3 replies to this topic

[amberlyda]

I am having the hardest time trying to figure out how to validate documents etc.  We are SQF certified and currently I have file cabinets full of paperwork and doing it the old school way and the auditor hasnt marked us down for it. We are switching to a new format and trying to go digital this next year.  Currently we (managers) signoff on the daily documents as a way to verify that the work has been done and that documents have been reviewed. How is everyone doing this on digital software programs?  Right now Im having to pull up the document digitally sign it and resave it.  This is taking so much time (more than just signing the paperwork and filing it).  The way I have understood the FDA is that we have to show (sign off) on documents within 7 days of completion and this is the standard we have been holding to with the paper documents.  I pull monthly and quarterly reports and analyze the data and report on that for different production or sanitation documents. Are we over doing it? Also, are there any documents that we should not be doing digitally?  I would like to move all production, sanitation, maintenance forms etc to a digital platform and store them in the cloud instead of my filing cabinet

[SQFconsultant]

We use handhelds with all the forms, etc showing on them and then at end of day just need to review and electronically sign the master and it gets filed in the daily reports.

[MaggieB]

My company uses Safefood360. You create digital versions of your worksheets/programs inside the system, and you can set it up so that once the record has been submitted it will be pop up to be digitally verified. We have ours set up that the verifier has to answer a short checklist (Is this record complete, are all items in spec, are results acceptable, etc.) and then submits with a timestamped virtual signature. We use this primarily for QA documents, with production documents still being paper, reviewed by hand. All of the paper documents are also maintained in safefood360, with an easy to access revision log.

[liberator]

SharePoint could also be beneficial. Upload the docs into the SharePoint library, where are they being stored now? (This could be set up to do this automatically)  Once uploaded into SharePoint, SharePoint  can be configured so that a workflow automatically starts - you get an email  notification to review and approve. Then it's just a workflow approval. You don't need to digitally sign the document, just approve the workflow which is your "digital" signature/approval, (multiple people can review either one at a time all all at once) and can then approve the document if thats whats required. The workflow is fully auditable, you have version history and approval history recorded against each document.