Principles for Selection of the Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental Digital Solution

Abstract

A digital solution for the Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental (QHSE) management system has lately become almost a must for any progressive company, especially the one that strives to take on, pass and maintain third-party certifications (such as ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001). However, its selection may be a complicated process balancing interests of field workers, executives, procurement, IT, safety/environmental/risk managers and training personnel. The process of selection of the QHSE digital solution starts with defining the scope of the project and its sponsors, stakeholders, resources and budget (most likely estimated, at initial stage). The next step is building of a list of requirements of a desired solution based on feedback from business. It will be followed by research of available solutions on the market and/or in-house capabilities to develop one. Three to five vendors with solutions best conforming to the defined requirements will be requested to do presentations of their capabilities, followed by proof-of-concept for 2-3 top candidates, leading to a selection of a winner. Despite the process described here being very straightforward, there may be pitfalls caused by complex interplay of interests of different disciplines and divisions within the company. The most important conclusions addressing these pitfalls are: It is unlikely that you will find one vendor, whose solution will become the best fit for all disciplines comprised by your management system (quality, occupational health, safety and environmental). An early decision needs to be made (most likely at the executive level) if you would go with a One Solution (Best-of-Suite) or different specialized software (Best-of-Breed) approaches. You need to get a very good idea of various QHSE-related software currently being used in your company at local or division levels. If the decision is made to switch to a new comprehensive digital solution on a global level, you will need to get a buy-in from local/division users before making this switch. Finally, you need to ensure that all stakeholders and interested parties are involved in (or at least informed of) the selection process and agree on its scope.