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New Features and Enhancements
- Date added:
- Wednesday, 10 June 2009
- Last revised:
- Wednesday, 10 June 2009
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Quality Management: An Integrated Solution
Quality Link® 6 is packed with exciting new features that help you get the most out of your quality system. It has been redesigned for organizations that wish to implement a reliable, flexible, and cost-effective quality management solution. Quality Link 6 builds on our experience and proven platform for helping organizations better manage their entire quality system with a comprehensive, yet easy to use, solution.
Here's a brief summary of the more prominent new features you will find in this release:
Redesigned Quality Link Interface
The Quality Link user interface has been redesigned with efficiency in mind. It offers you a much more convenient and easy to use view of your data by utilizing the most productive technology on the market today. A new ‘outlook-style’ navigation pane, flexible grid control, and ribbon toolbar have been implemented to give you the ultimate in flexibility while viewing, sorting, grouping, filtering, and navigating your quality information in a way that you are more familiar with.
In addition, new collapsible hierarchical controls are used to better organize, view, and secure your quality system information, such as your policies, procedures, work instructions, audits, training, and more.
New Storage Engine
To accommodate growing customer demand, SQL Server is now the default data engine behind Quality Link. The ability to standardize on this database engine provides customers with a reliable and cost-effective approach while increasing the security, reliability, availability, and scalability of your quality system. There is no additional cost associated with using SQL Server Express 2005, which is the default engine that ships with Quality Link. In addition, SQL Server Express provides enterprise users with the option of upgrading to SQL Server Standard or SQL Server Enterprise should the environment demand increased performance and/or scalability.
Developed on an Extensible Framework
Quality Link version 6.0 is developed on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. One of the biggest benefits you will see as a result of this is in the management and maintenance of a deployed Quality Link solution. Quality Link is now a self-contained smart client application. This means that deploying new versions, updates, or enhancements of Quality Link can be accomplished by simply copying a file (or set of files) to a Quality Link folder. Unlike traditional software applications, there will be fewer conflicts, or no conflicts, with other software running on your system. The installation and registration of shared files (in particular - DLL's), are no longer necessary! Quality Link will maintain its own version of all the files it needs to run successfully.
Enhanced Document Security
Due to many customer requests, you are now able to secure documents at a ‘category’ level. The new ‘category’ level of organization replaces the older category concept and it provides much greater control of how your documents are viewed and secured. For instance, each category can now have its own security settings. This is useful as different users may have different requirements (either a Reader or Contributor) per category. This means that as you add new documents to an existing category users automatically inherit the security settings you previously specified.
Enhanced Filter and Search Functionality
Previous filter and search functionality was limited to searching only the first word in a specific field. For instance, if you were to search on the document title, your search request would only apply to the first word in the title. The previews search functionality has been replaced with a new ‘filter’ technology that lets you filter your quality data for any occurrence, of any word, on any property, for any quality item! This is a great new way for you to find exactly what you are looking for.
Related Documents apply to any Quality
You are now able to associate (or relate) one or more documents to just about any quality item. Not only can documents be related to other documents, but you can now relate documents to your internal audits, equipment, suppliers, faults, corrective actions, training, employees and more.
Customized Viewing Options
You can now specify what properties of a document (or any other quality item) you would like to view in your main grid. For instance, if you decide to maintain important information in a custom field, you can now add that custom field to your main grid view making this information accessible without opening the document.
Enhanced Document Template Functionality
Previously, Quality Link shipped with a default set of templates which displayed a static set of document properties in the header and/or footer of a document. For example, the Document ID, Title, Author, Revision ID, and Revision Date are common properties that are often displayed. However, what if you have created custom fields within Quality Link and you would like these to be displayed in your document? Well, Quality Link now supports the ability to add references to these custom fields within a custom template giving you more flexibility in managing your documentation than ever before. In addition, you are no longer limited to just using the header and/or footer for these properties. You can now embed the Quality Link fields anywhere in your document.
In addition, you can optionally use a different first page header and footer should you decide to create your own custom templates for managing your documentation.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Multiple Departments
You can now manage training requirements via multiple employee-department assignments. In prior releases, employees were restricted to one departmental classification. Under normal circumstances this is not a problem; however, training requirements were also determined at the departmental level and due to the one department per employee you were limited in how you established your training requirements. We have added additional capabilities that now let you assign an employee to multiple departments giving you tremendous opportunity to customize all aspects of your training requirements.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Job Descriptions
We have also added the capability to assign and manage your training requirements based on a job description. A specific job description can have specific training requirements. Quality Link will automatically detect if an employee does not have the correct requirements based on their job description giving you an opportunity to assess and remedy the situation.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Outstanding Requirements
We have added a completely new view for helping you manage your training requirements, the (Outstanding Training Requirements) view. This new view is capable of analyzing all your department, job description, and employee training requirements and comparing it to all of your completed and scheduled employee training sessions. You will be presented with the details showing exactly who is missing training based on all the requirements entered into your quality system. You can then easily schedule training sessions via a point-and-click approach for the employees who have not yet met their training requirements. You’ll never miss a requirement with this feature!
Support Crystal Reports XI
By supporting the latest release of Crystal Reports we are enabling you the ability to extend the out-of-the-box reports with your own custom reporting solutions. Should you find the need to customize or add to the over 100+ reports that ship with Quality Link you can be assured that this is all possible with Crystal Reports.
Migration Support
As we have committed to migration in prior releases, we have also committed to migration in this release. To help existing users take advantage of our newest release, we have created a migration wizard capable of upgrading existing version 5 quality systems to a version 6 quality system. We strive to make the migration experience as smooth and seamless as possible and will help support you in these efforts.
Non-Numeric Supplier Ratings
In addition to supporting the many calculations involved with dynamically creating a supplier rating we now support the ability to use non-numeric characters such as ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Poor’, etc…when establishing a supplier rating.
Notes are Maintained for Recurring Events
This important feature has been added to ensure that all relevant information is maintained from one scheduled event to the next. For example, many customers use the Notes field to maintain information regarding an Equipment Calibration. These notes are now carried over from one calibration to the next so you don’t have to refer back to previously completed events in order to get the history of what tips, tricks, or techniques were used for the calibration. This feature applies to all the quality items that have event schedules associated with them.
More Exciting Features...
In addition to the features described above we have many more just waiting for you to try out.
Do you need your quality system to tell you which distributions are out of date? AND automatically update your distributed documents to the newest revision level ready for printing? Then you won’t want to miss the auto-synchronization feature available for your document distributions...
Do you want to maintain a separate list of issues that do not yet require a corrective action? Then you will want to check out our new 'Faults' module...
What about the ability to create any type of secure hierarchical structure needed to support all of your quality information? You'll find the new 'category' feature and invaluable asset for helping you manage your quality data.
Do you want to email uncontrolled copies of your documentation? your audit questions? your corrective actions? Then you'll love the new email capabilities built into each these modules!
As you can see, this release of Quality Link is packed with new and exciting features. Don't be surprised; however, if you find additional features that have not been listed. Our goal is to make your job easier and we have made a ton of changes in this release to do just that!
Quality Link® 6 is packed with exciting new features that help you get the most out of your quality system. It has been redesigned for organizations that wish to implement a reliable, flexible, and cost-effective quality management solution. Quality Link 6 builds on our experience and proven platform for helping organizations better manage their entire quality system with a comprehensive, yet easy to use, solution.
Here's a brief summary of the more prominent new features you will find in this release:
Redesigned Quality Link Interface
The Quality Link user interface has been redesigned with efficiency in mind. It offers you a much more convenient and easy to use view of your data by utilizing the most productive technology on the market today. A new ‘outlook-style’ navigation pane, flexible grid control, and ribbon toolbar have been implemented to give you the ultimate in flexibility while viewing, sorting, grouping, filtering, and navigating your quality information in a way that you are more familiar with.
In addition, new collapsible hierarchical controls are used to better organize, view, and secure your quality system information, such as your policies, procedures, work instructions, audits, training, and more.
New Storage Engine
To accommodate growing customer demand, SQL Server is now the default data engine behind Quality Link. The ability to standardize on this database engine provides customers with a reliable and cost-effective approach while increasing the security, reliability, availability, and scalability of your quality system. There is no additional cost associated with using SQL Server Express 2005, which is the default engine that ships with Quality Link. In addition, SQL Server Express provides enterprise users with the option of upgrading to SQL Server Standard or SQL Server Enterprise should the environment demand increased performance and/or scalability.
Developed on an Extensible Framework
Quality Link version 6.0 is developed on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. One of the biggest benefits you will see as a result of this is in the management and maintenance of a deployed Quality Link solution. Quality Link is now a self-contained smart client application. This means that deploying new versions, updates, or enhancements of Quality Link can be accomplished by simply copying a file (or set of files) to a Quality Link folder. Unlike traditional software applications, there will be fewer conflicts, or no conflicts, with other software running on your system. The installation and registration of shared files (in particular - DLL's), are no longer necessary! Quality Link will maintain its own version of all the files it needs to run successfully.
Enhanced Document Security
Due to many customer requests, you are now able to secure documents at a ‘category’ level. The new ‘category’ level of organization replaces the older category concept and it provides much greater control of how your documents are viewed and secured. For instance, each category can now have its own security settings. This is useful as different users may have different requirements (either a Reader or Contributor) per category. This means that as you add new documents to an existing category users automatically inherit the security settings you previously specified.
Enhanced Filter and Search Functionality
Previous filter and search functionality was limited to searching only the first word in a specific field. For instance, if you were to search on the document title, your search request would only apply to the first word in the title. The previews search functionality has been replaced with a new ‘filter’ technology that lets you filter your quality data for any occurrence, of any word, on any property, for any quality item! This is a great new way for you to find exactly what you are looking for.
Related Documents apply to any Quality
You are now able to associate (or relate) one or more documents to just about any quality item. Not only can documents be related to other documents, but you can now relate documents to your internal audits, equipment, suppliers, faults, corrective actions, training, employees and more.
Customized Viewing Options
You can now specify what properties of a document (or any other quality item) you would like to view in your main grid. For instance, if you decide to maintain important information in a custom field, you can now add that custom field to your main grid view making this information accessible without opening the document.
Enhanced Document Template Functionality
Previously, Quality Link shipped with a default set of templates which displayed a static set of document properties in the header and/or footer of a document. For example, the Document ID, Title, Author, Revision ID, and Revision Date are common properties that are often displayed. However, what if you have created custom fields within Quality Link and you would like these to be displayed in your document? Well, Quality Link now supports the ability to add references to these custom fields within a custom template giving you more flexibility in managing your documentation than ever before. In addition, you are no longer limited to just using the header and/or footer for these properties. You can now embed the Quality Link fields anywhere in your document.
In addition, you can optionally use a different first page header and footer should you decide to create your own custom templates for managing your documentation.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Multiple Departments
You can now manage training requirements via multiple employee-department assignments. In prior releases, employees were restricted to one departmental classification. Under normal circumstances this is not a problem; however, training requirements were also determined at the departmental level and due to the one department per employee you were limited in how you established your training requirements. We have added additional capabilities that now let you assign an employee to multiple departments giving you tremendous opportunity to customize all aspects of your training requirements.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Job Descriptions
We have also added the capability to assign and manage your training requirements based on a job description. A specific job description can have specific training requirements. Quality Link will automatically detect if an employee does not have the correct requirements based on their job description giving you an opportunity to assess and remedy the situation.
Enhanced Capabilities for Managing Training Requirements - Outstanding Requirements
We have added a completely new view for helping you manage your training requirements, the (Outstanding Training Requirements) view. This new view is capable of analyzing all your department, job description, and employee training requirements and comparing it to all of your completed and scheduled employee training sessions. You will be presented with the details showing exactly who is missing training based on all the requirements entered into your quality system. You can then easily schedule training sessions via a point-and-click approach for the employees who have not yet met their training requirements. You’ll never miss a requirement with this feature!
Support Crystal Reports XI
By supporting the latest release of Crystal Reports we are enabling you the ability to extend the out-of-the-box reports with your own custom reporting solutions. Should you find the need to customize or add to the over 100+ reports that ship with Quality Link you can be assured that this is all possible with Crystal Reports.
Migration Support
As we have committed to migration in prior releases, we have also committed to migration in this release. To help existing users take advantage of our newest release, we have created a migration wizard capable of upgrading existing version 5 quality systems to a version 6 quality system. We strive to make the migration experience as smooth and seamless as possible and will help support you in these efforts.
Non-Numeric Supplier Ratings
In addition to supporting the many calculations involved with dynamically creating a supplier rating we now support the ability to use non-numeric characters such as ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Poor’, etc…when establishing a supplier rating.
Notes are Maintained for Recurring Events
This important feature has been added to ensure that all relevant information is maintained from one scheduled event to the next. For example, many customers use the Notes field to maintain information regarding an Equipment Calibration. These notes are now carried over from one calibration to the next so you don’t have to refer back to previously completed events in order to get the history of what tips, tricks, or techniques were used for the calibration. This feature applies to all the quality items that have event schedules associated with them.
More Exciting Features...
In addition to the features described above we have many more just waiting for you to try out.
Do you need your quality system to tell you which distributions are out of date? AND automatically update your distributed documents to the newest revision level ready for printing? Then you won’t want to miss the auto-synchronization feature available for your document distributions...
Do you want to maintain a separate list of issues that do not yet require a corrective action? Then you will want to check out our new 'Faults' module...
What about the ability to create any type of secure hierarchical structure needed to support all of your quality information? You'll find the new 'category' feature and invaluable asset for helping you manage your quality data.
Do you want to email uncontrolled copies of your documentation? your audit questions? your corrective actions? Then you'll love the new email capabilities built into each these modules!
As you can see, this release of Quality Link is packed with new and exciting features. Don't be surprised; however, if you find additional features that have not been listed. Our goal is to make your job easier and we have made a ton of changes in this release to do just that!
Screenshots
