Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

M

merrick65

#1
We are thinking about purchasing this program and I would like to know if anyone has any past experiences with this software. We are a medium size calibration house and currently use in house developed calibration software. The big advantage I see for this software is that it is internet based and our tech's can access it from anywhere. Any feedback (+ or -) would be very helpful.
 
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BradM

Staff member
Admin
#3
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

Merrick, I have not used this software before. Do you do any FDA work, where you would be concerned with electronic records/electronic signatures?

Have you been using Access or Excel? What is your motivation for moving to calibration software? Just curious.:D
 
M

merrick65

#4
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

We do not do any FDA work but are a ISO17025 accredited calibration lab. We have been using Access for the database and a combination of excel and word for the certificates. We also are using a accounting software (Dba). We convert the certificates to a pdf and store on our website to give our customers online access to their cert's. Our thinking is that we could consolidate all the above listed programs and use just one. Also right now the service technicians have to daily email the cert's into the office and Access has to then be updated and the cert's posted to the website. This program would allow us to skip this step.
 
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D

Dale P

#5
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

We use it and like any software has good and bad.

Web based also provides the possibility of customer's being given access to viewing and printing their own certs.
 
M

MSchwartz

#6
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

Most of the problems people have with off the shelf software is that it does not match their business mode. I recommend you see if you can get the manufacturer of the software to let you use a copy for a couple of months to test run the software. This is the best way to make sure you get what you need with an off the shelf solution.

Most of the software on the market we written for a company then the decided the rest of the world should do business they way they do. And you end up with software that may or may not work for your lab.

If you have looked at all the solutions on the market and none of them do exactly what you need it to do. Drop me a line. Let me know what they are not able to do that you need it to do. If I know of any solutions that will do what you need I will point you their way. (I have looked at just about everything on the market.)

From there you are into looking at a custom solution. That is my companies niche in the market.

Good Luck in your search / evaluation.
 
D

Daniel Walker - 2011

#7
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

This is an old thread but I can't resist. I would not suggest CalWorks by Norvada to anyone. I attempted to utilize it for our company and it did not work out at all. I believe there is only one person working there and changes or customization is impossible to get completed. What should have been a 3 - 4 week implementation took 12 months and still did not ever get completed!

This is my personal opinion of the software/company.
 
M

MSchwartz

#8
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

Daniel,
There are a lot of companies \ people that thing software is easy. They think that just because they wrote a solution that worked for their company they can make that solution work for another company. Pretty soon they are all caught up in changes, quick fixes, and patches. Before you know it their software is an unsupportable mess and they don't know why. Then you see them fold and go out of business.

Making a computer do what you tell it to do is easy, but to develop an asset management solution that can be customized to meet everybody's needs is very difficult. Then best analogy I can come up with is poetry. Any one can write words on paper, but it takes a poet to make it elegant. The same is true for software, it takes a good computer programmer to write good supportable code (it has to be elegant).

I took us four years to take our Asset Management Solution from concept to product. We are still writing updates for our customers, but the core has remained unchanged. What we have managed to do is write the first ever 100% web-based Asset Calibration and Management solution.

And I agree about the time tables. I hate companies that understate the delivery dates. I hate that customers make their buying decisions on lies told by sales people. We do not over sell our product, or promise things we know we can't deliver. I can't tell you how many times we have lost sales to lying sales people from the competition.

Anyways.. I am venting.

I hope you find a solution that works for your company.
 
K

kathie

#9
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

Daniel, our company (which is a lab calibration company) is having the exact same experience that you seem to have had and I still can't get Norvada to respond in a reasonable timeframe. I also wonder whether there is more than one person working in this organization as there is only one person I have ever been allowed access to. I have asked several times if there is someone else I can work with given the extremely slow response times and have been ignored every time I have asked. I've also asked for technical documentation as their manual does not fully convey all help topics clearly enough. We are not asking for customization except for reports that our company needs to conduct business using this software. I have been given timeframes that have never been met and I never receive a response from them without several emails and voice mails from me that can go for weeks before I hear from them again. I can't believe that I received the good customer reviews given me considering how unresponsive the company is with us (however, I did obtain these reviews 1 1/2 to 2 yrs ago). It absolutely is not customer service oriented or supportive. Our company is now struggling with the decision of whether to continue or not as it has gotten so bad. We have worked on this since the summer of 2008 and still are not actively using the software as we should - we do not receive responses from Norvada nor assistance/guidance when the software is not operating correctly. Neither I nor my company can recommend this software or Norvada.
 
D

Daniel Walker - 2011

#10
Re: CalWorks by Norvada - Has anyone used CalWorks Calibration Software?

Daniel, our company (which is a lab calibration company) is having the exact same experience that you seem to have had and I still can't get Norvada to respond in a reasonable timeframe..........
Wow, my story to a tee. Seems like you have been working on it a little longer than I have. I gave up after 12 months. I have absolutely NOTHING to show for my time and money invested in the project. I can't even run the mobile program. And yes, there is only one person working there now, allegedly.

MY advice to you is to cut your losses and move towards a more reputable software provider such as Gage InSite (by Indysoft), GageTrack, MudCats, etc. There are lots of suggested providers in the Calibration Software forum of this site.

These are MY personal opinions about the CalWorks software. My posts have no intent of conveying my company's views.:cool:
 
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