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A Blast from the past!

We had a very pleasant surprise last week, when a long-standing client Didier Dejean of Valvoline sent us some photographs of early Qudos software products.  These date back from the late 1990's and had come to light when searching through archives. As well as being a fantastic demonstration of customer loyalty over 20 years, they are a poignant reminder of the way things were, and how far we have travelled.

Back then, we had 2 complementary products that with an ISO 9001-quality focus: Quality Manager Toolkit was for documenting a management system. Quality Manager Database was for maintaining it more efficiently and effectively - replacing numerous hard-copy manuals and Excel spreadsheets!

The big-box products with their hard-copy guide books were from an era when business software was commonly purchased from retail outlets. That soon evolved into DVD case packaging with eBooks for mail-order delivery. In the past decade, that has evolved again into delivery by download and cloud service.

Technically, Quality Manager Database used Microsoft Access 97 and then 2000 for client applications and its shared database. As we started to attract bigger clients, the database was migrated into the much more capable Microsoft SQL format. That was branded as Qudos 2. A browser interface was introduced for Qudos 3 to offer ease of implementation. We still use an SQL database to this day (as it remains the industry standard).

While the basic concept remains in place, it would be difficult for a user from the late '90's to imagine how the solution has developed;

  • Being browser-based
  • Resolution-sensitive to work well on a range of devices and monitors
  • With so much more functionality, automation and user-configuration options
  • Hosted for them in the cloud (you would have to explain what that means).

Sadly, the dolphin logo was one casualty of progress. It was replaced with our 3 ticks trademark when we expanded into OHS and Environmental management in the early 2000's.

Yes, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since those early packages. So, thank you Didier and Valvoline for the photographs and for being such loyal customers.

...and into the future

The very latest version of Qudos 3 (v 37) is nearing the end of its Beta test phase and will shortly be released. This includes:

  • A brand new interface
  • A really handy My Calendar tool to give all users a convenient switchboard to quickly access all their tasks
  • A colourful status indicator on records throughout the software
  • Exclusive Gap Analysis tools for the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 standards.