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For any company that goes through the process of becoming ISO 9000 certified, the most challenging aspect is setting up an effective document creation-andcontrol system. Depending on your company and the number and complexity of your procedures, your documentation system can range anywhere from a handful of written procedures and a couple of flowcharts stored on the company computer to an extensive networked system that tracks revisions, forces follow-through on customer complaints, records personnel-training progress, and monitors gage calibration.
If you require documentation of just a few procedures, all you need is a computer with a word-processing program and flowcharting software. If you are at the other end of the spectrum, you will eventually have to implement a comprehensive, document-control software program or forever forsake your personal life. One such program is Quality Workbench, created by IdeaGen Software Ltd., Matlock, England, and distributed and supported in the United States by PQ Systems, Dayton, OH.
This isn't one of those programs that you can install and start using immediately. To use any document-control program you have to, in effect, set up a rather extensive database. The key to any success people have with these programs is how easy it is to set up that database. Note...