On July 14, LNS Research and Quality Digest hosted a webinar entitled “EQMS Solution Selection Best Practices for Global Enterprises.” During the presentation, there were number of questions asked and not enough time to address them live on air. I'll get to these in this post.
For those not able to attend the live event, during the webinar I provided detailed guidance on how to approach an Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS) implementation, whether you’re just starting out the process or beginning to whittle down to a shortlist.
EQMS is a software category with growing importance for both quality success and improving Operational Excellence across organizations. Companies are beginning to understand the benefits that EQMS can deliver, but many are still challenged with successfully rolling out an EQMS with the proper scope and functionality for their particular organization. Far from a one-size-fits-all process, EQMS implementations require hitting a number of core goals to keep momentum moving forward, and kept on the tracks, such as:
- Assembling the correct cross-functional team
- Correctly defining the scope of your EQMS project
- Identifying must-have functionalities for your EQMS
- How to effectively evaluate, score, and hone a shortlist for final consideration
The full, on-demand recording of the webinar can be accessed here.
Q. When scoring potential EQMS vendors, what would you suggest is the most important criteria overall? Does it depend on company size or industry, or is there one particular area we should look for above all others?
A. During the session we discussed some of the variables at play. I would stress that specific experience of vendors in your industry is very important. This will be reflected in some of the design decisions and much of the content and best practice configuration that ships with the product. Having said this, one should not over emphasize this to an extent where an offering that demonstrates flexibility to grow and change as you evolve your approach to processes is compromized. This is not easy and one reason for constructing the best cross-functional team for the selection process. Remember that ease of use balanced with functionality and flexibility will drive adoption -- the main goal is for the solution to be embraced and to improve your business. I would be very much focused on ease and evidence of integration as a key component in parallel to the other points mentioned.
Q. Can you elaborate on the difference between on-premise, and any other potential options?
A. On-premise is the traditional delivery model whereby the software is deployed (and accessed) from one or more internal servers. This model can be simple or more complex with an array of Web servers and sometimes data replication capabilities. The alternatives include cloud-based (hosted on the Web), often in data centers provided by large providers like Amazon, Google, Rackspace, Iron Mountain or similar, and sometimes vendors have data centers of their own. These can be either public or private cloud setups, single tenant or multi-tenant, or even hybrids where the original on-premise instance is simply placed on a physical server in a data center provided by a third party. The bottom line is there are many delivery models and your IT group should be ensuring your governance and security/privacy policies are complied with. The end user will typically not notice the difference apart form not having to access an on-premise deployment via VPN, for example.
Q. What are the top rated tools (pros and cons) of that are currently available for an EQMS project, as well as what your criteria are for rating these tools?
A. This is a challenge to answer primarily due to the variables at play. Some tools are particularly adept in the life sciences (highly regulated) space for example but may not work well for a more general quality, environment and health & safety (QEHS) deployment for, say, an energy company. However we have done our best to articulate the respective strengths, capabilities, and emerging strengths in our upcoming solution selection guide.
Q. What are the most important software integration points you’re finding today among participants in your research?
A. We are finding that it varies depending on the type of organization but products, suppliers (lookup & linking) from ERP and PLM are consistently the key integrations demanded in manufacturing. For life sciences LIMS integration is an elevated demand and all of this assumes that personnel/user information (HR data) is integrated and appropriately synchronized.
Q. How do you align or search for an enterprise management system that links with a TS and EHS management software?
A. There are a number of solutions that are capable of providing EQMS that meets the demands specifically of TS 16949 and satisfies EHS requirements though the fiedl slims down significantly if air emissions and other more specific monitoring demands are included. Simply searching for enterprise QEHS solutions will get you started but as always I would urge you to read the material on the subject provided by LNS Research.
