Easy to follow, hard to get wrong
VisualQMS is a complete quality management system built on M‑Files, with your processes drawn as maps. Procedures, training, standards and every quality case are in it, each linked to what it concerns. People find their way by seeing it, and every version, approval and case stays under control.
- Set up for your organisation
- Your existing procedures come with you
- Desktop, browser and phone
Built on M‑Files, a platform made for control
VisualQMS runs on M‑Files, a document management platform built for compliance, and the process maps drawn in Elements.cloud open inside the same client. People use it on the desktop, in the browser and on the phone with the M‑Files app, in M‑Files Cloud, hosted, in your own cloud or on your own servers.
- Access set per person — Who sees the working copy, who sees only the published version, and who may edit.
- Every version kept — Each time a file or its details change, a row is added to the version history.
- Approval as a workflow — Reviews and approvals go to named people, with deadlines and escalation.
The same information, reached the way each person works
People reach a procedure or a case from wherever they start.
From the process map
Every activity carries its procedure, its notes and the standard clause it answers.
From a view
Lists set up for each role, such as the published procedures or the open CAPAs, with the columns that matter, and views of your own to see things your way.
From search
Find a document by what it is, its type, process area and state, rather than by the folder someone saved it in.
From the module
Each quality module has its own views, from registration to closure.
Views show each role what matters to it
The views in the left-hand column are lists built from the details on the records: the approved governance documents with their process area, region and type in columns, the open CAPAs, a department's training. Administrators set up the common views, and anyone can make their own, picking the details to filter on, to see things their own way. Each list sorts by any of its columns.
Documents, training, standards and process maps, connected
The core modules are connected, configurable and come in ready-to-use variants that are set up for your organisation during implementation: the process maps, controlled documents with their templates, training as read-and-understood confirmations, support for your quality standards, and comments and suggestions. A procedure knows which training it requires, which standard clauses it answers and which process activity opens it. Each of the four below has its own page with the full detail.
Process maps that open the procedure
Your processes are drawn in Elements.cloud and shown inside VisualQMS, from the company level down to the daily job. An activity opens its approved procedure, notes and videos, and icons mark where a standard applies. When a new version of a procedure is published, every activity that links to it opens that version, so the map is not redrawn.
Procedures approved before use
SOPs, policies and instructions are edited in Word, Excel or PowerPoint straight from VisualQMS. Each new version is reviewed and approved before it is published, people see only the published version, and the approver, the dates and the version number are written into the document, and a next review date starts the next review by itself.
Training that assigns itself
Training rules say who must read what, how often and under which conditions: by role, department, country or any other detail about the employee. Training is assigned when someone joins, changes role or when a new version is published, and a task that runs late is escalated to the manager. Everyone sees their own training, and managers follow their team's.
- Roles from Microsoft Entra — Its groups are synchronised, so training follows people when they move.
- A portal that spells out the steps — A portal for people who rarely use the system, with the document one button away.
Every requirement linked to its evidence
VisualQMS supports the requirements of the most common quality standards, and you can work to several at once. Procedures and process activities are tagged with the clauses they answer, so an auditor can walk through a standard clause by clause to the evidence behind each one, ISO 9001 and the others each as its own tree.
AI that answers from your records
An AI chat sits inside M‑Files, next to the record you have open, and answers from that record, the view you are in or the whole system. It works from what M‑Files knows about each record, its type, its state, the people on it and its links, and every search, read and count runs as the person asking.
- Details filled in on incoming documents — When documents come in, from a folder, a mailbox or a migration, the AI reads them and fills in their class and details, with CtrlScout or M‑Files' Aino.
- Trace, count and compare — Which CAPAs are linked to a non conformance, how many are at each stage, what changed between two versions.
- Runs where you choose — Scaleway, a European provider hosted in the EU, OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, or a model on your own servers.
A module for every kind of quality case
Non conformances, customer complaints, claims, deviations, internal audit observations, change requests, risk assessments, recorded issues, CAPA and audit management each have a module, and the modules are cross-referenced to each other and to the core. Every case follows its own workflow, goes to the person responsible with reminders, and is linked to the other cases and to the procedure it concerns. A non conformance, for example, runs from registration through investigation and closure to review and approval, and the workflow can make certain fields mandatory at each step. Each module has its own page.
Internal Audit Management
Know where every audit stands, with reminders for the people involved and observations tied to CAPA.
See the moduleIssue Management
Record an issue or a customer complaint, decide how each kind is handled, and keep it tied to the CAPA it leads to.
See the moduleCAPA Management
Corrective and preventive actions with a person responsible and a deadline, linked to the finding that started them.
See the moduleTraining Management
See who has read the new procedure. Assign training by role, department or any other employee detail, and the manager hears when it is overdue.
See the moduleChange Management
Change requests that say what changes and why, approved before a controlled document is edited.
See the moduleDeviation Management
Deviations handled the same way each time, and linked to CAPA.
See the moduleNon Conformance Management
Non conformances recorded in their own module, taken from registration to review and approval, and linked to the CAPAs that fix them.
See the moduleRisk Management
Risk assessments that follow your own method and stay linked to the CAPAs, changes and documents they concern.
See the moduleEverything is a record with details, and the details do the work
Underneath the modules, VisualQMS is driven by the details on each record. They decide what a list shows, who may see what, where a workflow sends a task and what a document fills in by itself.
Details on every record
Documents, customers, non conformances and training records all carry details: who owns them, which state they are in, what they relate to. Some details are set by rules, others by the people allowed to change them. A detail can have details of its own, so a customer's address, postcode and city can be filled into a document automatically, and nobody types them twice.
Related documents
A procedure is linked to the instructions and forms that belong with it, so people find them together when they search and when they train. If you want, a training record asks the reader to confirm the related documents as well as the procedure.
Workflows that route and remind
A document sent for review creates a review record for each reviewer, and at approval one for each approver. Each record has a workflow of its own: it is routed to the person with a deadline, they leave a comment and accept or reject, and it is escalated to their manager if it is not done. The same records are made for CAPA approvals and can be set up for any object and any state, so the trail of who decided what is complete. The document's permissions change with its state: the working copy is read-only while it is out for approval, and published afterwards. Quality cases run the same way, and the workflow makes certain fields mandatory at each state.
Permissions and access control
Who may see the working copy, who sees only the published version and who may edit is set per record, and it can change with the workflow state. Ordinary users see published versions only.
Views instead of folders
Views are built from the details, so the same document appears in every view it matches, and nobody has to agree on one folder tree. A view can be made by an administrator or by the person who needs it, to see things their own way.
Assignments and tasks
Reviews, approvals, training and CAPA actions land with the person responsible as assignments, with reminders, and a manager can see what is open for the team.
Set up for your organisation, then grown at your pace
You don't have to use every module from day one.
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Step 1: Set up for your organisation
The modules are pre-configured, and set up for your organisation during implementation: your departments, regions and roles, and who reviews and approves what. The review and approval workflows can be used as they come or tailored, and a module can be configured further, or a new one built with an existing one as the model.
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Step 2: Start with what you need
Most start with the controlled documents and the process maps. A map can be drawn at a rough level first and detailed later, while people already use it. CAPA, complaints, audits or risk can be added at the start or later.
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Step 3: Bring your documents over
VisualQMS comes with tools for moving existing documentation in. Your existing document numbers can be kept, details can be added in bulk from Excel templates or filled in by the AI, and your procedures go under control from day one.
Works with Office, Teams, Outlook and your ERP
Documents are edited in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and VisualQMS fills in the approval details, approver, dates and version number, inside the document. Drafts can be co-authored in OneDrive. With the right permissions, people open documents from Office, from VisualQMS or from Teams, and documents can be made available in Teams or SharePoint. E-mails are filed from Outlook, and customers, products, manufacturers and suppliers come from your ERP or CRM, so nobody keeps them twice.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Edit in Office, and the approval details are filled in for you.
Co-authoring in OneDrive
Several people write in the same draft, and it returns to M‑Files as a new version.
Teams and SharePoint
Open controlled documents from Teams, or make them available in SharePoint.
Outlook
File e-mails and their attachments from Outlook into M‑Files.
Microsoft Entra
Roles and groups from Entra or another identity system, so responsibilities and training follow people.
ERP and CRM
Customers, products and suppliers from the system that already holds them, over an API or a direct database connection.
DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat Sign
With your own subscription, send a document for signature, and the signed version comes back into M‑Files.
The M‑Files app
VisualQMS on the phone: find a procedure, confirm training, follow a case.
VisualQMS runs on your own servers, hosted, in your own cloud or in M‑Files Cloud. See all integrations →