Stamina has been specifically designed to aid and simplify the process of implementing and maintaining a Quality Assurance program. The result is a totally integrated management information system, where key Quality Assurance requirements are met as an automatic consequence of people doing their normal work.

For example, the system can automatically determine the Standards that are appropriate for a product being sourced from a particular supplier in the Purchase Order System. A storeman (or anyone for that matter) placing an order does not have to be bothered with the requirements of Quality Assurance, they are simply doing an order!

Operationally there are no procedural changes for your staff from what they are currently doing, but importantly Stamina is automatically performing the additional tasks required for Quality Assurance. The result is increased accuracy, and a simple, uncomplicated procedure that will decrease your costs for implementation, maintenance and training.

Quality pervades every aspect of the day to day operation of your business, and so is an integral, unobtrusive yet omnipresent aspect of the "normal" business management functions performed by Stamina.

However, some specialized "out-of-the-normal" systems have been developed to meet the special requirements of an automated Quality Assurance System, and like the rest of Stamina, the extensive use of electronic registers and records help you win the paper wars.

DOCUMENT CONTROL: is a mini library system that can be used to track the whereabouts of important files, registers, technical references and even tools for QA purposes. Facilities exist to process borrowings, returns and pass-ons, track revision levels and multiple copies, and produce registers of all items, or just those out on loan, and to whom.

INSTRUMENT CONTROL: can be used to track calibration requirements for technical instruments, with all the detail required for support of a Quality Assurance Program, and can also be used for maintenance schedules for ordinary office equipment, like photo copiers and fax machines.

QUALITY RECORDS: provides a proven method of storing and retrieving all of your quality related records through a powerful relational database. It allows any test to be stored in a free form database, and retrieved using keywords, and has proven useful for storing technical details and references, problem causes and resolutions, procedures, insurance details - in fact any important information that needs company wide, controlled access can be stored for distributed access.

CONTRACT REVIEW: combines a facility for full traceability of all contract related matters with an efficient internal messaging system that will alert recipients when they have unread mail or faxes. This can replace hand written phone messages, fax registers and internal memos, with automatic distribution of a message to multiple recipients, and enquiry facilities for unread or reviewed items that has been sent, previously read items, and hard copy of any mail sent to you. As well as complying with QA contract review requirements, this system provides a simple and efficient means of ensuring that people follow through on important tasks, and eliminating verbal messages.

NON-CONFORMANCE/CORRECTIVE ACTION: an automated auditable system for recording all non-conformance within your organization relating to suppliers, customer supplied product or instructions, jobs or any internal procedure, and the associated authorized corrective actions that were or are to be taken, by whom and when. A system of automatic warnings ensure that follow up is not let to chance.

STAFF TRAINING: a total solution for recording who has received what training, when, who the training was performed by, skills gained, and all costs associated with training on a course by course basis. An invaluable planning and review tool for management, the training guarantee scheme, and of course, Quality Assurance.

SUPPLIER REVIEW: a crucial aspect of your own Quality Assurance program is the regular review and evaluation of your suppliers. This sytem provides a mechanism to automatically enforce your review policies, and grade suppliers accordingly, with an audit trail as to why any re-grading may have taken place. This system will save days and weeks in your review process.

INTERNAL QUALITY AUDIT: having procedures and instructions in place is only half the battle. To satisfy your external assessor (and yourself) that you are actually doing what you say you do, this system schedules periodic audits of every aspect of your business, generates the necessary forms complete with audit instructions, provides a record of the results, and also a link to any non-conformances uncovered or generated as a result of the audit.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: provides mechanisms to present relevant information in an acceptable statistical format for analysis and review of such areas as non-conformance reporting, predictive instrument calibrations, supplier performance/review, labor utilization etc. The analysis options can be easily extended using the advanced query facilities of the RDBMS, which allows results to be easily presented using tabular or graphical formats. An invaluable tool in your QA system!

PURCHASING AND PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION: an integrated purchasing system that provides automatic control over what is purchased from whom, and an intelligent knowledge base provides automatic determination of the appropriate standards. After quarantine inspection and testing products and services can be tracked via individual serial or batch numbers, or traced back to originating purchase requisition to complete this important quality loop.

SERVICING: a comprehensive solution is provided via the Service Management System, which can be utilized by any organization involved in the service sectors. Internal and external servicing can be easily managed, and full audit trails and enquiries are matched with appropriate controls to satisfy management, and your own QA requirements.

PROCESS CONTROL: allows you to set your own benchmarks/standards and/or budgets for every process within your organization. Data collection takes place as a natural by-product of people simply doing their normal work. As well as providing management with accurate costing information, process control allows you to track who did what for how long at what rate of pay on which job, and comparisons with your own benchmarks allows you to move towards a fully integrated, automated TQM system.

Click for Quality Assurance System Flow Chart