During onboarding, customers are encouraged to upload only their effective documents “as-is”, and to avoid the temptation to update documents “as they go”. This best practice leads to customers not only achieving the major project milestone of successfully migrating essential documents, but also the huge accomplishment of learning how to manage your new eQMS.
If you took our suggestion and resisted the urge to edit the documents, then you are probably itching to get back into Qualio and make document changes. That’s great, but do it in Qualio. Get familiar with the motion of reviewing and editing draft documents > sending the document for review and using collaboration tools like commenting and suggestions > resolving comments and suggestions > sending the document for approval > then training employees and making the document effective.
Get a Game Plan for Your First Document Review
Every customer has unique needs and resources available during onboarding, so whether you are one day or one month out of onboarding, you can prepare for your first document review by getting organized and prioritizing documents to be reviewed.
The majority of Qualio customers choose a hierarchical review approach beginning with their Quality Manual, Procedures, and other documents that will require user training. From there, documents should be reviewed based on the organization’s needs and priorities. So before diving in, get a game plan of how you’d like to tackle your document review.
Document Review Checklist - What to look for
You may already have a list of items that need changing, but here are some suggestions from our team of Quality and Qualio experts.
Add or double check Smartlinks to other Qualio documents.
Now that you have a library of effective documents, you can add smartlinks to related documents making it easy for document readers to navigate to the latest version of the document. For documents that were migrated in during onboarding, many of these Smartlinks should already be in place where document references had been previously, so this is just a reminder to double check the smartlinks.
Check for duplicates and documents to condense.
We’ve noticed that customers migrating from paper to electronic libraries will often find duplications or multiple documents that can be condensed or reorganized into strict document types (policies, procedures, work instructions, etc.).
If you find redundant documents, first, update the ‘master’ document with all the information, then, retire the redundant document.
Update procedures that have changed now that you are using Qualio.
Common policy and procedure documents that usually fall into this category include:Document Control
e-Signatures
CAPA / NCR
Complaints
Supplier Management
Management Review
Equipment Management
Work Instructions
Use the Built-in Review and Approval Workflow
Ready to begin reviewing documents? Open your first draft document. Carefully read through the document and make edits, suggestions, and comments as necessary. Note: You must be the document owner to edit drafts. Then send it for review using the Send for Review button.
“See something, say something”
Do your part to encourage intentional communication within your organization by making it safe (and encouraged) for Reviewers to leave comments and suggestions. Although Reviewers will be notified by email that they have a document to review, it wouldn’t hurt to send a follow-up email that emphasizes #SeeSomethingSaySomething. Afterall, they are new to Qualio too.
After the document is reviewed, it might need some additional changes. Revert the document to draft, then send for Review again. And when ready, send the document for Approval.
Next Steps
Congratulations on getting through your first document review! 🎉
Next, you’ll want to prepare your organization for the training assignments they are about to receive, since training is the next step in the document lifecycle.
Start by giving employees a heads-up of what is to come and what is expected of them. Communicate with them your organization’s Training Completion Period so they will know how much time they have to complete the training before it is considered overdue.
Remind them why Quality is important, and set them up for success with instructions on how to complete training.