Do-It-Yourself Auditing/Assessment Software

Hello,

First an introduction and full disclosure. My name is Jim Hardeman and I head up product strategy, requirements and design for a software company called ComplianceMetrix. We have been building what is known as enterprise software for performing audits/assessments/checklists and managing customer/product complaints, and supply chain for the Food Service industry for a couple years now. Our solutions are used by some very large 3rd party auditing firms and internally by many restaurant chains. Our implementations are typically custom in nature and highly tailored to the customer's requirements and business processes.

This is not intended to be an advertisement however. The reason for my post is this. We have been asked by several of our clients if we would provide the tools for them to create and manage their own own assessments/audits/checklists. I am seeking input and feedback on this idea.

In searching these forums, I have seen many posts for requests for recommendations on software/systems but most of the replies recommend the use of Microsoft Word and Excel due to various limitations or simplicity.

Questions:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages in using Word and Excel? If you are using Word/Excel how are you managing the volume of paper, follow up to Corrective Actions, measuring results and trends?
• What is missing from the software solutions out there today? Too expensive? Too simplistic? Too complicated? Not flexible?
• Have you tried using something like SurveyMonkey or other simplistic form building software applications to collect and manage data? What did you like, what was missing?
• If you were to use software, would you be able to be connected to the internet at all times, or would you need to be able to perform the work disconnected?
• How important is it to have features beyond just the creation of questions and the collection of data? Examples:

- Leave behind report (PDF print out of the audit/results)
- Various Scoring methods
- Segmenting and tracking information by Rounds (time periods)
- Assignment and tracking of Corrective Actions (based on severity?)
- Support for company hierarchy (ability to segment forms/results by groups based on organizational structure or geographical location)
- Email notifications
- Audit form versioning (being able to have versions of the form over time as questions are added/changed)
- Export of data to Excel
- Dashboards / Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

As you can imagine, it can get complicated quickly with too many features. We are seeking to find a balance for having the features needed but keeping it simple.

We would really appreciate your feedback and input in these areas. If you feel comfortable sharing here that would be great or you can contact me via email. Also, if you would be a willing beta participant at some point, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Jim