Paperless Systems - Software to become Paperless - Seeking Reviews and Opinions

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?