I think we can agree that tediously coping and pasting documents and records from one QMS to another is not an effective use of time for Quality Management professionals. But I think we can also agree that Quality Management professionals want to retain control of the document structure (templates) and organization of those documents and records. In what world can these two realities exist?
The Qualio product and Onboarding Teams have taken this challenge head on to develop a streamlined Migration process and tool that helps customers mass add documents and records to their eQMS with easy to use controls. We work with our customers to give them oversight of the migration but we do as much of the “the heavy lifting” as possible.
The majority of migrations are performed during Onboarding, and your dedicated Onboarding Manager or Quality Specialist will help orchestrate those. However, it isn’t uncommon for customers to migrate a selection of documents post-onboarding. For this, we recommend using the ‘Import’ tool to perform a bulk upload of files. Upon import, these files will be created as draft documents, which can then be approved and made effective as needed.
To help facilitate large migration projects, Qualio developed an in-app migration tool called the Migration Manager. This feature is enabled on a per-user basis by a Qualio team member. Click here to jump to Migration Manager instructions.
Migration Process Highlights
Orientation Phase. The document migration process begins during the Orientation phase of onboarding. You’ll strategize and collect documents that need to be migrated. Qualio has several resources to help you determine which documents to start with and how to organize them.
Kickoff Phase. You’ll gain access to your Production Qualio account and your dedicated Onboarding Manager during the kickoff phase. Your Onboarding Manager is essential to the process to review and advise on your migration strategy and liaise with other Qualio team members who may assist in the mass migration of your documents.
Migration Phase. In this phase, you can expect the following sequence of events.
Customers will upload files to the Migration Manager in Qualio.
Collaborate with the Qualio team on what templates need to be created.
The Qualio team will complete the bulk migration and formatting of the documents.
Customers assign owners and approvers for all documents.
Build Phase. Use Qualio’s document management workflow to review and approve documents.
Migration Strategy: What's first?
You’ll decide which documents should be moved into Qualio from your existing quality management system - but it doesn’t have to be all at once and it shouldn’t include EVERYTHING (document dump). Rather it should be methodical and easy to categorize into folders within the Migration Manager your Onboarding Manager creates for you. Below are some additional recommendations based on hundreds of successful implementations.
Qualio Migration Recommendations
Start with a “mini-migration” focused exclusively on your Quality Manual and effective Procedure documents.
Next focus on effective policies, work instructions, etc.
Only migrate effective/current documents. It is perfectly acceptable to ‘draw a line in the sand’ and deem any document or record before X date “lives” in the old system (and remains there for the required retention period, and all records after the date is managed in Qualio. This allows you to start your Qualio experience with a clean eQMS. (Examples of historical records are past complaints and training records.)
If you feel that you need to include these historical documents in Qualio, prioritize them as the final migration project. (You may decide by then that you don’t need them once you are more familiar with Qualio.)
Migration Limitations
As you begin to collect documents, be aware of the following limitations.
File size: Individual files are limited to 100MB.
File Types: Qualio can migrate any type of file. However, if the file is to become an editable Qualio document we need an editable file. Example: Word documents (.docx/.doc) are editable file types and can be converted to a Qualio document. A PDF is not editable for our team. PDFs will be imported as attachments. Alternatively, uneditable file types can be added to Qualio using a hyperlink which users can click to access from an external source and continue to edit within a separate application, such as CAD drawings.
Read-Only / Locked Files: The Migration Manager will be unable to read and import these files. Either unlock the file before importing, or the file can be added as a read-only hyperlinked attachment to the new document.
Number of documents: There is no limit to the number of documents that can be migrated into Qualio. However, we recommend the use of multiple ‘folders’ within the Migration Manager to group documents (ex: SOPs, Policies, Forms) then migrate folders sequentially.
Online documents: Any online documents, like Google Docs, will need to be downloaded and made available to Qualio in an editable format (Word).
Access and Permissions
Access to the Migration Manager is controlled by Qualio Customer Success, and only available to Quality Users. Your Onboarding Manager will grant access to the requested individual(s) that will upload documents into the Migration Manager. This will be discussed on the Kick-off call.
Once enabled, users click the Documents tab on the left navigation bar and select Migrations Manager. If you don't see this option reach out to our Support team via the in-app chat or at support@qualio.com.
Status Filter & Search Bar
The Migrations Manager has a simple filter to display migrations by status. The default view when you enter the Migration Manager is to display migrations in the Draft, Preparing, In Review, Scheduled, and In Progress status. If you can’t find a migration, be sure to check the box for Complete and Error statuses.
The search bar can also be used to identify migration projects.
