Enhancing QMS software can come with a big price tag, but if done right, can add huge savings down the road.  The key is to set things in stages; don’t over-complicate from the beginning. This can have dire  consequences.  I’ve seen companies make poor configuration decisions that got such negative attention from the everyday users, that the backlash forced the company to change software providers.

From 3pillarglobal.com:

“BCG estimates that 70% of digital transformation efforts fall short of meeting targets. A 2020 CISQ report found that the total cost of unsuccessful development projects among US firms is an estimated $260B, while the total cost of operational failures caused by poor quality software is estimated at $1.56 trillion. The Standish Group’s 2020 CHAOS report estimates that around 66% of software projects fail.”

Want to avoid these mistakes for a successful implementation of your Quality Management software project?  Follow the 3 pillars below:

1. Keep it Simple!

This cannot be overstated enough.  Keeping the setup as close to out of the box to start, is crucial.  For example, let’s say you have a Subject Matter Expert on the customer side who wants the system built to exactly how the want, based on their expectation.  The system gets heavily configured and customized.  The SME leaves the company 6 months later, and a new SME comes in to the role and wants a massive overhaul to the configurations.  This happens more often than you think.  Oversight of the GAP Sessions and scoping are absolutely crucial to the success (or failure) of any software configuration project.  If you keep the project simple to start, get your users comfortable with the system, and then incrementally add configurations, your users will see those changes that they have requested, and can add a level of confidence to their usage of the system.  Setup the configuration changes in sprints, utilizing 3 week sprints to make incremental changes.  Over the course of the year, you will see your system develop into a robust, mature platform the your users will not mind using.

2. Easy to Find Information/Data

Once challenge we always see is finding data/records quickly.  When you are live with your QMS software, and are accumulating hundreds/thousands of records of data, being able to find the data can be a challenge, and a source of frustration.  Setting clear expectations during configurations and ensuring users understand this concept is critical.  Most software contains views or tables (a way to lookup or retrieve data within the system).  These should have individual column search capabilities, as well as some sort of advanced search functionality.  Column search would let users type in data in a column, and filter the data based on that column information.  Advanced search would allow a deeper dive across additional information, such as date range filters (to and from dates), keywords across multiple fields, and more.  Finding data is crucial to getting work completed in a timely fashion as well. 

3. Filter Ideas Accordingly

This simply means don’t implement all ideas that come into your idea board.  If the owner of the company comes to the idea board with something ridiculous, question it.  If a user has a brilliant idea, but it gets shot down by his/her manager, question it.  Don’t add all ideas, but make sure you have a flow or process to determine the best ideas, and that they go through the proper channels for determining if they are a good fit.

Conclusion

Enhancing software is a fluid process that requires lots of vision, understanding and technical acumen.  One configuration change to a field could have multiple impacts downstream, and vice versa.Ensure you have a smart process in place before getting started, and follow the above guidance to ensure the process goes and flows as smooth as possible!