Raytheon Company an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, business aviation and special mission aircraft, visited Intelex last week for training on iForms and reported a successful session! "I wanted to thank you all for hosting our group for three days at your office and for the outstanding hospitality you all showed to us. You continue to exceed my expectations as a software company and for your client services group...I look forward to continue working with you all as we roll out the iForms module."

Jeff Ross, Sr. Systems Engineer II

Intelex is very proud to count the City of Edmonton among its growing list of clients.  The City of Edmonton is a vibrant prairie city that is located near the centre of the province of Alberta in western Canada.  They are currently utilizing Intelex's Environmental Management System, Quality Management Suite, Quality Nonconformance module and iForms system.

Last year, two members of the Intelex team had the exciting opportunity to visit the City of Edmonton to provide tailored training for their team.  Angela Martin, Intelex Lead Project Consultant, and Nicky Jaine, Intelex Quality Assurance Team Lead, conducted iForms training and were happy to report it was a huge success!  There were 8 people in the class and they learned all aspects of building their own custom forms in Intelex's iForms system, from the basic building of fields to creating inventory pages and routing.  They converted several paper based forms into online forms and hoped to build many more over the next ensuing months.  "We always enjoy working with our clients, and training them to use the system to best meet their needs.  We also got some great suggestions that we plan to implement in a future release", Angela was quoted as saying.

Intelex Account Manager, Krista Guenther received this awesome email from Art Plow, the EH&S Systems Manager at Ferro Corporation.

"Please pass on to Jeff, Ryan, and the rest of your team at Intelex that we very much appreciate the top-notch customer service we received earlier today ... Even though the glitch was on our end, Intelex was able to identify a solution quickly to help get us back on track."

It is very gratifying to see Intelex and Ferro continue our tradition of working together to deliver a product which will impact the well-being of our employees in a positive way. Customer service was an important aspect of choosing Intelex as our vendor, and it's great to see that our expectations in this regard were met.

"Again, thanks, and I look forward to thanking the Intelex team in person when the Ferro team trains with Intelex in May." -Art Plow, EH&S Systems Manager, Ferro Corporation

Thanks Ferro! Our Client Services and IT Teams were happy to help!

A new web system has been implemented by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in order to increase the efficiency of permit applications, as well as increase the clarity of the process.  Applicants are now able to track their applications in real time.  "Permit applicants can now find out immediately if the review process is right on track, and that kind of real-time information should make a positive difference in their decision-making," says Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson.  It also gives DEP employees more control over the processes involved in the application process, including assigning tasks and tracking the various stages of the application, as well as the dates each task is completed.

The EPA's implementation of a web system to track permit applications is a great example of how organizations are leveraging web technology to manage their environmental activities.  As the environmental sector moves away from meeting minimum standards of compliance, towards driving continual improvement, web technology is becoming an increasingly important solution for effectively managing organizational activities.  A web-based environmental management system can not only ensure extensive and fail proof compliance management, but also facilitate the flow of information, increase control, minimize risk and provide real time information.

Learn more about the Intelex Environmental Management System.

Intelex will be attending the 2008 ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement May 5-7 in Houston, Texas. Account Managers Bevin Lyon and Shaun Wong will be available to walk attendees through the Intelex Quality Management System as well as to discuss current industry trends and issues.

This year's conference promises to be particularly impressive with over 104 exhibitors and 2146 attendees scheduled to attend keynote addresses, courses, awards ceremonies, and banquets throughout the three days.

Visit http://wcqi.asq.org/index.html for a complete listing of keynote speakers, events, and sessions.

One of the challenges faced by organizations is showing the value derived from the management systems they have implemented.  It is often the case that an organization will implement a system such as ISO 9001:2000, OHSAS 18001 or ISO 14001 primarily to satisfy a client requirement.  When this occurs, the organization may not realize the potential value of the management system and could be wasting time and resources simply achieving the status quo.

At Intelex, we believe it is very important that organizations realize the true value of their management system approach.  Recently, Devon Ambrose, a key member of Intelex's Client Services Team, gave an informative presentation that highlighted the importance of maximizing the value of a management system by continually improving an organization.  The purpose of Devon's presentation was to explore the benefits of applying the Process Approach to a management system, thereby creating a 'Value Added Management System'.  A management system is the method in which an organization manages their processes and activities.  Devon's presentation underlined the opportunity for an organization to leverage their management system to drive continual improvement.  This opportunity is guided by the Process Approach that states that in order to facilitate meaningful decisions; a management system must consider all the variables involved in a process/activity.  Furthermore, we must understand how the processes within an organization are interrelated (referred to as the process links).

Essentially, the Process Approach creates a foundation for a Value Added Management System, by allowing for managers to pinpoint the use of resources, the overlap and interrelationship between processes (process links), and measure the effectiveness of the various contributions that make up processes.  This operational control over the processes that make up an organization's activities gives management and employees the necessary information to adjust and document activities to meet both operational and organizational objectives.

As Devon explained, this is the fundamental logic behind the Intelex system.  Consider for example an effective Quality Management System (QMS).  It must be able to track, analyze and report on all quality management initiatives from product defect tracking, to supplier management to document control.  Each process or sub-process is linked to another through variables such as inputs/outputs, resources, material, time, location and staff.  The Intelex QMS suite is structured so that interrelated processes are easily identified and accessible between modules.  If, for example, a nonconformance arises as a result of an audit, when the auditor records that nonconformance, it is also linked back to the audit record where it resulted from.  It is essential for a management solution to have continuity between its components that reflect the interrelationship between processes.  Thus, the Value Added Management System, guided by the principles of the Process Approach ensures organizations go beyond compliance to drive continual improvement.

View Devon's presentation

Continual improvement. Is it an optimistic notion? Newest buzz words? Or is it a new wave in management function? I know I have blog'd about it before, but after reading an article on the City of Dallas and their commitment to environmental management I couldn't resist sharing what I had read. The City of Dallas is a fantastic example of what an organization can accomplish when it sets out to go beyond compliance.

Several years ago, the City of Dallas selected Intelex's Environmental Management System as the tool to support their goal towards an environmentally healthy city.  This is by no means a small commitment. They are following through on their promise to not only comply with laws and regulations, but to "go beyond what's minimally necessary and do the best work possible on behalf of the environment, the citizens and resources of Dallas."

"Intelex's compliance and document management modules have allowed the City of Tempe to achieve a higher level of compliance confidence than previously thought possible.  Tempe's vision of consolidating all task-tracking and record-keeping activities necessary to maintain compliance into one desktop application has become a reality", said David McNeil, Regulatory Compliance Manager at the City of Tempe.

Environmental management is a top priority for the City of Tempe.  They, like many organizations that employ Intelex solutions, must adhere to a diverse array of goals and objectives, including government regulations, internal initiatives, and community commitments.  Since implementing Intelex's Environmental Management System, the City of Tempe has been able to focus their activities to ensure they effectively measure and monitor their activities as well as make sound decisions to encourage continual improvement into the future.

To learn more about Intelex's relationship with the City of Tempe, read The City of Tempe Success Story.

I conducted a demonstration today for the City of Edmonton of a Credit Tracking System that we customized for them.  The logic behind when credits can be earned, which licenses they can be used towards, when they expire, etc. is quite complex and together we built a slick tracking tool!  Their Environmental Operations Engineer was very excited to start working with it as it will make their planning and tracking of licenses so much easier. Thanks COE!

The task of staying up to date with Environmental, Quality, and Health & Safety (EQHS) management trends can be overwhelming.  When searching the internet, there seems to be an endless supply of information available.  As a way of helping industry professionals sift through this information, the Intelex Exchange has developed an EQHS tool shed full of valuable resources.

The Intelex Exchange's EQHS Tools brings together reference materials, training courses and helpful tools for environmental, quality, health & safety and general business performance management industry professionals.  It is a well organized and informative resource for accessing best practices, specific regulations, industry trends, tutorials, globally recognized management standards and much more!

Visit EQHS Tools