In October 2022 we released some really exciting features and enhancements. And in November we hosted a customer webinar to demo and discuss those features, plus give our customers an opportunity to ask questions.
View the recorded webinar below or browse to the Q&A section of this article.
(Recorded 11/10/2022. Runtime 59:08)
Links shared during the Webinar
Questions and Answers from the Webinar
Events
Has it changed so that only Quality Users can edit Root Causes and Products now?
Correct. Only Quality Users can create and edit Root Causes and Products now. Here is a full list of event permissions.
When adding multiple comments or attachments to an Event, then exporting to PDF, it appears that only the last comment or attachment is visible. Will that be updated to show the full history?
We intentionally did not include the full comment chain due to customer feedback that raised an issue with that information going to auditors or regulators. If you have feedback, please reach out to us to discuss.
Will there be version control, approvals available on event forms (templates)?
That is not currently on our roadmap, but it is something we would like to explore.
Is there a way to search all events for a keyword? For example, if a batch # is added to related events, can I search for the batch # to reveal a list of related events?
Yes, we are working on adding Search functionality to Events including keyword search. No ETA.
Can we have a search option for events when we know the specific ID?
Yes, similar to the question above, when we release the Search functionality to Events it will include the ability to search for IDs and Titles. But we don’t have an ETA yet.
Design Controls
Can the design module manage design changes for a product that may have overlapping activities occurring within the same timeframe?
Yes, it is possible to manage concurrent changes to your product requirements in Qualio Design Controls. When you put a requirement, test case and/or risk into a review it is versioned at that point, so you can continue to make changes outside of that review. This way the review process allows you to continue working without loosing control of your approved requirements, test cases and risks.
Documents
Are there intentions to enable review and approval cycles for templates?
We do have plans to add template change control and approval functionality. Template Review functionality is still being discussed. ETA is unknown.
Will you be adding the ability to search for Document Templates? We have 22 pages of Document Templates making it difficult to navigate through all the pages.
This is not part of our short-term plans, but it is something we can look into.
Is it possible to enable version comparisons and see comments on the same screen?
This is not part of our short-term plans, but it is something we can look into.
Is it possible to enable non-Quality role users to see commented document versions after they complete a review?
We are working on a “Comment History” and a future improvement. Once we have that we can look into accessibility to the comment history.
Can you please add Code View back as this is extremely helpful. Example: we create a document in our testing sandbox, then once happy with formatting / content etc. we copy using the code view. This confirms the transfer is accurate.
We would like the opportunity to work with / consult with customers that are using this feature heavily to come to an acceptable resolution. Please reach out to Customer Support to initiate a conversation.
Do the comments disappear once a document is approved? It would be good to look back on comments from a document review to capture something that might be held for the next revision.
Yes. That is current functionality and will not change with the new editor. When we add “Comment History” we will be able to adjust who can see the full comment chain.
There are some docs (ex Bill Of Materials) where we need to add many columns. In that case landscape orientation seems better than the current portrait format. Is it possible to include landscape orientation for tables?
We do have plans to investigate and hopefully add a “digital wide-view”, specifically for tables. We had included this feature with the new editor, but had to remove it to allow room for the collaboration side-panel.
Will Qualio assist us through the new editor transition?
We will not be providing professional services but will provide training videos and articles to help customers.
Will we be able to see in Qualio view more than 50 pages of an attachment?
Yes, you will be able to load and view an attachment of more than 50 pages.
Are there plans to lock content in templates so that the content cannot be manipulated or deleted? Ex: lock instruction text.
This is a potential future improvement and we want to explore WHY customers want to lock data so that we can consider all the details/impact. We will be focusing on this next year.
With the Document Template list view, can you add a column for the prefix along with the title and template?
That is something we can look into as a future enhancement.
Are there plans to have a Quality User or Admin have the ability to add / remove change approvers during approval?
We are looking into how to change reviewers and approvers without reverting to draft (current functionality). This would not be specific to a Quality User but rather the document owner which could be a Quality or Normal user. We don’t have an ETA.
Are there plans to add a search feature to workspace to search by document template?
This is good feedback and will be considered.
If attachments are considered "Records" in the QMS is it advised to add a version to the attachment instead of using the version control to the whole document? That is, there may be only a revision of the attachment and not the procedure. So how do you know what version the attachment is if printed and used as a Record? This was an observation during our ISO audit last week for Control of Records.
To do this programmatically has many technical challenges as there can be any type of file added as an attachment. We typically see this request when it comes to forms that are printed from Qualio. What we've seen customers do in the event you need to have an attachment that is printed, is that you make sure to include the Qualio doc number and version on the attachment manually, and if you want to print these and write on them, you attach a locked PDF to the Qualio record, and you store the editable word version on another record that is then group/tag controlled to only your doc control team. These can be smart-linked to the SOP so you don't lose that traceability, but you control access to those word (or CAD, excel, whatever) versions separately from the one generally available. We are continually improving our editing capabilities and over time aim to reduce the need for attachments as the content can be created directly in Qualio.
Any way to subscribe to a given document to track activity? Multiple docs in process but need to be pinged when status changes before Approved.
No plans at this time but good suggestion to improve the visibility of documents as they move through the workflow.
Will future report additions include ability to export PDF/print PDF files that include comments and document content? For someone traveling w/o access to systems who wants a PDF of draft doc under review -in process- with all comments there isn't a way to export a PDF with comments. I imagine you could print to PDF to try to capture. Export is a clean copy.
This is a good suggestion to improve working offline, but no plans to implement at this time.
Is it possible for the author to have the same date stamp as the approval event? I am currently considering if I want to procedurally require the author to be on the approval list or if the author has implicit approval at time of document submission into approval circulation. The ability to add this time stamp (similar to approval content) will influence this procedural control. Thoughts?
So this would be crediting the Author with approval by default. We have received requests for this but no plans to implement at this time.
When needing to send a screen capture via email, I need to reduce white space and make narrow columns. Can column widths be adjusted to allow for more content in a narrower space when looking at lists in the library, workspace, etc?
The only way to do this currently is to narrow the browser window. I’d be interested to understand more; who are they being sent to and for what purpose?
Could you use calendar for Periodic Review assignment? Especially for days and weeks involvement only.
This is a good suggestion, however at this time no area of the application works off of calendars. I’d expect us to look at this across the application as it would benefit many areas e.g. Training, Events etc.
Training
Is Qualio able to create/upload/migrate Competency Tests? These docs range from 5-15 pages by groups. And would we be able to have these included with the Training Plans and Matrix?
Not at this time. We will add this as a potential future enhancement.
Is there a plan to add Approvals for Training Plans?
Yes, but we don’t have an ETA.
Is it possible to batch training with the new training plan feature? Ex: Send 5 training assignments at a time until completed.
We are looking into Training Plan improvements similar to this request that handle sequencing.
Training statistics currently show both overdue and assigned trainings. It would be good to separate out overdue trainings in a statistic.
We are planning to improve our data reporting, including training statistics. But no details/ETA to share at this time.
Will you have videos as part of the training materials that can be added in Qualio in the future?
This is a common request and something we are considering. However, we don’t have it on the current roadmap.
Are there plans to add employee search functionality to the Training section?
Yes as well as the ability to search for groups and documents. No ETA but this is being actively worked on.
User Management
Can you add functionality to export user lists? This will give visibility to Group memberships that are sometimes cut-off in display.
Thank you for this feedback. We will add this to our future plans for Admin functionality. I would also like to hear more about any user management reporting needs that you may have as this is an area for improvement. Please email reneida.leon@qualio.com to initiate a conversation.
We are a small organization. Can the same person have both Quality role and Admin role?
Yes- in fact, for roll out, we will default all existing Quality level users as Admins. You can add/remove that designation from any user thereon after, regardless of their role.
Will Billing, Logo, Password expiry, and Tags within Organization Settings be moved to the Admin role in the future or will they stay with the Quality Users?
We are currently considering it but would like to hear from customers like you before making a final decision on that. Do you have a preference for leaving them in Org Settings or moving them to Admin? Feel free to reach out to me reneida.leon@qualio.com.
I do not see the Admin option in my sandbox. What should I do?
Please reach out to me at reneida.leon@qualio.com or your CS representative. We will assist you individually.
Can Admins disrupt something in Review/Approve? As in something is sitting in Review, can an Admin push to approve or send back to draft, etc.?
No. As a Permission, not a Role, it cannot disrupt the document workflow or any other workflow that is dependent upon a user’s role.
Does Quality level still exist in the system? We have a SOP that explains all the roles. We need to update this SOP to reflect the changes.
Yes, Quality level continues to exist with all its existing workflows. Admin access will be an add-on designation to access the users management (i.e. add/remove, edit users) and group management.
Integrations
Have you considered integrations with Zapier to facilitate access to github, gitlab, etc.?
We don’t have anything planned for Zapier, but we can definitely explore that option. We are always looking for integration partners and most importantly customers that can share their use case and desired expectation with an integration. Please reach out to Support or your Customer Success Manager to initiate those conversations.
Any plans to let administrators configure Jira and Zephyr themselves?
Yes, this is on our roadmap to make configurations self-serve to make it an easier user experience for administrators. No ETA.
Reporting
Your reporting within the system is not very strong. Do you foresee improvements in the future?
Absolutely. Forms and data capture is going to be a major focus in the future.