Arena - a great resource for document control and quality processes
Updated February 23, 2024
Arena - a great resource for document control and quality processes
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Arena PLM and QMS
My company uses Arena for document control and for managing quality processes. This includes employee training, change control, NCMR, CAPA, etc. Arena is Part 11 compliant for electronic signatures which allows us to streamline approval processes and cut down time for releasing documents. Our entire organization uses Arena, although some functions utilize it more than others.
Pros
- Arena does a great job with creating a Bill of Materials and makes it really easy to access that information. It can be presented in many different ways to highlight critical information.
- Arena makes it easy for users to see outstanding action items and to see the progress of a change order or quality process.
- Arena provides a good user interface for training.
Cons
- Arena lacks the capability to edit documents within its interface and requires users to upload new versions of documents when changes are made. This makes it a bit more challenging to collect and implement reviewer feedback
- Arena's requirement tracking world does not have the proper functionality we need and was not useful for us.
- Arena has improved traceability of quality processes and change control signoff status to allow us to better track these processes and improve their timelines.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Prior Experience with the Product
I did not make the purchasing decision for Arena but I think we were swayed because of previous experience with the product and product features.
I was only peripherally involved with the implementation process but it seemed like Arena provided assistance when needed to set up the system and help with troubleshooting.
Our company used Microsoft SharePoint along with a paper-based system for document control and quality processes before we implemented Arena. This system often had failings with incorrect versions of documents being used, printed out papers with signatures getting misplaced, and files getting lost. It was very difficult to track the status of these documents and processes within Sharepoint.
We evaluated Omnify as another option to use instead of Arena. I believe the functionalities are similar but more people at the company had experience with Arena than Omnify. We also evaluated Veeva since we use that for our clinical trials but the pricing and functionality was not the right match for us.
We evaluated Omnify as another option to use instead of Arena. I believe the functionalities are similar but more people at the company had experience with Arena than Omnify. We also evaluated Veeva since we use that for our clinical trials but the pricing and functionality was not the right match for us.
Do you think Arena PLM and QMS delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Arena PLM and QMS's feature set?
Yes
Did Arena PLM and QMS live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Arena PLM and QMS go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Arena PLM and QMS again?
Yes
Using Arena PLM and QMS
Arena hosts our Design History File (DHF), which is a critical part of our FDA submission. Arena allows us to store all of the documents in a clear and organized manner, which makes retrieval easy.
Arena has been instrumental in allowing our company to continue functioning at a high level while working form home. If we did not have the ability to approve documentation through Arena, it would have been much more difficult to progress the projects.
Arena has been rolled out to more users since the initial implementation.
Arena is a user friendly electronic document control system that improves productivity and traceability.
The Arena customer success team has been responsive and helpful.
Lessons for Success
Arena has allowed us to streamline processes related to the QMS to improve turnaround time and visibility across the organization. The most important lesson I've learned is to continue to explore arenas functionalities to integrate more processes or improve existing processes. There are many built in settings that were very useful but were not originally being used.
Quality module was utilized to host the DHF and we held phase reviews directly within Arena. This approach had pros and cons but allowed us to consolidate everything for the DHF in one accessible location.
Take advantage of custom fields as much as possible and utize Arena help to learn about new features and ways to implement processes.
Arena PLM and QMS Support
Using Arena PLM and QMS
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Quality module (NCMRs/CAPA)
- Bill of materials
- ECOs
- Project
- Requirements
Yes - The mobile interface is great for most things but the training world has some glitches on a mobile phone. For example, the columns get expanded so it is difficult to click on the correct file to download for training. Additionally, the pop up box to sign for read and understand can be difficult to find on the mobile interface.
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