When New Forms are Released, Should a Form Transition Period be Allowed?

D

darkafar

#1
When new forms are released, should a transition period be allowed to make the transition smoothly?
Our customer demands us to replace the obsolete forms immediately once the new forms are released. I don’t think their demand justified, so I want to seek others’ opinion or check if the standards have this requirement.
 
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G

Gert Sorensen

#2
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

When new forms are released, should a transition period be allowed to make the transition smoothly?
Our customer demands us to replace the obsolete forms immediately once the new forms are released. I don’t think their demand justified, so I want to seek others’ opinion or check if the standards have this requirement.
Sure they should be replaced immediately. There is a reason - justified or not - that the forms have been revised. That change needs to be implemented. Secondly, you can't have more than one version of a document being current at the same time. How would employees ever know what form to use if the attitude towards document control was that "we'll implement it smoothly and when convenient for us"???
 

Bev D

Heretical Statistician
Staff member
Super Moderator
#3
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

It depends on the reason for the change. if the change is merely to correct typos (that don't change the obvious meaning of word or words) or to change the look/feel of the form tehre is no need for an immediate change out of the forms since they are essentially the same.
If the chagne is to eliminate the collection of some data or information that you have found to be unecessarry, the changeout could also be gradual since collecting or not collecting that data has been determined to be irrelevant.
If you make a change to the form that adds data to collected or significantly 'improves' the content of the data or information collected the forms should be changed out immediately as you have determined that the additonal data is necessary.

However I thnk the real point here is that you shouldn't have a lot of copies of any form. copy inventory shoudl be kept to a minimum to avoid these situations. electronic forms are an ideal solution
 
D

donaghadee - 2008

#4
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

Generally all our forms come in immediately. If they do not then all change on a specific date. I agree that there cannot be two versions of one form in operation at the same time.
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#5
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

It depends on the reason for the change. if the change is merely to correct typos (that don't change the obvious meaning of word or words) or to change the look/feel of the form tehre is no need for an immediate change out of the forms since they are essentially the same.
If the chagne is to eliminate the collection of some data or information that you have found to be unecessarry, the changeout could also be gradual since collecting or not collecting that data has been determined to be irrelevant.
If you make a change to the form that adds data to collected or significantly 'improves' the content of the data or information collected the forms should be changed out immediately as you have determined that the additonal data is necessary.

However I thnk the real point here is that you shouldn't have a lot of copies of any form. copy inventory shoudl be kept to a minimum to avoid these situations. electronic forms are an ideal solution

It depends on the reason for the change. I fully agree. Some forms cover a span of days. Why make people do the work over again, if the change is not substantive?
 

Ajit Basrur

Staff member
Admin
#6
Hi darkafar,

Yes, once the new forms are obsoleted, the old forms shall be immediately obsoleted. The intent is not to have two versions of the form at that time. We have a very good system for Document / record change. Each change is determined whether its a Major / Minor change and if training is required or not and accordingly the new record is handled. All our records are saved in a shared directory and thus the user can verify if its the latest version.

As a precautionary measure, we have a provision in the header where the user has to verify the printed record against the shared directory electronic copy and sign.

Regarding the transition period, it can be handled in 2 ways -

1. If the change is critical, then have a delayed effective date so as to conduct all trainings prior to its effective date.

2. If the change is not critical, ensure that everyone using the form is notified, through your internal procedures.

Hope I have clarified.
 

ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Staff member
Super Moderator
#7
I'm in the "immediatly replace" crowd.
Train on the new form, gather up the the old ones, distribute the new ones, destroy the old ones.
 

Coury Ferguson

Moderator here to help
Staff member
Super Moderator
#8
When new forms are released, should a transition period be allowed to make the transition smoothly?
Our customer demands us to replace the obsolete forms immediately once the new forms are released. I don’t think their demand justified, so I want to seek others’ opinion or check if the standards have this requirement.
I would release the new forms as soon as practical. Meaning, after appropriate training in the use of the forms. What does your Procedures state regarding document control and records? Is there a timeframe that has been established?
 

Cari Spears

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
#9
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

It depends on the reason for the change.
Exactly.:agree1:
Bev D said:
However I thnk the real point here is that you shouldn't have a lot of copies of any form. copy inventory shoudl be kept to a minimum to avoid these situations. electronic forms are an ideal solution
Exactly.:agree1:
 

Le Chiffre

Quite Involved in Discussions
#10
Re: Should a form transition period be allowed?

In general it's easy to implement an immediate change over to the newest form but what about active forms already in the system? Is this the real issue here?
It depends on the reason for the change. I fully agree. Some forms cover a span of days. Why make people do the work over again, if the change is not substantive?
Indeed, some forms can be active for days, weeks or even months. Then it becomes a decision based on the seriousness of the change. If it's to correct a potential problem caused by an inadequacy of the form, all active records based on the old form that are still likely to encounter the probelm should be recreated on the new form. Otherwise I'd just allow the old forms to filter through the system and implement a "for new records using this form" only change.

It seems very Orwellian 1984'ish to go back and re-enter historic data on new forms!
 
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