Its own people
Only the people you add to a vault can open it, plus whoever administers your M‑Files. Someone who works in two vaults uses the same sign-in for both.
VisualQMS comes with M‑Files
Run contracts and HR on M‑Files too
VisualQMS runs on M‑Files, a full document management system, and you get M‑Files with it. Use it for contracts, HR files and projects too, and keep any area that must stay apart, HR for one, in a vault of its own.
- Keep HR in a vault of its own
- No new user licences for your QMS users
The same controls as your SOPs
Four areas to bring over next
Each one gets what keeps your SOPs in order: documents found by what they are, access that follows the document, and approvals with a reminder before the deadline. There are pre-configured modules for contract management, human resources and project management.
Contract management
Renewal and notice dates slip when contracts live in shared drives and inboxes. In M‑Files each contract is linked to its customer or project, and a reminder before a renewal or notice date can be set up. A new contract starts from a template that fills in the customer's details.
HR and personnel files
Employee contracts, certificates and signed policies often sit in HR folders and shared mailboxes, where it is hard to show who can open them. In M‑Files, HR can have a vault of its own, and inside it who sees a document follows what it is and who it concerns.
Project documents
A document that belongs to a project, a customer and a contract at once tends to get copied into three folders. In M‑Files it is linked to all three, and it appears in every view it matches, with no copies in other folders. Each team can have its own view of the documents and tasks that concern it.
Supplier documents
Proving a supplier is still approved means finding the agreement, the certificates and the last audit. In M‑Files they are linked to the supplier they concern, and M‑Files can be set up to remind the owner before a certificate expires.
Kept apart in vaults
Keep HR in a vault of its own
M‑Files can run many vaults side by side, each one a separate system. Areas that belong together, like contracts, customers and projects, can share a vault. An area that must stay apart, like HR, can have one of its own.
Its own permissions
Each vault has its own user groups and rights. Inside it, a document can inherit the permissions of the employee or project record it is filed under.
Its own set-up
Each vault has its own document types, fields and workflows, so HR can be set up nothing like quality.
What the next area costs
Add contracts or HR without new user licences
In M‑Files a named user licence belongs to the person, and one person can work in several vaults. That means everyone who already uses VisualQMS can work in a contracts or HR vault on the licence they have, as long as the vault is on the same M‑Files subscription or server.
Already covered
The M‑Files user licences of everyone already on VisualQMS, in every vault they work in.
In one quote from us
Setting up the new area, a licence for anyone who joins only for it, an editing licence for anyone who only reads today but will edit there, more concurrent licences if more people are signed in at once, and any add-on or extra storage the area needs.
Questions about using M‑Files more widely
Can HR files be kept completely apart from the QMS?
Yes. Put HR in a vault of its own. Only the people you add can open it, and it has its own user groups, permissions, document types and workflows. Whoever administers your M‑Files can give access to any vault: the system administrator on your own server, or the subscription or access administrator in M‑Files Cloud.
Do we need new licences to use M‑Files for contracts or HR?
Not for the people who already use VisualQMS, as long as the new vault is on the same M‑Files subscription or server. Some things still cost: a licence for anyone who joins only for the new area; an editing licence for someone who only reads today but will edit there; more concurrent licences if more people are signed in at once; and any add-on or extra storage the area needs. On some M‑Files editions the price depends on more than the number of users. We put it all in one quote.
Can M‑Files remind us before a contract or a certificate runs out?
Yes, once we set it up. M‑Files can send a reminder before a contract or certificate date, using workflow notifications and task deadlines.
Can contracts be signed electronically?
With the DocuSign or Adobe Acrobat Sign integration and your own subscription to that service, signed documents return to M‑Files automatically. The integration is switched on with an add-on licence key, and we tell you whether your M‑Files subscription already includes it.
Does a new contract have to be filled in by hand?
M‑Files fills the customer name and other details from the record into a new contract template.
How are documents organised and versioned?
M‑Files organises documents by their details instead of folders, so each document is found by what it is and appears in every view it matches, with no copies in other folders. Each time a document is checked back in, or its details change, a row is added to the version history. The content and details of earlier versions can't be edited.
How are the workflows built?
Workflows are set up in a graphical designer rather than written as code. They can assign reviews and approvals, with deadline reminders.