Signature on a Paper Document? Procedure and Work Instruction Approvals

Does anyone actually sign paper documents as approval evidence any more?


  • Total voters
    57
S

szohar

#41
We are working with a third-party vendor I'd prefer not to name yet (at least not until post-implementation and signoff, in the unlikely event the project doesn't work out as planned), and the vendor is adding custom code. We're not overlaying SharePoint with other out-of-the-box software - true custom code is being built from scratch to our specifications.

We are having a third-party PDF generator integrated into the system, however.

When the project is fully implemented, and I get my management's blessing to share more about the specifics, I'll be glad to offer more details.
 
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D

dnoah

#42
We have an approval sign-off sheet that we sign and then scan. The approval sheet is then linked to the procedures or parts through our MAX database. (Medical Device)
 
S

szohar

#43
We've found that having a paper-based approval process, even if the forms are scanned after completion (which we did for a while), still has the following issues:
  1. Signatures that can be collected simultaneously in practice still have to be sequential because a single package of approval paperwork has to make the rounds, which delays the process.
  2. A signature package can get buried on someone's desk or in someone's inbox for days or weeks, and there is no automatic means to track where the package/approval is, unless people do so manually using tools like spreadsheets, which is not something that can always be enforced.
  3. It can be politically damaging for an employee to have to "rat" out an approver who is holding things up.
Using an automated document control system that has built-in approval flows can permit simultaneous approvals if designed to support that functionality, and can track where an approval request might be stuck, and can notify management automatically if anyone is really lagging, which avoids the unpleasant politics of a staffer having to "rat" out the lagger.

Certainly, scanning the forms after they're filled in is better than just having paper, but there is so much more transparency and efficiency in the approval process when the entire approval workflow can be properly automated.
 
E

epowell65

#44
In the interest of full disclosure my company develops and sells paperless quality management systems that includes document control.
Regards,
Mary
Hello Mary,

I've been looking at products to manage documents with electronic signatures for some time. If you don't mind me asking, what is the name of the company/product?

Regards,
Ed
 
K

Kim Kilgore

#45
I have been written up during audits for having controlled copies on the floor without signatures.
You might get away with no signatures if your procedures state that printed copies are uncontrolled (or something along those lines)
 
A

assuranceman

#46
When installing electronic signature systems, be sure that you comply with Federal regulations for that industry. For example, the FAA has Advisory Circulars (AC) that describe the safeguards needed for Airworthiness Documents. The are other industies that are also regulated. The last headache you want is installing an electronic signature system and having a government safety inspector ask where are the originals and the original signatures.
 
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J

JaneB

#47
I have been written up during audits for having controlled copies on the floor without signatures.
Presumably because this contradicted what your own document control procedure specified. If so, that's down to the way doc control has been implemented in your organisation. And that can be changed to something more practical.
 
D

diamond31

#48
Does this mean you have "uncontrolled" work instructions out on the shop floor? I am going through a similar problem right now. We don't have computers at each work station but we have work instructions at each station. I have the "master" copies at my desk in the Production Control Office. Each time we update a document I have to physically update the shop floor.
I'm sure this isn't ISO friendly and we are being audited by our sister company in April and then ISO in about 6 months.

Is this similar to what your company was having problems with?

Thanks in advance!
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#49
Does this mean you have "uncontrolled" work instructions out on the shop floor? I am going through a similar problem right now. We don't have computers at each work station but we have work instructions at each station. I have the "master" copies at my desk in the Production Control Office. Each time we update a document I have to physically update the shop floor.
I'm sure this isn't ISO friendly and we are being audited by our sister company in April and then ISO in about 6 months.

Is this similar to what your company was having problems with?

Thanks in advance!
If you update the shop documents each time there is a change, then you are basically "controlling" those shop documents. You may not call them controlled, or do all the things your procedure requires, but it is being "controlled."
 
J

JaneB

#50
We don't have computers at each work station but we have work instructions at each station. I have the "master" copies at my desk in the Production Control Office. Each time we update a document I have to physically update the shop floor.
That sounds to me as though you do have controlled (as in the current, approved) version of instructions available, which is all the whole thing of 'controlling' documents aims to achieve!

You don't have to have computers at all, though distributing via computer/network etc usually makes it much easier and quicker, by removing the need to go round and physically update.

I'm sure this isn't ISO friendly
Really? Why not? If you're referring to your way of controlling things (update procedure), I don't see the problem.
 
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