Hello Intelex Users,

Intelex rolled out our latest release of the Intelex System - Intelex 5 to our ASP clients last week. Our enterprise clients will receive the updated system within the next two.

I believe Intelex 5 is our best release yet. Version 5 boasts excellent new features including the following showstoppers:

• Message Center: The Message Center adds a whole new collaborative dynamic to the Intelex System. Are you viewing a Training Course you want to ask a question about? Send an email to the instructor with a link back to the course. Want to have a discussion about the latest revision of a document? Instantly post a comment and begin a discussion thread. All of this can be done using the Message Center fragment appearing on each page of the Intelex System.


• Home Pages: Home Pages enable you to 'highlight' the reports, scorecards, modules and features from throughout the Intelex System that you want your users to notice. The new System Home Page is represented by a Home icon on the Main Toolbar, and the newly designed Module Home Pages are accessed through the first tab on each module. Pre-built home pages have been installed on all of your systems; however, all of the new Home Pages can be changed to focus on the features you want to highlight most. Also, note that you have the option of making Home Pages appear automatically when navigating to any Module within your Intelex System.  This can be enabled through your System's Centralized Setup Section.


• Centralized Setup Section: As the name implies, this is your one-stop shop for everything related to configuring and customizing your Intelex System. On the top right-hand corner of the Intelex Interface you'll notice a 'Setup' icon. By clicking on this icon you'll be able to access all of the configurable features available. We hope you'll find that the Centralized Setup Section makes configuring the Intelex System faster and more user friendly than ever before!


• Configurable Reports Improvements: When viewing a report in the Intelex System, you can now click directly on any record number automatically drilling down to its details. This also works on Matrix Reports by clicking on any numeric formula. Also in Configurable Reports is a new security layer, which enables you to control whether or not users can edit or view reports.


• Employee Groups: Do you send documents/records to the same group of employees on a frequent basis? Do you want to assign security or send emails to a specific group of people? You can now create an Employee Group (similar to distribution lists in MS Outlook) to quickly assign security, send documents, or email messages to that group of employees in just one click.


• Other Enhancements: There are over a 160 new enhancements to the Intelex System, including a new Site Map, an improved Dashboard Editor, over 15 new Scorecards, Electronic Signatures (for CFR 21 Part 11 compliance), Configurable Calendars and much more!

Thank you very much for support of Intelex. We hope that you enjoy the release!

Best Regards,

Mark Jaine
President
Intelex Technologies Inc.
mark@intelex.com

It is often a challenge to keep employees constantly aware and engaged when it comes to safety.  An occasional dose of shock can go a long way in reinforcing the message. This can come in the form of graphic or emotional videos such as the ones listed below.

WARNING: These clips have allegedly made otherwise "tough guys" break into sobbing fits at the prospect of a serious accident.

Off site accident (prevent-it.ca)
Ladder fall (prevent-it.ca)
Jackhammer accident (prevent-it.ca)
Kitchen fire (prevent-it.ca)

The module homepages that are a new feature introduced in Intelex 5 were designed for users to have ready access to all the features they need related to a module. These include tasks, RSS feeds (which incidentally show the latest entries from this blog), as well as calendars, message center, and scorecards.

I recently met up with Ketul Shah, our resident scorecards expert, to discuss some of the finer details of Metric Scorecards. A Metric Scorecard is a type of Key Performance Indicator. They're  basically numbers that tell managers and employees how well certain facets of their operations are performing.  They could be ratios, percentages, time units, or dollar figures.  Anything from the number of nonconformances in the past month to total safety incidents may be represented.  A neat feature is the ability to specify high and low thresholds so that when a metric dips below or exceeds specified levels, you can spot it right away by the color the number is displayed in or by the absence or presence of a check mark.

Ketul quickly showed me how to create and setup a Metric Scorecard. It literally took less than four minutes to build one and get it up and going.  To start building one, go to the Metric Columns tab in the Dashboards and Scorecards module and then add an entry.  From there, you can specify your variables and define your calculations. You can optionally assign metrics to groups.  Once you're done setting up and saving the metric columns, go to Scorecard Editor to configure and add the newly created Metric Scorecard to your module homepage.

If you are interested in taking a look at some preconfigured scorecards, several of them will soon be available to download at the Intelex Exchange.

Among the many regulations overseen by the Food and Drug Administration, there is one pertaining specifically to electronic records and signatures generated by computer systems - 21 CFR Part 11.  The FDA's purpose here is to ensure that electronic records and signatures are trustworthy, reliable and compatible with the FDA's mission of safeguarding public health.  Section 11.10 of the regulation requires procedures and controls to be put in place that "ensure the authenticity, integrity, and, when appropriate, the confidentiality of electronic records".  Intelex offers a validation pack that is designed to test your system's compliance to these requirements. For more information, please contact an Intelex representative.

Written by Dan Marcus

It’s difficult to define a single number that each company can use to calculate the impact a management system will have on their bottom line. With that being said, there is transferable logic that every company can apply to calculate their return on investment by establishing better data management.

Managers are hired because of the unique knowledge they possess in their area of expertise (human resources, safety, environment, or quality management). A manager’s main objective is to implement changes that promote continual improvement. Investing in a data management system has a direct effect on an organization's bottom line because it enables the organization to better utilize their key employees. A direct return is inevitable when the amount of time key staff spend managing data is reduced. This is especially true when preparing for audits.

Audit reporting involves thousands of records and can take managers and support staff weeks to prepare, in addition to their daily data management routines. Utilizing a direct-entry database significantly reduces the time and intellectual resources required to collect and format company data.

Once the necessary information is collected and formatted, reports need to be generated. The Intelex Management System simplifies the reporting process through configurable reporting functionality that enables users to create and store reports based on their specific corporate or auditing criteria.

With information being collected in real-time and reports being preconfigured for single click access, employees save countless hours that can be more effectively devoted to their primary objective; observing behaviors, analyzing data, and developing changes that further impact the bottom line ? reducing costs and increasing productivity.

Data management systems also generate secondary return-on-investments such as new opportunities for corporate marketing efforts and corporate recognition through industry awards and media acknowledgements, both generate increased business opportunities.

An organization's bottom line is therefore improved by reducing the amount of time key employees spend managing data while providing a tool to aide in continual improvement. In an environment where transparency can make the difference, data management provides a basis to prove what you preach, which can make the difference between market share or the big contract.

Welcome to the new Intelex corporate website. Since 2000, Intelex has experienced tremendous growth in terms of product development, client base, and the number of Intelexians who have joined our team. To compliment these achievements, Intelex has updated its corporate image with a new stylized company logo and a sleeker more contemporary corporate website.

When we began the process of rebranding the Intelex image, there were two main objectives that we wanted the new corporate website to fulfill:

Firstly, the new website needed to reflect Intelex's growing corporate presence in the environmental, quality, health & safety and business performance management industries, and Secondly, we wanted the new site to represent the complete breadth and depth of the Intelex product line.

We believe that we’ve succeeded in meeting both of these objectives and welcome comments and suggestions from our clients, partners, and prospective clients.

On behalf of the entire Intelex Team, thank you for your support and we look forward to continuing to provide our clients with best-in-class performance management software and support.

A recent independent study conducted by the Aberdeen Group indicates that businesses using real-time performance reporting (like the reporting functionality included in the Intelex EQH'S Management Systems) realize greater success in relation to equipment effectiveness, production yield, and profit margins.

According to Matthew Littlefield, a senior researcher at Aberdeen Group, "best-in-class manufacturers are more than twice as likely as laggard manufacturers to monitor exceptions on the plan floor in real time, use real-time data in production optimization processes, and in using real-time data for the production release and control." (Quality Digest, July 2008)

All of Intelex’s Modules come with real-time reporting functionality. The data in the Intelex System is viewable through graphical scorecards that are displayed on corporate dashboards for an instant 360 degree view of your business.

Visit the  Aberdeen Group's website for the full report.

There are over 160 new enhancements in the forthcoming Intelex 5. Here are a few of my favourite new features associated with Document Control.

Six new reports for clients using the Intelex Standard Nonconformances Module have been posted on the Intelex-Exchange (to be downloaded for free).

These reports have been designed to provide an instant, real-time snapshot of your organizations standard nonconformance and corrective/preventative actions performance.

Corrective/Preventative Actions by Report ID
Standard Nonconformances by Type
Standard Nonconformances by Classification
Corrective/Preventative Actions - Last 90 Days
Corrective/Preventative Actions - This Year vs. Last Year
Report ID - Stages by Date