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Quartz’s Document Management Functions
Quartz has a range of document management functions integrated
seamlessly with the rest of the system. This reduces or eliminates
paper filing and provides a full audit trail of all document
revisions/versions, whilst enabling all appropriate users to work
from a single source of information. Together this provides greater
efficiency in operations (and consequent time/staff savings) and
greater flexibility in the unit/qualification development process.
Some key facilities are outlined below.
Documents securely stored, and attached to items
Documents of all kinds – word processed, spreadsheets,
presentations, etc – can be held securely in Quartz. Each document
can be ‘attached’ to one or more items in the database:
organisations, programmes, qualifications, events, etc. Documents
can be retrieved by searching on title, author, and the full-text of
their contents; and documents can be retrieved from any of the items
to which they have been attached. This ensures that all documents
relevant to an individual or organisation is managed and easily
accessed.
Attaching/Uploading existing documents
Quartz allows users to upload and attach any type of document
(word processed, spreadsheets, etc.) from a local or network drive,
‘drag-and-dropped’ from an e-mail, or by scanning directly from a
paper document. The document is uploaded once, and can be attached
to one or more programmes, organisations, qualifications, contacts,
events, etc.
Creating documents using Quartz data
Quartz integrates seamlessly with Word’s mail merge to provide
document creation facilities which are a major time-saving benefit.
Documents can be created from user-defined Word templates, with
information from the Quartz database (e.g. contacts, events,
organisation details) automatically merged directly into the
documents. This allows communications to be quickly and easily
produced. Documents are automatically attached to any corresponding
items used in their creation (people, organisations, qualifications,
etc.), and can be attached later to other items if necessary. These
facilities further support Customer Relationship Management,
ensuring that all documents or notes relating to any individual or
organisation are readily available.
Version control – check-in/check-out
Robust document version control is important where there are
multiple people working on or reviewing a document as it is created
or updated. Quartz offers a ‘check-in/check-out’ facility which
enables a master copy of the document to be checked in and out when
it needs to be worked on. When the document is checked out the
master remains available to other users. Each version is kept
separately and previous versions are held in case there is a need to
go back to an earlier one. Whilst a document is checked out,
different colleagues can work on it, add comments, etc. and it can
then be uploaded as a new master copy. This facility is
particularly valuable in unit and programme development.
Documents available anywhere, anytime
All documents are accessible through the Quartz Smart-Client
wherever the awarding body user might be located – providing support for
on-the-road, peripatetic, and home access. Access is also available
for external
stakeholders.
Quartz screen examples
Documents can be uploaded and attached to Quartz items, for example an
organisation, a programme or qualification, an event, or to a contact.
Illustration of Quartz’s tight integration with MS Word, showing
a letter based on a template with Quartz data fields automatically
available for inclusion.
The Version tab shows this example document has 5 versions. Each
version is date, time and user stamped so that the provenance of a
document is clear, and can be reviewed or compared to other
versions.
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Click above to open a Factsheet giving more details on the
Quartz document management facilities (PDF, opens in a new window)
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