April's Upgrade is Met with Approval!
March 22, 2011
Already in 2011, QA Assistant Studio™ has seen many improvements, including many new features to the Project Assistant™, saving our customers time and helping to manage their products and documents. April's upgrades add Approval Workflow functionality to your design FMEA , process FMEA , control plan , process flow , and other APQP documents!What are 'Approval Workflows'?
Each time an FMEA, Control Plan, or other APQP document or revision is completed, it may require the appropriate people to sign off and provide their approval. Often, these approvals are given in stages. For example, only after all of the document's team members sign off may management review be required. Depending on your organization's needs, confirmation of the customer's approval may complete the workflow. 'Approval workflows' are the paths followed to obtain the appropriate approvals for the APQP documents -- design FMEA, process FMEA, Control Plans, Process Flows, Part Submission Warrants, etc.
How do the workflows...work?
Because your requirements may differ from the simple workflow example outlined above, QA Assistant Studio™'s workflows are designed to be flexible to meet your team's needs.
Approval workflows may be designed and stored in QA Assistant Studio™. Once an FMEA, Control Plan, or other APQP document is ready for review, an appropriate approval workflow may be selected. The relevant people in the first approval stage then receive an email notice to advise them of the document's status and request their approval. If the document is approved or rejected, QA Assistant Studio™ sends appropriate email notices if required and proceeds to the next step in the approval workflow.
Because customer approval may be part of your required approvals list, QA Assistant Studio™ offers you the opportunity to provide complimentary access for your selected customers to review and approve documents online - saving you time and helping you manage your document approval status.