Interesting Discussion Using a Wiki to implement a Quality Management System (QMS)

[Pancho]

What determines the effectiveness of the training?
How do you determine that the person is competent after the training?

Regarding training on our company procedures: a trainee performs under the supervision of a more experienced person for a while. Competency is determined by that supervisor by observing the trainee's work product. If the training was ineffective, or if a particular area needs reinforcing, the supervisor or process owner will either raise a CAR or schedule additional training.

Regarding general training and competency for a post, we have minimum requirements in schooling and experience for each position, and we keep records of those.

 

[sfazal]

Thank you for the further information.

 

[QualitySystem2011]

Dear All,

First of all thank you for your great contributions.

I have a question regarding Semantic Wiki. Did anyone use Semantic Wiki engine instead of standard Wiki engine? If anyone has an experience or information about it, could you please share with us?

Many thanks...

 

[WALLACE]

I've been using WikiSummarizer and I can certainly see the use of the expanded Web/DocSummarizer functionality within business management and inventory systems.

Take a look at WikiSummarizer here: http://www.wikisummarizer.com/

Wallace Tait

 

[Chance]

Is this attainable utilizing SharePoint Wiki Site without any other add ons?

 

[WALLACE]

the functionality applies to web pages, documents, and specific content management apps like SharePoint, etc...

 

[Chance]

It's great to hear of another successful wiki implementation.

Regarding your concern about "the tiresome nature of obtaining and managing signatures", there's probably some working solutions to help you here. How are you handling signatures at the moment? Are they electronic? Or do you save a handwritten copy of the document somewhere?

One provision that helped us was to define the minimum level of signing authorities for the various document types. For example a Work Instruction may need a review signature of the author's peer and approval by their manager, whereas a SOP requires department head review and QM approval.

Our system of banners for wiki articles can allow an article to be created as draft, reviewed and approved once complete, with an authorized representative changing the banner to controlled. The article's history record will show who did this and when it was done. By changing the banner to controlled, the authorized representative (document controller or QM rep) is confirming they have witnessed the review and approval by the required authorities. A written record of the review & approval may be kept in some cases, but not many. The records of review are logged in the discussion section of the wiki article by a minute taker and "signed" by the attendees (they add their acceptance by editing the discussion which gets recorded in the wiki's edit history).

Wiki changes don't necessarily need official review. Subsequent drafts will be visible to all, allowing refinements and crowd-sourced corrections to be made as the content matures, under a watchful eye of an owner or other responsible authority (the wiki's watch lists are good for this). If the changes are significant then a new controlled version can be "issued" by re-reviewing the content/changes and obtaining the necessary clearance for approval. The "permanent id" number in the banner is updated and the users are informed of a new controlled version by email or whatever.

Is the attachement code not applicable to SharePoint?

 

[steveha]

Hi Pancho,
This thread has got me excited, and in 15 years of being a Technical Writer I have never associated the nature of my work with the word “exciting”…
It is timely for me, in that I am in the middle of a huge project to verify, update, reformat, and implement an automated review system for a group of over 500 documents we have identified as “official” company docs. Your discussion with Obstacle3 is pertinent for me, as I foresee the need (if we went with a Wiki approach) for us to still keep some docs in Word/pdf format for use by users external to the company. I work for a busy Airport with many other companies operating here, and we need to provide them with copies of many different docs, which ideally need to “look the part” (ie, like a Manual looks, with headers & footers, a glossy cover page, etc, etc). They need to look professional, rather than a sheaf of printouts from a website. One example are our “Airside Driving Rules”.
Does the Wiki have a neat solution to this, in terms of both external access and the output generated (electronic file, printout, etc)?
At present we have a document management system we call FileSite, but it also goes by other names (Autonomy was one) the “front end” of which operates from within Microsoft Outlook. It has some problems including not handling Excel files with multiple layers of links, and not handling CAD files. We also have an Intranet which uses Sharepoint, which I then have to upload docs into from FileSite (ie different server), but we cannot link the 2 systems so that the docs are in one place only (we COULD do this but the money needed to implement it was not approved). THEN I also have to upload the docs which EXTERNAL users need to have access to into our company website (separate server again), so they can have access to the most up-to-date versions. Again, there is no link to automate this (like a “listener” for eg), so it relies on me remembering to do it when there is an update to a doc.
Would you have any advice on the various wiki platforms we could use in terms of compatability with what we already have (I am rather dumb about the tech side of all this)??
cheers!!

 

[steveha]

Sure...the case is bulding up..once done ..i will be happy to share with you guys.

Hari

... not sure what happened with Hari's Business Case (that was 2009), but I see so much potential from this type of system I am almost duty-bound to put one together for our company - is anyone prepared to share their Business Case for a Wiki to give me some guidance??

Thanks folks

P.S. fantastic site, thanks for everyone's input!!

 

[Pancho]

Hi Pancho,
This thread has got me excited, and in 15 years of being a Technical Writer I have never associated the nature of my work with the word “exciting”…
It is timely for me, in that I am in the middle of a huge project to verify, update, reformat, and implement an automated review system for a group of over 500 documents we have identified as “official” company docs. Your discussion with Obstacle3 is pertinent for me, as I foresee the need (if we went with a Wiki approach) for us to still keep some docs in Word/pdf format for use by users external to the company. I work for a busy Airport with many other companies operating here, and we need to provide them with copies of many different docs, which ideally need to “look the part” (ie, like a Manual looks, with headers & footers, a glossy cover page, etc, etc). They need to look professional, rather than a sheaf of printouts from a website. One example are our “Airside Driving Rules”.
Does the Wiki have a neat solution to this, in terms of both external access and the output generated (electronic file, printout, etc)?
At present we have a document management system we call FileSite, but it also goes by other names (Autonomy was one) the “front end” of which operates from within Microsoft Outlook. It has some problems including not handling Excel files with multiple layers of links, and not handling CAD files. We also have an Intranet which uses Sharepoint, which I then have to upload docs into from FileSite (ie different server), but we cannot link the 2 systems so that the docs are in one place only (we COULD do this but the money needed to implement it was not approved). THEN I also have to upload the docs which EXTERNAL users need to have access to into our company website (separate server again), so they can have access to the most up-to-date versions. Again, there is no link to automate this (like a “listener” for eg), so it relies on me remembering to do it when there is an update to a doc.
Would you have any advice on the various wiki platforms we could use in terms of compatability with what we already have (I am rather dumb about the tech side of all this)??
cheers!!

Hi Steveha,

Yup, wikis are exciting stuff, particularly for writing. You clearly have lots of fun ahead with your project.

For converting word and PDFs to and from the wiki, try Confluence.

Good luck!
Pancho