How does your QMS System Evolve?

I remember going onsite to visit a customer in 2020, and their QMS system had not been updated since 2008.  Keep in mind, many cell phones still had a stylus in 2008, or were a flip phone.  Yes, that long ago.  I remember discussing with them the reason they had not updated since 2008.  “Our system is too configured to update.  It would take us years”.

The definition of software evolution is “Software evolution is the continual development of a piece of software after its initial release to address changing stakeholder and/or market requirements. Software evolution is important because organizations invest large amounts of money in their software and are completely dependent on this software.”  So, what’s at the core of the issue?  Well, there are several components.  Let’s break those down:

1. Flexibility of Business Processes

If you are working with your services team to build and scope the QMS software configurations, and there are gaps between the system processes and your processes, you might need to be flexible and bend a little.  Perhaps your process can be slightly rewritten so you don’t have to update configurations.  These types of changes can go a long way to simplifying the process of updating your system down the road.

1. Start Small, and Scale

This can’t be stated more clearly.  When you over-complicate your QMS system from day 1, you will fail.  From changes in personnel, not documenting the process or providing clear and concise training, anything can happen to make your software difficult and challenging to use.  Start small, and scale as you need. 

1. Train, Train, Train

When users are not comfortable with the software and there are gaps and challenges, they will complain, and that can quickly escalate to the top, causing challenges and questions to whether the right software was chosen.  When this happens, it can take a long time, if ever, to get buy in from top management again.  Make sure that training is delivered in a very concise and structured roll out.  If there are bugs or gaps, make sure they are noted and identified that they will be addressed, and if there are any workarounds currently, point those out.  Training can be the difference between calm, or a storm. 

While this list is not exhaustive by any means, it does cover a few of the key areas that should be addressed before any QMS software project gets going.  If you need help identifying your gaps and direction, or you’ve built your system and you need concise training plans developed, call us.  We can help.