Quality Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 47) as an annuity, and the vendor hosts the software and the customer’s data. When it comes to which form of calibration management software to invest in—calibration specific or modular—and whether to implement it as customer-based or Web-based, it can be argued that the decision is mostly a matter of preference. “I don’t think technology really matters as much,” says Prashanth Rajendran, chief operating officer of Pilgrim Software (Tampa, FL). “At the end of the day, you have to look at it as, ‘What technology am I comfortable with?’” Rajendran goes on to say that a small shop with 15 to 20 employees may look to a client-based approach, because it is low maintenance, deployed on a PC or a few PCs. However, a shop with hundreds of gages and multiple locations may be apt to consider a Web-based approach, while an even larger organization may consider a SaaS Web-based system because the IT infrastructure investment needed to maintain the application would not be necessary. “But very easily this whole thing could be flipped around,” says Rajendran. “A small company could consider SaaS because they don’t have the infrastructure to do client-based or traditional Web-based. So it’s very easy to argue both ways if you want to.” With that said, client-based implementations continue to be very popular because organizations typically have few employees that need access to calibration management software. However, a Web-based approach is generally seen as appropriate in instances of very large deployments requiring software access at various locations. “Normally the software is implemented as client-based,” says Ricardo Lepper, president of SoftExpert USA (Auburn, IN). “SaaS is normally implemented when companies don’t want to spend much money on IT infrastructure. Webbased is used when companies have subsidiaries spread over a geographical area and a single database is needed.” However a calibration management software package is implemented, it is likely that an organization will attain improvement in its calibration process, record keeping and gage accuracy, which in turn will help satisfy the requirements of industry standards, regulations and customer requirements. Finally, accurate gages help ensure that safe, high-quality products are passed on to consumers, a goal common to manufacturers as well as the standards or requirements to which they seek certification or compliance. Q For more information on the companies mentioned in this article, visit their Web sites: CyberMetrics Corp., www.cybermetrics.com InfinityQS International, www.infinityqs.com Mitutoyo America Corp., www.mitutoyo.com Pilgrim Software, www.pilgrimsoftware.com PQ Systems Inc., www.pqsystems.com SoftExpert, www.softexpert.com QUALITY ONLINE For more information on management system software, visit www.qualitymag.com to read these articles: • “The Automated Management System” • “Finding the Right Calibration Software” Quality Quick Clicks 420 at qualitymag.com www.qualitymag.com March 2009 | QUALITY 47 http://www.www.infinityqs.com http://www.mitutoyo.com http://www.pilgrimsoftware.com http://www.pqsystems.com http://www.softexpert.com http://www.qualitymag.com http://www.cybermetrics.com http://www.ibs-us.com/challenges http://www.ibs-us.com/challenges http://www.qualitymag.com http://www.qualitymag.com
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