Document Control is one of the
central modules of the Quality Manager system, being referenced by and sharing
information with most of the other modules. Document Control is one of the
central modules of the Quality Manager system, being referenced by and sharing
information with most of the other modules.
Like all Quality Manager modules it
is fully multi-user and will work with large numbers of concurrent users. It
has full multi-site capability allowing powerful control of access to
appropriately filtered data from a number of different sites.
Draft documents are supported as well
as the live Issued documents in use within the company. Deleted documents are
accessible by the System Administrator and can be brought back on-line if
required.
The full change history of each
document is available at any time for enquiry and reporting. Both the
historical change control information and previous issues of the actual
documents are available for on-line enquiry.
The module is flexible and can be
configured to run seamlessly with the wide range of document control
methodologies used by companies in different market sectors.
Document Control can run with
paper-based master documents, storing only the change control information on
the central server computer. This is useful if bought-in documents are to be
controlled, such as published British Standards. In this case the system will
maintain distribution lists, provide issue control and schedule document
reviews.
If a company has an existing document
production computer, such as a secure stand-alone PC running a word processor,
then the Document Control module can again be used to store all change control
information.
Each document control record can hold
a pointer to the exact location (drive, directory and filename) of the master
document file on the stand-alone PC. As the PC can be locked, this method
provides effective security control of access to the master documents.
Read-only access to the contents of these documents may be required via
terminals and/or PCs throughout the company. In this case the text of these
master documents can be copied onto the server and view-only access provided via
the Quality Manager Document Control module.
Alternatively, Quality Manager can
provide full integration by taking control of all aspects of document
production on the server. Documents can be produced and maintained via a word
processor on the server (interfaced with and accessed via Quality Manager).
Quality Manager supports a wide range
of word processors including WordPerfect for UNIX®, Uniplex® and
Framemaker®.
The Document Control module provides
the quality team with full version control, distribution and approval lists,
on-line change requests, related document control, automated approval and issue
of documents and on-line editing of the master documents.
Quality Manager makes extensive use
of electronic mail facilities to notify people on distribution and approval
lists of actions required. The administrator is also notified by electronic
mail when document change requests are entered. Remote draft approval and
receipt acknowledgement can be performed from any terminal or PC.
Powerful reporting and data
integration/export facilities are provided via SQL-based tools. Windows-based
graphical and UNIX-based character report writers are available and live
data-access can be provided transparently via ODBC drivers and/or Informix®
connectivity tools.