Government Contractor

Discover how a government contractor uses Zavanta Software to streamline audits, document control, and employee attestation.  

 

“We couldn’t have picked a better tool. Over the years, you have made enhancements that have really helped us.” Compliance and QA Manager 

 

Our Client

Government Contractor

Our client is a seasoned supply chain and technology integration firm specializing as a federal defense contractor for small businesses. With a legacy spanning back to the late 1980s, they've been steadfast in delivering critical support to the U.S. military and its global allies. Their services encompass a unified solution for facility and infrastructure supplies, repair parts, special use equipment, end items, and heavy machinery. 

Business Challenge

Failed Audit With Internal File Repository Solution

Our client is AS9120 certified.

AS9120 – Quality Management Systems: Aviation, Space & Defense Organizations. Companies that design, develop, and/or produce aviation, space and defense products; and by organizations providing post-delivery support, including the provision of maintenance, spare parts, or materials, for their own products.

During a third-party ISO AS9120 audit, they had paper instructions on the desk different from what was in their file repository system. Our client was written up as major non-conformance, and the infraction received the attention of the owner. In the corrective action response, they committed in the next calendar year to evaluate and come up with a more robust solution to document control.

Lack of Revision Control

The legacy system simply housed PDFs by department on a public drive. While it provided visibility for the entire company, revision control wasn’t properly documented. Documents lacked the date of the revision change and who changed it. Once the document was printed, there were ongoing problems with people unknowingly working off older documents. Ultimately, this was the root of the failed audit. 

Search for a Solution

The initiative to find a better document management system had a company-wide focus. The search team had representation from all departments (sales, marketing, QA, warehouse, etc.). The team jointly created a list of requirements and met with four different potential vendors for demos.

Their primary concerns were focused on version control, ease of transitioning documents, user-friendliness, and price value.

 Primary feature concerns:

• Version control
• Ease of transitioning documents
• User-friendliness
• Price value

The search committee chose Zavanta in a near unanimous decision.

“We couldn’t have picked a better tool. Over the years, you have made enhancements that have really helped us.” Compliance and QA Manager

 

The Results with Zavanta

Comprehensive Version Control

Our client now has comprehensive revision control for policies, procedures, work instructions, and job descriptions. This includes the employee handbook, QA manual, business ethics, finance AP and AR, the distribution center procedures for receiving, inventory, and shipping, and more.

A useful, related feature is the ability to compare versions to see what specific content has changed. It’s easy to compare versions and see what changed for verification or corrective action. This feature only takes minutes, resulting in significant administrative savings.

Read Verify Attestation

Our client utilizes the acknowledgement feature, Read Verify, for key topics that need assurance the associates are aware of, building a culture of accountability. This includes all ethics and compliance documents, the associate handbook and content regarding hazardous materials, and proprietary business processes.

Zavanta sends out the automated notification to employees that it’s time to read and acknowledge. Managers can view results from their dashboard and act if needed.

"Theoretically, if you can get all the associates doing the same thing the same way, you get the same result. Institutional knowledge is inefficient because everyone develops their own way of shortening the cycle. Things can go terribly wrong."

 

Stringent Internal Audit Process

The internal QA team conducts internal auditing every year. They use the documents in Zavanta to prepare for audits. The team visits each organization (finance, QA, operations, and warehouse, etc.) and observes all the associates during their course of work. All aspects of the business are audited based on the procedures in Zavanta.

For example, the QA team may ask an associate to demonstrate how they place an order. If their work steps don't match the procedure in Zavanta, it’s a write-up. The end goal is to standardize the process.

Annual Document Reviews

Our client has instituted a process for annual mandatory document reviews. The review schedule is automated, and Zavanta handles the annual notifications and reminders to the appropriate reviewers and approvers. The document owner must sign off as accurate as written.

"It’s a much more efficient way to work. You always know you are working off the most updated document."