New reports and scorecards for the Intelex Audits Management Module are available to be downloaded for free from the Intelex-Exchange.

Once you’ve used the reports post a comment to let us know how they've made your job easier. Or post a comment with suggestions of reports or scorecards that you’d like to see built.

REPORTS
Audits Scheduled in Next 90 days
Lists all the audits that are scheduled for next 90 days.

Completed Audit Results
This report lists all the audits that have been completed in the last 3 months.

Upcoming Audits by Type
Grouped report listing all the audits upcoming for the current year.

Audits by Person Responsible
This report displays a list of Audits that are scheduled for the current year and grouped by Person Responsible.

Follow-Up Actions by Audits
Grouped report showing the Follow-Up Actions that are required after conducting the audits.

Scheduled Audits This Year by Month
Grouped report showing scheduled audits for the present year.

Upcoming Audits by Location
Groped report showing the upcoming audits grouped by location for the current year.

Audits Causing Standard Non-Conformances
Grouped report showing audits resulting in Standard Non-conformances.

Audit Scheduled This year by Type
Matrix report showing the number of audits scheduled this year by Audit Type.

Audits Completed This year by Type
Matrix report showing the number of completed Audits in current year by Audit Type.

Audits Scheduled vs Completed by Month and by Audit Types
Audits as well as Completed Audits for the current year by Audit Type.

SCORECARD
Number of Audits vs. Number of Follow-Up Actions
Graphical representation of the number of audits for the given year vs. number of follow -ups happening during the same year, grouped on a monthly basis.

It’s official, Intelex 5 is almost here! Intelex is excited to announce that our ASP clients will receive the release of Intelex 5 on Sunday August 17th with enterprise clients to follow shortly after.

With over 160 new features, enhancements and improvements, Intelex's Version 5 is a breakthrough in EQH&S and business performance management.    

SNEAK PEEK OF NEW FEATURES

-Message Centre - discussion & collaboration tools

-Automatic document to PDF conversions

-New dashboard layouts & design tools

-Printer-friendly dashboards

-Custom email templates

-"Email this page" functionality

-Automated document update notifications

-Enhanced control of dashboard security

-Enhanced merge fields in email templates

-Intelex web services & API

-New configurable Intelex homepage & module homepages

-Custom calendars with filters, highlights and multi-day events

-Centralized system setup and configuration

-Over 20 new and improved scorecard types

-21 CFR compliance and dual signatures

-Click-through capability on configurable reports

-Unlimited icons on toolbar with scrolling ability

-Notifications on training courses and document changes

-Custom formulas, calculation and script editor

-Click to view larger image.

 

Stay tuned for more updates about the release of Intelex 5.

1. Conservation of natural resources by minimization of paper usage.

2. Reduction of operational costs. Filing cabinets take up precious floor space which can be costly. Also, retrieving and processing paper-based documents is time intensive.

3. Increased productivity.

4. Ensure compliance with laws and regulations which require companies to implement document tracking procedures.

5. Backup of critical files.

6. Security. Prevent unauthorized alteration or destruction of data.

7. Accountability.  Provide audit trails as well as user logs and record activity.

8. Access control.  Control and designate access levels to an organization’s documents.

9. Process consistency. Enforce strict adherence to filing, naming conventions, and workflow processes.

10. Universal accessibility. A web-based document management system enables employees to retrieve documents wherever they are.

According to OSHA, July is the month with the highest occurrence of falls in the United States. This is probably due to the increase in construction activity during the summer months.

Brooks Schuelke of InjuryBoard.com discusses fall-related injuries in a recent post.  He covers various causes and highlights best practices to reduce incidences.

As of July 8, close to a thousand cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported in the United States and more than 130 people hospitalized throughout the country.  Safety officials are uncertain as to the cause of the outbreak. The initial focus was on tomatoes but jalapeno peppers, cilantro, and even some brands of salsa have also been cited as potential culprits.

The outbreak has brought attention to the role of the Food and Drug Administration in monitoring the nation’s food supply. The FDA Commissioner is being called upon to use his emergency powers to put in place a detailed tracking system to follow produce from the farm to the dinner table. Meanwhile, the FDA’s safety chief has urged corporate responsibility while lamenting that safety reports are still created using pen and paper.

The time has come for the agricultural sector to adopt widespread software tracking protocols in order to improve traceability. Some food producers already track their products. Most food producers place stickers on their fruits and vegetables. It might just be a question of adding additional information on the stickers to pinpoint where the produce originated and how it got to its ultimate destination. Every activity at every point in the supply chain needs to be captured electronically and stored in databases. This would make it a lot easier to create a clearer picture when safety issues arise.

An ideal situation would be similar to that of tracking parcels sent by couriers such as DHL or FedEx.  You enter a tracking number on a website and can immediately see the history of a product from its origin to its final destination.  This information should be made available not just to businesses and investigators but to the consumer as well.

Attention Intelex document control users, five new document control reports are available to be downloaded for free from Intelex-Exchange.com. Remember that all of these reports can be added to your dashboard to give you instant, real-time document control data. Enjoy!

Ready for Release List

Lists all the documents that are finished being edited or being approved and are ready to be released. 

 

Rejected Document List

Lists the documents that have been rejected for the current year.

 

Change Request Overdue This year

Lists the documents whose change requests are overdue for the current year.

 

Rejected Change Request

Lists the documents whose change requests have been rejected and the reason for the rejection.

 

Pending Actions

Lists documents with pending actions, grouped by the status of the document for the current year.

The Lahore Development Authority (Pakistan) has announced that they will be implementing quality control laboratories to assess the quality of road materials and construction procedures being used across their developments.  To kick off this new quality management initiative, the LDA “has issued orders to all contractors enlisted with LDA … [the contractors] have also been instructed to ensure submission of road materials to such 'Quality Control Laboratories' so that material could be screened in accordance with international standards” (Nation.com 2008).

I’ve blogged about the value of a quality management system before but I thought this story exemplified the point that quality control really can be applied to any industry, product, and service.

To read the complete story about LDA’s quality control program visit www.Nation.com.

 

The past several months at Intelex have been nothing short of exciting.  As our client base continues to grow, milestones are quickly being reached.  The month of June saw Intelex reach its 300^th client!

As a result of this positive growth, our staff at Intelex has also been expanding to help meet the positive trends we’re ecstatically experiencing.  Recent additions to our Marketing, Development, and Client Services teams are helping put Intelex in great position to meet (and hopefully surpass) every single one of our clients’ needs. 

To help add to this excitement, Client Relations would like to take the opportunity to invite our Intelex users to actively participate on our blog!  Along with providing useful and informative information to our clients about our industry, we feel that the blog is a great medium for clients to tell us about their particular successes using Intelex.  You can simply respond to a particular blog posting having caught your interest or attention, or you can email Client Relations at client.relations@intelex.com with specific details of what you wish to convey.  We would be more than happy to submit a post on your behalf and would be thrilled if you took an interest in helping us grow Intelex’s online community! 

At the end of the day, the Intelex blog is not only for our users, but about our users.  So whether you were client # 1 or client # 300, we would love to hear from you! 

Client Relations

Intelex Technologies

Continuing the same theme as Lori’s previous post, here is the list of the most frequently cited standards by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration for the last fiscal year .

1. Scaffolding (construction)
2. Fall protection (construction)
3. Hazard communication
4. Control of hazardous energy
5. Respiratory protection
6. Powered industrial trucks
7. Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment
8. Ladders (construction)
9. Machines (general requirements)
10. Electrical systems design

They say that one man’s success is another man’s failure.  While I personally find this kind of worldly insight a little cliché, this particular adage, if nothing else speaks volumes about how we define success.  I think we can all agree that although success can be measured in a multitude of acceptable albeit subjective ways, it doesn’t necessarily have a definitively right one.  Recently, I sat down with Senior Project Manager Kulbir Bal in hopes of hearing about a compelling client story I would be able share with our blog readers.  A modest Kulbir, refusing to play favorites, instead treated me to his unique and insightful perspective on what he believes accounts for a client’s success with Intelex. 

 

It was clear from our discussion that there were two fundamental elements that would lead any client to a successful implementation of the Intelex system:  relationships and planning.  While perhaps not an epiphany to anyone reading this, Kulbir believes that these elements can be easily overlooked.  I would tend to agree.  While learning the nuts and bolts of a new system is important, Kulbir suggested that participating in training for a number of days is only, “one stop during the implementation road.”  Getting full value out of the Intelex system or any other new software for that matter can only happen once concrete relationships have been formed between Project Managers/Consultants and the clients they work with.  Only once levels of trust are achieved from “getting to know clients at a personable level and putting their minds at ease,” can appropriate planning and objective setting ensue.

Perhaps the most important point Kulbir drove home was the need for new clients to identify one or several individuals within their company or organization who would champion the Intelex system, assuming ownership of the software, creating excitement about it while acting as an internal coordinator.  He suggested that, “most clients are as successful as their preparation goes.  If they’re ready and have all necessary processes in place and caution off some time to work with the system, success will quickly follow.”  If you haven’t done so already however, fear not! An Intelex Project Manager or Consultant can help you identify who these individuals could potentially be and would be more than happy to help set appropriate planning in motion. 

 

So there you have it!  Your success with Intelex really isn’t a big secret.  As Kulbir pointed out, it really boils down to intelligent planning and strong relationships.  It’s a simple recipe, but one with a proven track record. 

An increase in workplace fatalities, like the untimely deaths of a crane operator and construction worker in New York’s lower-east side (May 2008), reinforces the desperate need for workplace safety programs.

With thousands of people needlessly dying on the job every year, one can’t help but wonder what’s going wrong.  According to Michael Belzer, associate research scientist with the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Michigan, one factor may be that “… in an economic downturn there’s more pressure on people to get more done for less time and less money.”  (MSNBC 2008)

Following that logic, for a corporation to implement a Safety Management System it will cost money, but the price tag is miniscule when compared with benefits of having a healthy workforce. Ultimately, the money an organization saves as a result of fewer production days lost to sick leave, significantly reduced liability expenses, and an increase in employee satisfaction far outweighs the cost of the initial Safety Management Program.

So as I see it, the necessary steps to increase employee health and safety are three-fold. First, corporations need to take a proactive approach to protecting the welfare of their employees by investing in a Health and Safety Management Program. Secondly, the government needs to effectively enforce healthy and safety regulations. And lastly, employees need to demand safe working environments.

Alexander Gordon makes a great point in his article [The] Importance of Document Management in Compliance Strategies when he says “Compliance strategies help decrease regulatory as well as litigation risks that the enterprise faces. They help to reduce mismanagement of data, ensuring that the companies secure their information and utilize it wisely.”

Gordon’s full article is really useful in explaining the value of a document control system, but this particular quote stands out because it speaks to one of the core values of a well-designed document management system ― the ability to help ensure internal and external regulatory compliance.

Industry executives understand that having document control procedures in place improves workflow efficiency, which in turn saves money by eliminating the duplication of employee efforts. But what they often overlook is the value that a simple document management system can offer from a risk prevention perspective.

In 2008, there isn’t an industry out there that doesn’t have to meet some sort of regulations or risk being penalized. By implementing a document management system corporations can ensure compliance through corporate-wide workflow procedures and real-time status reports.

Another successful Webinar!  I just finished conducting the Take a Tour of the Back Roads Webinar and it was well received.  This webinar was free and designed to give clients insight to the many consulting tips I’ve gathered over the years.  Whether new or veteran clients – they learned great ways to make the Intelex system in their organization, a success!  We covered the following topics:

Configuration:

-         Configurable Security

-         Toolbars

-         Effective Email Notifications

Efficiency Tools:

-         Data Copy Function

-         Importing Tools Available…and are you using all fields?

Beneficial Features:

-         Benefits of the Reporting Suite

-         How iForms can help

-         Configuration Services Available

Module Specific:

-         Making Accessing Documents Even Easier

-         Making the best use of Training Work Groups and Grace Period

Followed by an open Question and Answer period where many good questions came up.

During my first visit to Dallas I recall noticing a bumper sticker with the slogan “Don’t Mess with Texas”. I remember being amused and wondering what that was all about. It happens to be the name of the anti-highway litter campaign organized by the Texas Department of Transportation.  Over the years, the lone star state has championed several similar initiatives and is recognized as a national leader in environmental sustainability.  

This week, the City of Dallas further boosted the state’s reputation by achieving ISO 14001:2004 certification for its Environmental Management System.  EPA administrator Stephen Johnson commended the city for its commitment to reducing the impact of its activities on the environment. The city’s EMS covers all 11 municipal departments and 13,000 employees. It is the widest implementation of an EMS in the country.  The city of Dallas was one of the first cities to purchase Intelex Environmental Management System software back in 2004 and is among a growing number of Intelex municipal clients. 

Five new free training reports and two new training scorecards are available to be downloaded from Intelex-Exchange by Intelex clients using the Training Management System.

Enjoy! These new reports and scorecards should make your jobs a little easier.

REPORTS

Training Hours & Costs by Course: Gives the total duration of hours and cost spent on each course based on the location and categorized by pass and fail.

Course Lists: Lists all the courses that have been assigned to the workgroup, and is grouped on the basis of the workgroups.  It also shows the priority of the course assigned as well as the location at which the courses are assigned to the workgroup.

Training Hours This Year vs. Last Year: Sums up the total number of hours on training for each course and compares the number of hours for this year versus last.

Cost of Training by Course: Shows the total cost associated with each course for a given location, and is grouped by months for the current year.

Grades Distribution: Shows the grades distribution among the employees taking the training, and the number of employees who passed the course.

SCORECARDS

Training Cost This Year Vs. Last Year: Displays a bar graph showing the total cost spent on each location for training this year and last year.

Training Cost by Course: Shows the amount spent on each training course that is being offered. Grouped by the month for the current year.

Please contact your Intelex Client Relations Account Manager or the Intelex Help Desk at help.desk@intelex.com, if you experience difficulty downloading these reports and scorecards.

Good news for organizations that need to track Department of Transportation [DOT] driver compliance. Intelex has designed a module to automate the entire DOT process.

The new DOT Compliance Management Module enables organizations to:

• Implement organization-wide DOT  management procedures
• Manage all DOT related data using a secure web-based interface
• Automate the renewal reminder process
• Send escalating email notifications to designated administrators
• Create instant real-time driver compliance reports
• Process and archive all relevant DOT documentation

To learn more about this product, contact an Intelex Account Manager.

NRG Energy, one of North America’s most successful power generation companies, has raised the bar regarding an environmentally kinder approach to power generation.

In an effort to reduce their environmental footprint, NRG has implemented econrg, a progressive initiative tasked with the mandate of introducing environmentally friendlier business practices.

As described on the NRG website, their goal is to “meet the challenges of climate change, clean air and the protection of our natural resources.” To help achieve this goal, NRG chose Intelex’s web-based Environmental Management System to collect, track and report all environmental-related data, procedures and policies.

In addition to the implementation of Intelex’s management software, NRG has also begun retrofitting existing power plants with technology to reduce emissions. “We are engaging in activities that protect and preserve the environment while encouraging changes in the daily lives of our employees.”

Through programs like Control Climate Change (3C), an initiative comprised of 50 global business leaders including NRG Energy, corporations world-wide are making a sincere effort to reduce carbon emissions and address global warming.

I recently picked up the April 2008 issue of Industry Week and read Brad Kenney’s article “Whatever Happened to Quality?” In the past I’ve written posts about an increase in awareness regarding the importance of quality control, but what my previous posts didn’t focus on and Mr. Kenney’s article does, is the growing realization that quality management isn’t just about manufacturing anymore.

In 2008, quality control has evolved to the point where it embraces an all-encompassing approach to process improvement. That is to say that it accounts not just for manufacturing, but also for services rendered, customer support, employee satisfaction, human resources development, senior leadership decisions,  etc.  As Kenney describes it, the evolved approach to quality goes “beyond the shop floor and into the front office.”

As I see it, the new quality control is a complete quality management system. It’s comprised of document control workflow, training management processes, supplier performance tracking procedures, corporate-wide quality policies, and internal & external communications tracking to name just a few components.

Check out Kenney's complete article at http://www.industryweek.com.

As Intelex continues to grow we’ve recognized a need for extended customer support hours. Effective immediately, the Intelex Help Desk will be available from 7:30am – 8:00pm Monday through Friday.

The new Help Desk hours will allow us to support all North American Intelex clients throughout the work day, and to provide a higher level of support to our global clients, particularly in Europe.

The Intelex Help Desk can be reached by email at help.desk@intelex.com or by phone at 1.877.WEB.EQHS.

The City of Kitchener’s fleet operations which run its vehicles and related equipment recently garnered an ISO 14001 certification. An organization is deemed to be certified after an audit performed by an independent body confirms that its EMS is up to snuff. This is a way to let the world know that it fully conforms to the requirements specified in the ISO standards.

The City of Kitchener is the largest municipality in the Region of Waterloo. The Region of Waterloo has had a lasting relationship with Intelex dating back to 1998 when they chose ISOsoft for their first Environmental Management System.