It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 - the basic principle is as follows:
(words in italics are explained in the Glossary at the end of this guide):
This demonstrates the simplest possible lifecycle of a Query.
Typically the person that was asked the question may respond with a question of their own; the person asking may add more info; but the query remains open, capturing this dialogue that often occurs in the process of arriving at an answer.
You’ll see later that several QMS screens refer to the asker of the question as ‘From’, and refer to the person answering the question as ‘To’. A query is considered as coming ‘From’ someone, ‘To’ another.
A more complex query.
The query process may be more complex, involving review of questions as well as review of answers. QMS can handle all of this.
Here’s another, more complex Query lifecycle:
- Someone has a question for someone else.
- The question is reviewed
- The question is answered.
- The answer is accepted
- The answer is reviewed
Steps 1, 2 & 3 are as before. Step 1A requires approval of a question before publishing, and step 3A requires the accepted answer to be approved or rejected before the query is closed.
These extra steps can be used as a kind of quality control.
This more complex workflow is not covered by this document – it is the getting started guide after all.
If your workflow requires review steps then contact your local QMS administrators for assistance.
That’s the core of what QMS does – we believe it just does it better than any other system on the market – but we are slightly biased.
I get it, now where can I find more info?
If you don’t find the info you’re looking for in this Getting started with QMS guide, then contact your local QMS administrators. They’re a good source of more information.
What’s next?
Now you know what QMS is, let’s set a password and login to take a look.