How a new initial certification

The Kerenzerberg Sports Centre and Hotel Restaurant (SZK) in Glarus: a non-profit institution with a good 60 employees, financed by income from around 31,000 overnight stays per year and contributions from the Swisslos Fund of the Canton of Zurich. The guests: mainly sportsmen and sportswomen. Owner: the canton of Zurich.

It goes without saying that a cantonal company of this size is committed to high quality. Responsible for cleanly structured processes since 2003: Deputy Operations Manager and Quality Manager Marco Bücken. He is also the one who radically rejuvenated the entire digital process management in 2019, although the existing structures had been working well for thirteen years.

A look back

Marco Bücken recalls: "In 2007, I was looking for an electronic quality assistant to ensure ISO initial certification. What I had in mind, however, was not pure document management, but much more comprehensive software."

After evaluating several providers, Bücken decided on the IQSoft electronic quality manager from IQS AG in Zofingen: "I had already seen the program at my previous employer. Now I took a closer look and was allowed to discover: This modular solution offers all the functions I want."

To get started with IQSoft, SZK chose the classic path via document control. Everything else resulted from the daily application: "You use one module until you are sure. And then you activate the next one, for example the resource management. »

What Marco Bücken liked right from the start: the know-how and consistency of his software provider: "The IQS AG team knew and always knows exactly how things are going with us and what is currently installed."

Hans-Peter Kost, Chairman of the Board of IQS AG, is happy to hear this: "We actually have almost no staff changes. And of course we work with IQSoft ourselves and simply document everything. We want to know exactly what was done for whom - especially since very many installations run in highly regulated industries."

"It always worked great."

Modern software must be updated frequently. Only rarely does it function so inconspicuously and reliably that one can do without major updates for years. But IQSoft on the Kerenzerberg? No problems from 2007 to 2013, and the SQL/Web version installed at that time worked so smoothly that there was simply no pressure to upgrade further until 2018. Marco Bücken: "I never experienced a day when IQSoft didn't work." Nevertheless, at the end of 2018, they decided to update: "Basically, we had been working with the same structure for over ten years. We decided to update our faithful digital assistant."

Perfect timing No sooner had the budget for the renewal been spoken than Bücken heard about a brand new IQSoft version: "We drove to Zofingen and saw IQSoft 7.9. But hello! Version 7.9 looks like a normal homepage - and anyone can surf it. I already started planning the large-scale deployment of the new IQSoft during the presentation."

Exterior and interior redesign

What Marco Bücken and his colleagues have achieved since then is a "big thing" for everyone involved. The reason: In addition to the digital update, various buildings and the technology of the SZK are currently being renewed. This includes, for example, WLAN for the entire site. This simultaneous redesign of the digital and physical world of the SZK allows for far-reaching innovations - also in electronic quality assurance. An example from maintenance:

The early and late workers report to each other via tablet and IQSoft if something needs to be improved somewhere (for example, fixing a horizontal bar or a defective tap). Written orders are no longer necessary and everyone knows at all times who has done what - or not yet.

Marco Bücken adds: "Finally, it is clear to everyone that maintenance also causes a lot of effort. You can show it as a cost factor. People are sometimes astonished by this.

No migration of old data records desired

IQSoft's structure allows existing customers to migrate existing data during the transition to version 7.9, as was already the case with all previous versions. Marco Bücken decided against this: "If you use a database for a long time, you inevitably build in stumbling blocks. You take such stuff with you when you migrate. Our thinking was: we question the structure and all documents and start fresh."

Support from the auditor

A new start on a greenfield site, and without coercion? Courageous, radical and intensive: "The effort is high, but it pays off. By the way, our external auditor has backed us up in this regard. He thinks it's great that we're checking everything completely. It's like a new building, where you tear down the old to make the new possible."

SZK will find out what the bottom line is when it is recertified in March 2020, but it is already clear that the relaunch is having an effect. All processes are leaner. Standards are still strictly monitored. But everything else has been streamlined according to the specifications: Is it necessary? What does it bring us? And is it being used? Marco Bücken: "It feels like a new initial certification."

Safety for guests and employees

In a large operation with sports equipment, catering, hotel and more, it is always about safety in addition to general quality specifications. Everything must be verifiable for auditors. This is also the case at SZK.

However, the value of complete documentation only becomes truly tangible in the event of accidents. The police and the courts demand proof of training, maintenance of operating and testing equipment and more. Woe betide the management that cannot prove what was done to prevent damage!

Marco Bücken agrees: "You have to think ahead. Take the shortage of skilled workers, for example: we have more and more employees whom we first have to train in their field so that they can carry out certain work in accordance with the current standards".

And the future?

"We are constantly recording new buildings, rooms and operating equipment in the course of the conversions. We are consolidating what we have already achieved and expanding the scope of our electronic assistant. For example, the launch of the IQSoft module 'Risk Management' is foreseeable."

Central source of information

IQSoft allows training planning, controls, scheduling, maintenance of pending items, knowledge bundling and retrieval, and much more. Marco Bücken finds it "like the Wikipedia of quality management. You can integrate everything and retrieve everything. This is great for us. We get exactly what we want."

Hans-Peter Kost comments: "With IQSoft 7.9, we place great emphasis on intuitive usability. The program functions in an extremely networked manner and can take on a wide range of tasks. The whole thing has the goal that as many processes as possible run automatically."

What more could be said

In an interview with "Management und Qualität", Marco Bücken emphasises the cooperation with IQS AG: "I am not just the money-maker. It is a long-term partnership. I feel taken seriously at all times. The IQS team stands fully behind its product. If that wasn't the case, we might not have dared to do the qualitative relaunch on a greenfield site. Ultimately, it is always about trust and success. You want to be sure that everything works out."