Managing non-conformities with SharePoint Lists, Power Apps, Power Automate & Power BI.
At risual we’ve relied heavily on SharePoint lists to allow us to easily capture, manage and report on many different sets of information as part of our ISO certified management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 20000-1). So let’s look at how to manage non-confirmities.
One process which has really benefited from the use of SharePoint lists and supporting Microsoft applications is our non-conformity (NC) process. The NC process broadly has the following requirements:
1. Mechanism to easily capture / flag the NC;
2. Alert the relevant manager to enable them to contain the issue quickly;
3. Provide a record to capture the action taken, root cause, improvement plans and other supporting information for review;
4. Be able to identify NC trends based on process, individual, time taken etc.
SharePoint List
Firstly we created a SharePoint List in our Quality Management SharePoint site to house all of the NC records (Microsoft’s how to guide).
We created the following columns to allow us to capture all of the information we required: title, category, dates (took place, reported, contained), department, process, individual, issue, root cause, containment action, improvement tested, control tested, audit ref.
Power App
We then created a really simple Power App from the SharePoint list (only takes a few clicks) to allow the business to easily flag issues (Microsoft’s how to guide).
The information we ask for at this stage is: title, date took place, department, process, individual, issue.
Flow
In order to alert us of a new NC, we created a Flow to send an email notification when a new record is created, sending to the relevant manager based on the ‘division’ field. This email also provides them with the link to the NC record so they can complete the required information once the issue is contained (Microsoft’s how to guide).
Power BI Report
Finally we created a Power BI report to enable us to manage active NCs but also to identify NC trends based on process, individual, time taken etc. (Microsoft’s how to guide).
The reports we created to do this are: NC count by division / process / individual / month, average days taken to contain issue, a table view of detailed information.
By making use of the Microsoft applications we have available to us at risual, we have been able to:
- Manage active NCs more effectively, therefore reducing risk;
- Easily identify trends and learn from NCs raised;
- Report on performance to senior management;
- Demonstrate compliance with ISO requirements during external audits.
Have a go – you’ll be surprised how easy it is and the benefits automation can bring! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-adams-192736a8/.
