The
Past and the Future of CAPA Management Systems. Where Will
You Fit In?
These are just a few questions you have
to ask yourself as quality management practices and guidelines
continually change and expand.
The following information may serve you
as a recipe book for your future success...
Should
I purchase a program or develop one in-house?
In today's market, there are many off-the-shelf
software products that will serve most of your needs. Another
option is that you may want to take the chance and develop
your own in-house program with an in-house team, which has
many times proven to be more costly and inefficient.
Just think about it, a cycle time of 8-9
months to develop such an in-house program and that’s just
to get the program up and working to standard. Then, you
must compare the facts - as one of our recent customers
has done, in the short time frame of just two months, they
have taken our web-based solution and deployed the CAPA
system throughout the whole company while incorporating
more than 100 suppliers. All this was done with QIT’s off-the-shelf
program. This was all done while adding their modification
requirements to the program as well.
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What
kind of software programs do I need?
Normally, there are three types of programs
that are on the market.
Web-based Programs -
Most of the programs available on the market today are
still using outdated ASP technology. Very few companies
have started using the more advanced ASP.net technology,
which QIT currently employs. ASP.net is the latest technology
provided by Microsoft. We will further explain the benefits
of this technology later in this article.
QIT strongly advocates adopting ASP.net
technology for web-based CAPA programs, and all of our
web-based programs are developed based on ASP.net C#
- the latest coding language from Microsoft.
Client Server Solutions
– The old-fashioned type of technology that was incepted
about 20 years ago. Normally, software suppliers call
it a desktop solution or workgroup solution. These types
of solutions are using front-end forms that were developed
by MS Access or Visual Basic, and use MS Access database
or SQL server as the backend database.
QIT's desktop solutions are using
MS Access for front end while using MS Access 2003 or
SQL 2000 server as the backend database based on the
customer's requirements.
Single File Solutions
- These types of solutions are normally developed based
on MS Access for single user use only. However, some
of the software providers will advise user’s to store
the program file on a network drive to achieve a network
solution. This kind of configuration can easily cause
file collapses, system crashing and along with the many
security concerns. QIT strongly oppose deploying this
type of solution to our clients.
The following is a quick reference
chart for the web-based solution and the desktop solution
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Web-based Solution
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Desktop Solution
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Advantage
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Disadvantage
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Program needs to be installed
on every computer using the system.
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Hard to maintain. Administrators
need to manage all computers the program
is on.
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Not scalable
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Outdated technology and
the program could be obsolete once the operating
system is upgraded.
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Would I benefit more from a web-based solution?
QIT’s answer: Yes, for 4 main reasons.
Web-based solutions are the
current trend. Many of our clients have told
us that they needed to implement a web solution to keep
pace with some of the larger companies... corporations
such as GM and Dolphin are currently doing so. Do not
wait for your competition, and especially your clients,
to force you to incorporate a web-based system. Do it
now and be ahead of the competition!
Web-solutions are powerful tools
that will help you build a unified workflow and communications
process. It will consolidate data throughout
your organization into one database whether your have
offices in a single location, around the nation or worldwide.
We especially recommend a web solution for those companies
who have multiple locations and need to deal with supplier
SCAR’s.
More cost-effective and less
per-user-cost. While most people are intimidated
by the higher prices provided by other software companies
(Even though the software provider will only provide
you an outdated ASP solution.). We here at QIT provide
three different versions of web solutions designed to
fit a company’s size and the budget. Our web-based programs
start out as low as $5800 with unlimited users licenses-
a low price that any company can afford.
Even companies that have a single
location/office/facility would benefit from QIT's web
solutions. Interestingly, in recent feedback
from our clients, we have noticed that even those users
are using the web solution only for single locations,
with QIT’s guidance, they are benefiting from the simplicity
and analytical capability of our web solutions.
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What kinds of fact do I need to know about
web-based solutions currently on the market?
From technologies point of view,
as with our experience in today’s marketing, most software
providers are using outdated ASP technology for their
programs, and few have started using ASP.net technology.
Compared to the older ASP technology,
ASP.net technology has the following advantages:
-
Strengthened Security
– The major reason that more and more banks, online
traders and online stores are switching to ASP.net
technology.
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Higher Scalability
- Server to server communications have been greatly
enhanced making it possible to scale an application
over several servers.
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Compiled Code for greatly
increased performance.
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Easy Deployment
- No more server restarts to deploy or replace compiled
codes.
For a corrective action system that
can be used for many years in a worldwide environment
and to save on cost, we here at QIT strongly recommend
ASP.net solutions for all of our clients.
From a developmental point of
view, while benchmarking our systems, we have
found that most of the so-called web-based programs
are not qualified as web-based programs because they
fail to take advantage of or harness the power of the
current web technologies. Here, we will share a few
of our testing results:
1) Some programs are just simply
converting their old desktop designs to a web solution.
These programs look, feel and work like desktop
solutions and are not designed to handle high traffic
web site.
2) The workflow and program functions
(e.g. submit, save, delete, copy and etc.) in these
programs are still arranged in the desktop formats
that will easily cause confusions by its users and
trigger unexpected actions that can result in serious
system breakdowns and data loss.
True web-based programs, like QIT’s
web solutions, are completely redesigned allowing workflow
and dataflow to fully encompass the latest web technologies.
As a result, while viewing the web pages on our program,
our clients are experiencing a simplified, user-friendly
interface along with streamlined system flow.
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How do I get started?
Send your questions and comments to
service@qitconsulting.com
or, it’s as easy as picking up the phone and calling
1877-208-7888 (Toll Free)
and speaking to one of QIT’s experienced representatives.
You will experience a “No Pressure” environment while receiving
all the facts about the advantages of using QIT’s unmatched
services. Call or e-mail us today!!
You can also
register on-line and try our fully functional demo programs.
Try it and feel the benefits for yourself.
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Try the Online
Demo Now
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