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Companies relying on the traditional spreadsheet to manage their QMS often find it to be overwhelming to manage as the data volume continues to grow. Those using spreadsheets have to contend with issues like how best to collaborate when working within the same sheet or how to maintain data integrity. Accupoint's quality management system can be advantageous for organizations that want to save time and improve productivity when managing compliance data.

Top advantages of a quality management software solution

Companies are utilizing quality management software to answer the need for a better data management and process analytics. Both management and team members alike recognize the value in being able to better manage large volumes of data in order to improve their process information flow.

Benefits of an Integrated System 

1. Accupoint’s quality management systems can automate your program updates based on parameters set. This means that you don’t have to worry about changing and overhauling your system because the solution evolves as your business needs do.

2. Accupoint improves data integrity. Redundancy of data, entry protocols, system updates and records maintenance can all be done conveniently from within the software solution. Pulling accurate reporting is easiest when information is consolidated and entered uniformly.

3. Detecting emerging trends across different areas of the organization is simplified with Accupoint’s quality management solution. The information is securely stored within the centralized system, which makes all of the data is available for review in real-time. Accessibility to real-time data enables smart, quick decision-making across the board.

4. While spreadsheets can hold a large amount of data, keeping information secure and reliable as data continues to grow presents its share of challenges. Scalable quality manage systems empower teams to seamlessly expand their solutions to accommodate growing customer and regulatory requirements.

5. Accupoint’s solutions offer flexibility in how data is entered. Individuals can choose to enter data traditionally or through other methods such as scanning or geo-tagging. These options facilitate collaboration and reduce error rates among those handling information. 

6. User-friendly methods to track a range of information are an additional advantage to transitioning to Accupoint’s solution family. Tracking training progress, quality standard updates, testing cycles, and auditing results can all be done conveniently through one single user interface.

Cutting costs using accurate real-time data and improved collaboration are the most common reasons for making the switch to an Accupoint quality management software solution. Better reporting, collaboration, data integrity, and analysis become possible with the right system and solution in place.
 
For more information on Accupoint Software or to schedule a platform demonstration, please  visit us at www.accupointsoftware.com.
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A service validation is a comprehensive examination meant to confirm that an existing, new or changed service performs as intended. However, when we talk about section 8.5.1 of the ISO 9001:2015 the difference between service/design validation and service/design verification can be confusing.
 
Service/design validation processes, specifically, are quality control processes that demonstrate product/service consistency, quality, and durability. They ensure that the service/design does what it is intended to do.
 
This aspect of quality management is particularly important in situations “where the resulting output cannot be verified by subsequent monitoring or measurement.” One example of where service/design validation is critical would be a welding process where the strength of each individual weld cannot be tested without damaging the product.

These sort of real-world necessities create quite a bind; how do you test without testing?  To resolve this, service providers need to create test environments where they can perform their service process, in spaces that duplicate the workspace and conditions where the service will be performed. Once the service environment is duplicated, the tests perform a full check on each step of the service, or creation of the product: You have to perform the service on a test platform, where each step of the service can be examined, measured, and evaluated.

In order to achieve this kind of testing, providers should consider adopting practices such as:
​
  • Service validation tests designed and carried out by the people who haven’t been involved in the design and development process.
  • The criteria for passing/failing of a test should be documented in an SDP before any testing.
  • Each test environment should be restored to its original state before starting a new test.
  • A risk-based testing approach should be adopted to reduce the risk to the service or product. This means stress testing until failure, in order to record and report failure thresholds.
  • Service validation and testing need to create, catalog and maintain a library of test models, cases, and data which can be re-used. This is important for being able to re-perform service/product validation during the service lifetime.
  • The creation of a quality management system that ensures consistency across all platform and personnel, in order to ensure test conditions can be adequately recreated.

Service validation and testing ensures that the service or product delivers the expected outcomes for the customer. In addition to controlling quality, service validation testing provides opportunities to identify ways in which services and products can be improved, and efficiencies can be found.

For more information on how Accupoint Software can help your business create and control service/product validation processes, please contact us today.
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With the changing landscape of the oil and gas industry, companies are under increasing pressure to improve operational efficiencies as prices continue to remain low and margins are narrowed. In order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, many service supply organizations are implementing API Spec Q2.

Accupoint’s SAM™ solution ensures compliance and the correct documentation to meet the API Q2 requirements. It defines strategies, goals and best practices and the means to secure them. Our system provides industry best practices for all components including: service quality, risk assessment, employee training, document control, MOC, corrective actions and preventive maintenance. A comprehensive solution may seem difficult for an industry with such vast core areas to cover; however, incorporating common standards of practice is essential to realizing integrated process management and operational excellence simultaneously.

The bottom line: API Spec Q2 tells your customers that you are at the top of your class and aiming for the best in quality and delivery of services, ultimately ensuring customer loyalty, operational efficiency and growth.

Please contact us today for more information on our family of quality management systems specific to the petroleum industry.
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Petroleum products and supply chains possess the potential for failure at every stage of development. When new products are being launched, mitigation of these mishaps depends on quality protection control flows already in place. In this post we examine the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) method for creating a structured process for ensuring customer satisfaction and better products.

Customer Needs Come First 
Consultants commonly use customer stats and profiling techniques to determine how their needs translate into product characteristics/requirements, and before APQP can be implemented, these needs are identification goal #1. With a new focus on sustainability and industry wide collaboration, customer specifications will steer the product development process clear of too much indecision and mistakes along the supply chain path. Don't hesitate to use customer feedback and validation to complete design reviews as well.

APQP methods
These methods have been around for decades, under the name advanced quality planning (AQP). This process can enhance product planning efforts, making the primary goal of product quality planning collaboration and communication between different engineering teams. This interaction will rely on a Cross Functional Team (CFT) planning that combines marketing, procurement, product review, manufacturing and distribution expertise to create a quality product.

Informed Design
Design within process capabilities. The first several sections of APQP mandate intense planning and prevention objectives, making up 80% of the APQP process. It is in this way that the APQP process supports the never ending pursuit of consistent improvement. The fourth and fifth parts, support the remaining 20% of APQP and focus on validation and evidence.

One of the key advantages of APQP is identification of change early on the in process and avoidance of late changes. Design reviews are formal reviews conducted during the development of a product to assure that the needs, concepts, and product process satisfies the requirements of that stage of development.

For more information on how Accupoint can improve your product quality planning process,  contact us today.
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Securing materials and equipment is the first step in the supply chain. A company's competitiveness is directly influenced by the performance of suppliers. A supplier that does not perform well can add costs, cause serious delays and can damage your company's reputation. It is imperative to have a system to evaluate your suppliers. It will help you determine potential problems like low standards of quality, poor communication, and substandard resources. Every company needs to have a supplier evaluation model in place to measure a supplier's ability to comply with their contractual obligations.

Supplier evaluation will identify their strengths and weaknesses. Several criteria should be considered including quality, delivery, service, and flexibility. Generally, the most important factor is quality followed by delivery, service and then flexibility. An effective means of evaluating suppliers is assigning them to one of four categories based on performance: full partner, associate partner, high risk and incapable. A full partner meets or exceeds all expectations. An associate partner needs some work, but performs well overall. A high risk supplier must be carefully evaluated. They can be used for the production currently underway, but future contracts require consideration. An incapable supplier will be dropped as soon as possible as they cannot properly fulfill their obligations.

Full Partner
A full partner must be compatible with you company’s current and future business plan. They will always demonstrate high quality, on-time delivery, superior service and flexibility. The supplier participates in your automatic ordering system. They will provide full support quickly, and be available anytime for questions. A full partner should also assist with new designs and provide samples within one to two weeks. They will demonstrate an ability to develop new processes and be committed to research and development. They will not ship out-of-spec parts, and have well documented quality controls. They will optimize lead times and allow order flexibility within reason. They will show commitment to cost reductions and share their cost structures and pricing models. 

Associate Partner
An associate partner will meet most of the criteria of a full partner. The associate partner should demonstrate a commitment to improving quality and delivery. You can work with them to develop action plans to meet your goals. The supplier must fulfill the needs of your company. They should be willing to work toward meeting the criteria to become a full partner.

High Risk Partner
A high risk partner is not compatible with the goals of your company. Their current quality and delivery are acceptable to maintain current production, but there is no benefit in expending the resources to bring them to associate or full partner status. The cost and quality are below your company’s acceptable standards.

Incapable Partner
Incapable suppliers do not meet quality standards. They do not demonstrate the capability of improving quality, delivery, service or flexibility. These suppliers must be dropped immediately.

Evaluating the performance of suppliers using an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model helps to determine the importance of each criterion and interpret the findings. You will determine what is most important for your company, and use that to rate your suppliers. Supplier can be measured based on the four main criteria: quality, delivery, service and flexibility. To determine the rest of the criterion you should consider whether the attributes are “soft” criteria (like supplier commitment or service) or “hard” quantifiable criteria (like the supplier's ability to fulfill orders). When thinking about cost, consider that the total cost of a product includes all the factors that go into getting your product to market in addition to its initial procurement cost.

For further information on how Accupoint can help your critical supplier management process, contact us today.

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Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are a useful to way to determine the effectiveness of your team or company in its efforts to meet performance objectives. When establishing KPIs, it's important to understand exactly what would indicate success for your team, and whether or not it is measurable. Here are four KPI Metrics Measurement Fundamentals to consider.

Is it specific to your team and to your stakeholders?
A useful KPI targets a goal that your team has control over, and an outcome that your stakeholders desire. If you're managing a quality control laboratory, you likely wouldn't want to set a KPI dependent on the overall company's ROI. This is outside of your team's direct control, and it doesn't apply directly to your primary stakeholders.
Instead, ask yourself, what indicates my team is performing successfully, and what do our stakeholders care about. In a quality control laboratory, this might be number of tests run per day, or perhaps target turnaround times for each sample received.

Does it motivate or discourage?
Think of a KPI as a realistic stretch goal, not unrealistic perfection.
Improving customer satisfaction by 3% is likely doable. Requiring turnaround times under 24 hours for a 48 hour test is not.
What you set as a KPI directly impacts your team members and your stakeholders. It's up to you to set realistic, meaningful targets, and to frame it in a way that motivates instead of discourages.

How will the KPI be measured?
A KPI is only useful if there is a system in place to measure it. If you're targeting customer satisfaction, are you already sending out customer surveys? And do you have a baseline number to work from? 
Or, if you're interested in setting turnaround times as your KPI, how will this be measured? Is there already a software system in place? Do you, your team, and your customers have a common understanding of what a satisfactory turnaround time would be? What will the dashboard for the KPI look like, and how will results be communicated?

What do you hope to learn or improve by measuring this KPI?
KPIs are not only an opportunity to determine how effective your team is, they're also a way to determine opportunities for improvement and growth. When setting a KPI, ask yourself what might need to change in order to succeed, and what needs to change if you're unsuccessful. These could be things like processes, improvements in communication, or streamlining sample processing. Who will make these changes, and when?

Selecting and measuring effective KPIs is an important way to ensure team success and client satisfaction. Please contact us to find out how we can help you track your targets. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Although quality management systems have been around for over sixty years, some companies are more serious about quality management than others. This is evidenced by the continued high amount of recalls in various industries. In order to do more than just claim to have a quality management system, it is vital that a company empowers every worker at every phase of the operation to have a part in making the system better and contribute to improvements.
 
Properly training and motivating the workforce becomes a self-fulfilling task. As workers continue to be included in the quality process and receive continued training, they begin to feel more motivated and empowered as an integral part of the operation. When they know their voices and contributions are heard, they then will take a more hands-on approach in making sure that the products and services are at the highest quality.
 
Empowered and engaged workers lead to high morale and the process continues to feed and grow throughout the entire company resulting in benefits for the company, the customer, as well as the workers themselves.
 
For more information on how Accupoint Software can facilitate this team empowerment, call us at 800.563.6250 or visit us on the web at www.accupointsoftware.com

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Companies relying on the traditional spreadsheet to manage their QMS often find it to be overwhelming to manage as the data volume continues to grow. Those using spreadsheets have to contend with issues like how best to collaborate when working within the same sheet or how to maintain data integrity.  Integrated quality management software can be advantageous for organizations that want to save time and improve productivity when managing data.

Barriers with the traditional spreadsheet

Traditional spreadsheets can be challenging to keep updated. Different individuals working on the same spreadsheet can lead to versioning issues where it’s difficult to keep track of the most current file. Collaboration within a spreadsheet is also limited. Comments can be hidden or mistakenly overlooked due to the very layout of the spreadsheet. Working within multiple spreadsheets can lead to difficulty when reconciling data. One version may have been edited with the current information, while a team member works concurrently on a different file at the same time, making updates to a different item. It can be challenging to reconcile the two versions. Integrated quality management software makes for a good alternative to the long and often cumbersome spreadsheet.

Top advantages of a quality management software solution

Millions of companies are utilizing integrated quality management solutions to answer the need for a better way to manage data and information. Both management and team members alike recognize the value in being able to better manage large volumes of data in order to improve their information flow.

Adopting Integrated Quality Management Software

Accupoint’s quality management solutions can automate your program updates based on parameters set. This means that you don’t have to worry about changing and overhauling your system because the solution evolves as your business needs do.
  1. Our solutions improve data integrity. Redundancy of data, entry protocols, system updates and records maintenance can all be done conveniently from within the  solution. Pulling accurate reporting is easiest when information is consolidated and entered uniformly.
  2. Detecting emerging trends across different areas of the organization is simplified with our quality management system. The information is securely stored within the centralized web-based platform, which makes all of the data is available for review in real-time. Accessibility to real-time data enables smart, quick decision-making across the board.
  3. While spreadsheets can hold a large amount of data, keeping information secure and reliable as data continues to grow presents its share of challenges. Scalable quality manage systems empower teams to seamlessly expand their solutions to accommodate growing customer and regulatory requirements.
  4. The Accupoint solution offer flexibility in how data is entered. Individuals can choose to enter data traditionally or through other methods such as scanning or geo-tagging. These options facilitate collaboration and reduce error rates among those handling information. Embracing spreadsheet alternatives reduces the risks associated in having multiple hands involved with the data management process.
  5.  User-friendly methods to track a range of different types of information are an additional advantage to transitioning to an Accupoint solution.  Tracking training progress, quality standard updates, testing cycles, and auditing results can all be done conveniently through one single user interface.

Cutting costs with accurate real-time data and improved collaboration are the most common reasons for making the switch to an integrated quality management software solution. Better reporting, collaboration, data integrity, and automated program updates become possible with the right  solution in place. Excel spreadsheets can serve a purpose for a specified amount of time; when data is limited in volume. As the amount of data grows, management must be prepared to evaluate an integrated quality management system if they are to remain productive.
 
For more information on Accupoint solutions or to schedule a platform demonstration, please call us toll-free 800.563.6250 or visit us at www.accupointsoftware.com

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The API Spec Q2 standard requires that service supply organizations monitor customer satisfaction.  Specifically, Section 6.2.1 states:
 
“The organization shall maintain a documented procedure to monitor customer satisfaction. The procedure shall address customer feedback, key performance indicators (KPIs), and other information that the organization monitors to determine whether the organization has met customer requirements. Records of the results of customer satisfaction information shall be maintained.”
 
With this in mind, here are five best practices to consider when creating your satisfaction survey:
  • Define the goal:
          A clearly focused survey will aid in the capture of information that can be acted
          on and analyzed.
  • Keep it short:
          When the questionnaire is too long or complex, participation will drop off
          exponentially.
  • Avoid leading questions:
          The quality of the responses will depend on the quality of your questions.
  • Measure what matters:
          Strive for actionable feedback that drives your continual improvement efforts.
  • Segment your results:
           Overall scores may look good when averaged; however segmenting scores the data
           into groups with similar characteristics will highlight trends that may not otherwise
           be apparent.

Understand that to effectively measure customer satisfaction, you must evaluate more than whether the customer is satisfied.  Best practice dictates that we evaluate the satisfaction level throughout the interaction process and, more importantly that we survey appropriate personnel that have first-hand knowledge of our performance.  Remember that the ultimate goal of measuring customer satisfaction is to facilitate customer retention and referrals, leading to long term growth. 
 
For more information on how Accupoint can help you streamline your Customer Satisfaction process, please call us toll free at 800.563.6250 or visit us at www.accupointsoftware.com.

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What business doesn't want to function at maximum capacity? Achieving operational excellence  is a goal of most organizations. But, the desire to achieve it must be married to a clear plan for doing so. 

Companies obtain operational excellence when company principles, systems and business tools are aligned with a goal of realizing sustainable improvements against business critical KPIs (key performance indicators). Leveraging your compliance management software for this purpose can improve your ability to achieve it. 

Obviously, being in compliance with industry and government regulatory guidelines is a critical component of organizational excellence. Having a tool that you can leverage to capture compliance with these guidelines and identify areas of improvement helps move you closer to your goal. Because compliance management software is able to capture and track the manual systems and business processes that drive revenue, it is a viable tool for monitoring the KPIs that impact operational excellence. 

This benefit is important because it eliminates the need for implementing another system and dedicating additional resources to track progress against this goal. Also, because quality assurance and systematic thinking are key attributes of a successful approach to operational excellence, the tool can be configured to track and report against each element that drives a business to organizational success. 

To learn more about how Accupoint can assist you in your pursuit of operational excellence, please contact us at 800.563.6250 or www.accupointsoftware.com.

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