible to do some nice things with MS Office products, especially Excel. There may be better places to invest your $thousands.

There are many free attachments here in The Cove. Click on the Attachment List link in the header to search them. I just attached an updated Vehicle Log in the thread Maintenance Spreadsheet to Monitor the Maintenance Process of a Fleet wanted. In another thread titled Developing a ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Plan and Schedule I attached an internal audit program manager using Excel. I put a suggested risk planner tool in the thread Confusion about Risks for Processes in ISO 9001:2015. Please note I said suggested; there are many ways to recognize and address risk. I have seen is so many people not realizing how much they can give themselves credit for if they just walk through what they do with me.

I regrettably don't have a whiz-bang training database to share here now. It does seem like a good next project though. . But until then, the matrix is a powerful tool. If you include time frames for dates next due, you can use conditional formatting and pivot charts in Excel to highlight trainings coming due and overdue if your sheet contains a cell with today's date: formula is =TODAY() to compare the current status to.

I hope this helps!

 

[Ninja]

I regrettably don't have a whiz-bang training database to share here now. It does seem like a good next project though. .

Hi Jen,

I:
- remain a Filemaker developer,
- Have a fair amount of free time
- Enjoy building dbases
- Have FMP installed on my company's computers and servers
- recognize that FMP can save as a "runtime" dbase which can be used without having to buy software (as long as the builder has the software).
- am happy to help.

PM me if you want to pursue this...I have experience only with a few companies and a few auditors...so I haven't gone into it myself.
You have seen a whole lot more and may be a good resource/outlet for more thorough experience across what companies would benefit from.

I do something radically different "for a living"...so it wouldn't even count as a conflict of interests.

 

[marcm]

FWIW, we found them all far too expensive as well, and built our own using FilemakerPro and Filemaker server.
We could build in whatever functionality we wanted in order to tailor it to our specific needs...and we could build as much or little as actually needed...

I would love to talk to you about this. mmathys gmail

 

[Sam.F]

Hi Jen
We are looking into buying software too. And we found:
1. Ideagen.com/products/q-pulse-qms
2. Qmstrak.com
3. qt9qms.com

And we are looking for cybersecurity consultants as well.

Hopefully my findings can help you.

Regards