Free Live Webinar · Precision ISO and Thrive
True Cost of a Paper Based QMS
Every quality manager knows the filing takes time. Almost nobody has added it up. This session puts hours and dollars against the work a paper based QMS quietly consumes. A quality management system run on binders and shared drives still files every record by hand. Someone still routes every revision and proves which version is current. We count that work, then we price the rework that follows when someone uses an obsolete procedure.
- ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 9001
- 1 hour including live Q&A
- Cost model shared with attendees
- Recording sent to everyone
- Free to attend
Register once and we send the calendar invite, the join link and the recording.
Session Details
- Date
- Friday, November 6, 2026
- Time
- 10:30 a.m. PST1:30 p.m. ET, 12:30 p.m. CT, 11:30 a.m. MT
- Length
- 1 hourIncludes open Q&A with both presenters
- Format
- OnlineJoin link arrives by email after you register
- Cost
- Free
- Topic
- Document and record controlApplies to ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 9001 and other quality management systems
The question most labs ask
How much does the software cost?
It is an easy question, because the answer arrives on a quote. Document control is the only part of a quality system where the expensive option never sends an invoice.
The question that matters
How much does it cost to not have the software?
That answer sits in payroll, in audit findings and in rework. This webinar shows you how to calculate it for your own organization, line by line.
Where a Paper Based QMS Loses the Hours
A paper based QMS rarely fails in one dramatic way. It leaks. Four activities account for most of the loss. Three of them feel too small to measure while they are happening.
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Filing a record where it belongs
Someone opens the scan, renames it to match the convention and picks the right folder. Then they check that nothing already sits there under a slightly different name. Three or four minutes feels like nothing.
Now multiply it by every calibration certificate, training record, maintenance log and test report from this month. The filing itself adds no value to any of them.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clause 8.4 · ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.5.3 -
Moving a revision through approval
A procedure changes. You draft it, email the reviewer, wait, follow up and collect a signature. Then you replace the file on the drive and pull the superseded copy from the binder. Finally you tell everyone affected.
Most of that time is chasing and waiting. None of it improves the procedure. A single revision can stretch across two weeks and still only move when you push it.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clause 8.3.2 · ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.5.2 -
Finding the current revision
A technician needs the method. Two folders hold something close to it. One filename carries a date, the other says final. Guessing wrong is the expensive outcome, so the technician walks over and asks.
Two people now pay for one search. This cost never shows up in a process map, because nobody writes a work instruction for looking something up.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clause 8.3.2 · ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.5.3 -
Rework after someone follows an obsolete procedure
This is the item nobody budgets for. The work gets done to the wrong revision. You inherit an investigation, an impact assessment covering results you already reported, and a decision about notifying the customer. A corrective action with an effectiveness check follows.
One event can cost more than a year of software. Most organizations absorb two or three before anyone connects the pattern to document control.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clauses 7.10 and 8.7 · ISO 9001:2015 clause 10.2
What a Paper Based QMS Costs Per Year
Below is the arithmetic for a mid sized laboratory running on shared drives and binders. We build this model live on the webinar, then you replace the volumes and the rate with your own. The structure stays the same whichever standard you work to.
| Activity | Volume | Time each | Hours per year | Annual labor cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filing and indexing completed records | 320 per month | 4 min | 256 | $15,360 |
| Routing document revisions for review and approval | 12 per month | 95 min | 228 | $13,680 |
| Searching for the current revision or a past record | 90 per month | 6 min | 108 | $6,480 |
| Pulling evidence for internal audits and management review | 2 cycles per year | 36 h | 72 | $4,320 |
| Chasing training acknowledgments on revised documents | 25 per month | 10 min | 50 | $3,000 |
| Rework from an obsolete document in use | 2 events per year | 22 h | 44 | $2,640 |
| Total | 758 | $45,480 |
Read this before you quote the number. Every figure in the table is an assumption chosen to show the method, not a published statistic. Your volumes will differ and your rate will differ. The rework frequency depends entirely on how your current controls perform. Build the model with your own data before you take it into a budget conversation. We walk through exactly how to collect those inputs on the webinar.
One Obsolete Procedure, Counted Out
The rework line deserves its own arithmetic, because it behaves differently from the others. The first three costs accumulate in small increments. This one arrives all at once, usually in a week when you have no room for it.
A technician runs a critical process to revision 3. Revision 4 has been current for five weeks.
Typical hours for a single event
- 3 hDetection, initial assessment and deciding whether the work is valid
- 5 hContainment and determining the scope of affected work and reported results
- 6 hRepeating the testing or calibration that cannot be defended as it stands
- 3 hCustomer notification, reissuing reports and answering the questions that follow
- 4 hRoot cause analysis and a corrective action that addresses the real cause
- 1 hVerifying that the corrective action worked
What the event actually produces
The costs that never reach the spreadsheet
- A nonconformity record, and the possibility that your assessor sees a document control weakness rather than a one off mistake.
- An impact assessment on results already released, which is the part that keeps quality managers awake.
- A customer conversation that starts with your error rather than your results.
- Lost confidence on the floor, where technicians verify the revision by asking a person instead of trusting the system.
- A corrective action that consumes management review time for the next two cycles.
What the Standards Expect From Your Document System
Neither standard requires software. Both require control, and control is where manual systems get expensive. We paraphrase the requirements below. Work from your own controlled copy of each standard when you map your system against them.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017
- Clause 8.3, control of management system documents
- Documents need approval before issue, periodic review and unique identification. The clause also expects you to identify changes and revision status, and to keep documents available where people use them. Your controls have to prevent the unintended use of obsolete documents.
- Clause 8.4, control of records
- Records must stay legible, protected and retrievable for a defined retention period. Access stays controlled, and the records stay safe from loss or unauthorized change.
- Clauses 7.10 and 8.7
- These clauses take over once work falls outside your own procedures. Evaluate the significance, act on work already released, and take corrective action where the cause warrants it.
ISO 9001:2015
- Clause 7.5.2, creating and updating
- Documented information needs appropriate identification, a suitable format, and review and approval before it goes into use.
- Clause 7.5.3, control of documented information
- Control covers distribution, access, retrieval, storage, version control, retention and disposition. It requires that the right information is available where and when people need it.
- Clauses 8.5.1 and 10.2
- Clause 8.5.1 expects the information defining the work to be available at the point of operation. Clause 10.2 takes over when a nonconformity occurs and drives the correction, the cause analysis and the effectiveness review.
What You Will Take Away
You leave with a method and a number, not a product pitch. The first two thirds of the session apply whether or not you ever buy document management software.
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A cost model you can fill in
The worksheet method for turning your own document volumes into hours, and your hours into a defensible annual figure.
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How to measure the leaks
Practical ways to capture filing, routing and retrieval time in a week, without launching a formal time study.
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The rework arithmetic
How to price a single obsolete document event, including the containment and notification work most people leave out.
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What automation removes
The transactions a platform like Thrive takes off your list, and the judgment calls a person still owns.
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How to build the business case
The numbers and clause references that move a document system from wish list to approved budget line.
Who Should Attend
The session suits anyone who owns document control or pays for it. You do not need to be accredited or certified yet.
- Quality managers and QA directors
- Laboratory managers pursuing or holding ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation
- Organizations certified to ISO 9001 or preparing for certification
- Document control coordinators and QMS administrators
- Operations leaders who approve quality spend
- Anyone writing a budget request for a document system
Your Presenters
Dustin Williams
Consultant, Precision ISO
Dustin helps testing and calibration laboratories, manufacturers and life science organizations reach ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 9001 compliance. He works through consulting, quality system implementation and software solutions. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and spent five years in hands on analytical chemistry. He brings more than ten years of work in measurement uncertainty, metrology and laboratory accreditation. He has guided organizations through accreditation and built uncertainty budgets across a wide range of measurement disciplines.
Jamie Gyolai
Vice President, Lean Technologies
Jamie joined Lean Tech in 2014. He is the go to guy for about anything other than software coding. He meets with customers to talk Thrive and to work through data management challenges. He also spreads the lean manufacturing love, and he upholds the servant hearted culture of Lean Tech. He earned a business degree from North Dakota State University. Outside of Lean Tech, Jamie likes to hang out with his family, hiking and going to sporting events. Or he will play it low key and go on a walk with his wife.
Save Your Seat
Fill in the short form below and the calendar invite and join link arrive by email. We send the recording and the cost model worksheet to every registrant. Sign up even if the live time does not work for you.
- Free to attend
- 1 hour including open Q&A
- Recording sent to everyone who registers
- Cost model worksheet included
Confirmation arrives immediately
You receive the join link and a calendar file as soon as you submit the form. Add it to your calendar so the reminder reaches you.
Bring your own numbers
Come with a rough monthly record count and a loaded hourly rate. You can fill in the model during the session and leave with a figure for your own organization.
Everyone gets the recording
We send the recording and the cost model worksheet to every registrant within two business days. That applies whether or not you attended live.
Questions About the Session
Is this a product demo?
No. The first two thirds of the session covers measurement and cost. It applies whether or not you ever buy software. Thrive joins to show which transactions automation actually removes, because that is the other half of the comparison. You will see the platform. You will not sit through a feature tour.
We already keep everything in SharePoint. Does this still apply?
Yes, and this is the most common version of the problem. Most of what makes a paper based QMS expensive survives the move to a shared drive. A cloud folder removes the filing cabinet, not the filing. Someone still names the file, chooses the folder and routes the revision. Someone still chases the signature and answers the question about which copy is current. The hours in the model barely move when a shared drive replaces paper.
Does ISO require document management software?
No. Neither ISO/IEC 17025:2017 nor ISO 9001:2015 requires software, and plenty of organizations hold accreditation and certification with manual systems. Both standards require control, and you can achieve control either way. The question this session answers is what each route costs you.
We are not accredited or certified yet. Is this too early for us?
It is better timing, not worse. Organizations building a system from scratch get to choose their document control approach before habits set. The cost model works just as well on projected volumes as on historical ones.
What does Thrive cost?
Pricing questions go to Thrive, and their presenter can point you to the right conversation. This session deals with the cost of the alternative, which is the number most organizations have never calculated.
Will I get the cost model worksheet?
Yes. Every registrant receives it alongside the recording, so you can run the numbers for your own organization afterward.
Before the Session
These free resources pair well with the webinar. None of them require a purchase.
Working Through Document Control Right Now?
Precision ISO builds and remediates quality systems for testing and calibration laboratories, manufacturers and life science organizations. If document control is the part holding you back, we can look at it with you before the webinar.
Book a Free ConsultationThe cost figures on this page are illustrative planning assumptions presented to demonstrate a calculation method. They are not published benchmarks or guarantees of savings. Clause references paraphrase the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015 and do not reproduce the standards. Always work from your own controlled copy of the applicable standard. Attending this webinar does not constitute legal, regulatory or accreditation advice. No software or consulting engagement guarantees a certification or accreditation outcome.