Welcome to thepulse, Gael Ltd's quarterly Q-Pulse e-mail newsletter.

In this issue, amongst other things, we will be looking at an increasingly important standard, IS027001, and what this means for organisations. We will also be looking at how the "Why upgrade?" roadshows went, how the upgrade to the new Q-Pulse is shaping up and the expansion of our Partners network, which brings easy access to Q-Pulse to even more customers across the globe.

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Tense, nervous headache? Cold sweat trickling down your back? Jumping at the sound of computer keys clicking? If so, maybe you have upgrade anxiety?

In all seriousness, migrating to any new software system is a daunting prospect. There is the worry behind transferring all of your data across and what to do if this isn’t successful. Along with this, the system may have changed drastically from its predecessor, which means it could be necessary to learn new functionality. Gael is attempting to take this worry out of the process for customers upgrading to Version 5 of Q-Pulse. That is why we are now offering a whole programme of services to aid the process, enable you to use all of the new features and functionality straightaway and ensure your data is transferred from A to B with no hiccups and the minimum of fuss to your organisation.

The recent series of UK and Ireland “Why upgrade?” roadshows also confirmed to many delegates that the upgrade process is complex and organisations must not upgrade just for the sake of upgrading to a new “shinier” version of Q-Pulse. While it does require thought and planning to ensure a successful upgrade, Q-Pulse 5 presents a major opportunity for business growth and improvement. If organisations consider the specific reasons and business need behind the upgrade, this will ensure greater buy in from colleagues and a greater commitment to ownership of the new management system.

For those of you with concerns, one way to take the worry out of the process is to arrange for a Gael managed service, which is already proving to be highly in-demand. One of the organisations that has already completed the assisted upgrade process is Gateway, one of the top ten largest PC companies in the world. Their Program Manager, Ken Seider said

‘… The week spent on Q-Pulse 5 training with Colin was well worth the investment in time and money. Colin is an excellent trainer/consultant on Q-Pulse 5. We accomplished so much during the week, it really exceeded my expectations. I wanted you to know the outstanding job Colin performed while he was here; taking care of issues directly or getting your assistance in order to get things done. Many thanks to you and your team for a greatly improved product and making the transition from 4.2 to 5.0 as smooth as possible.’

Importantly, if customers decide to migrate their V4.2 data independently in-house, we cannot guarantee the integrity of the data being migrated over. While there is indeed a data migration facility in the new Q-Pulse, we highly recommend Gael managing this service, as we can then offer a 100% guarantee that all historical data will be transferred to the new system. In the event of anything going wrong we can then ensure an expert service, fully trained to deal with all eventualities.

In the next few weeks we will be publishing our recorded online "Why upgrade?" seminar to the Upgrade area in our Customer Zone, for those people who were unable to attend the recent roadshows. Keep an eye out for it, as it will cover the differences between Version 4.2 and the new Q-Pulse, the superior features and functionality that the new Q-Pulse offers, the new training and implementation services available to you and the flexible new Q-Pulse licensing options.

To find out more about the Gael managed service, please contact Gregor McCall on +44 1355 593 421 or at gregorm@gaelquality.com.

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We are delighted to announce that Donald Maciver, founder and Managing Director of Gael Ltd, has been nominated in the business category of the 2006 Glenfiddich Business Awards.

Commenting on the award, Donald said that the nomination “was both an honour and a surprise and recognition from a wide audience of the tremendous effort and achievements of the Gael team over the last 12 years.”

The prestigious awards scheme recognises the individuals who lead the way in Scottish culture and inspire Scots. Voting is open to everyone and if you vote, you’ll also be entered into a prize draw to win your own Glenfiddich masterclass at home.

Voting for the award closes on Saturday 4th November, with the televised award presentation on St Andrew’s Night on the 30th November.

To vote or to read further details please refer to spiritofscotland.

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Gael has always sought to demonstrate their commitment to their international customers. We are dedicated to strengthening and expanding our worldwide network of partners and are therefore delighted to announce several new partnerships. The new deals announced see Q-Pulse available directly to the Israeli market for the first time and further on the ground availability in Australia and Dubai.

Techtrends in Israel, Andromeda Quality Assurance Services, Australia and PlexusLogic in Dubai are the latest additions to the network. Plans are also at the advanced stages to expand the network into Central Africa.

Internally we are geared up for international customers with specific Application Specialists for different regions. Robin Telfer looks after customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Douglas Naismith, covers the rest of the world.

For more information on our partner network, contact Martin Bowman at martinb@gaelquality.com.

For information on Q-Pulse in your region, contact your Application Specialist: Robin Telfer at robint@gaelquality.com or Douglas Naismith at douglasn@gaelquality.com. Robin and Douglas will also be looking after all International Upgrades in these areas.

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Within the aviation sector, Quality and Safety are paramount and whilst there is no doubt that commitment to Quality and Safety is unwavering, meeting regulatory obligations is not always achieved in the most efficient or effective manner. However, installing a Compliance Management system, such as Q-Pulse, ensures meeting these regulatory obligations can bring real benefits to your organisation. It can have an overall effect on raising standards across the organisation and guarantee best practice is followed. Two customers who are reaping the benefits of Q-Pulse are Eastern Airways and Blue1, who were recently winners, taking first and third place, in the Airline of the Year Awards.

Bryan Huxford & Richard Lake of Eastern Airways were presented with the Gold award and Tom Christides of Blue1 with the Bronze. The awards recognise airlines for their achievements over the last 12 months. The ERA Airline of the Year Award is open to all member airlines, regardless of their size or ownership and a panel of leading European aviation journalists carries out the judging.

Both airlines have been Q-Pulse users for several years. Q-Pulse allows aviation organisations to manage all occurrences or deviations, regardless of their source, type or origin, in one single, centralised, consolidated framework. This is a major advancement for aviation organisations as traditionally occurrences and deviations are captured in disparate systems where it is difficult to consolidate any lessons learnt.

Gael also recently attended the 59th International Air Safety Seminar in Paris on October 23-26, 2006 to explain how their Compliance Management solution, Q-Pulse, can help streamline aviation organisation’s Quality and Safety efforts.

Q-Pulse is currently used by hundreds of aviation organisations across the globe to manage their audits, occurrences and approvals, including: Emirates, Fed Ex Express, DHL Air, and TUI. In fact, one customer, Andrew Gardner, of Royal Brunei Airlines has recently successfully completed his 5th installation of Q-Pulse at his 5th separate organisation.

Holger Stüertz, Quality & Flight Safety Manager, TUI Airline Management. said:

“The Q-Pulse solution delivered by Gael Quality is not just a software tool. It's a total care package for the Quality and Safety Manager.”

For more information on how Q-Pulse can assist your Aviation organisation, contact Martin Bowman on bowmanm@gaelquality.com or +44 (0) 1355 593 400.

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Gael employee completes Great Wall trek for Cancer Research

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate a member of the Gael team who has just returned from traversing the Great Wall of China to raise funds for Cancer Research. Tina McMullen of the Accounts Department was one of a group of 26 from the UK to make the trip whose combined efforts raised over £100,000 for the charity.

Colleagues at Gael have helped Tina reach her personal £7000 target for the trip over the last year. The 10 day trip started in Simatai and finished in Mutianyu.The highlight of the trip for Tina was everyone managing to complete the arduous trek and she will take many memories away with her, not least the crazy traffic in Beijing!

Tina said “The trip was a great experience. The sense of achievement at the end was immense with the best part knowing you had helped raise a large sum of money for such a worthy cause.”

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The crucial new Compliance standard to take notice of

With Compliance continually on the increase, it can be difficult to keep track of new standards and to recognise which will be the most relevant in tomorrow’s business world. According to Alan Calder, the UK’s foremost expert on IT governance, one standard that organisations should be paying attention to is ISO27001. He believes ISO27001 is going to become more important than ISO9001 and be the key standard above all others that allows organisations to demonstrate compliance with a vast range of information-related regulation and legislation.

For those of you who are not clear on what the standard is, IS027001 deals with information security. It was published in 2005 as a revision to BS7799-2 and aims to formalise the way that data is dealt with within organisations and ensure the safety of information.

The extent and value of data is growing rapidly and organisations need to begin to recognise this and take relevant steps to protect it and how is it accessed. What would happen in your organisation if an outside force managed to access your database and steal your customers’ personal details? Certifying to ISO27001 means that there is a firm process in place in your organisation that recognises the importance of company-wide data and protects it from both internal and external threats.

For example, recent stories in the press have highlighted the threat to electronic data. In Glasgow alone, police believe that one in ten financial call centres has been infiltrated by criminal gangs who plant staff inside offices or force current employees to provide sensitive customer details. The information is then used to steal identities and fraudulently set up accounts or transfer money. While all problems do not deal with personal data, there is no doubt that other threats do remain such as hackers and viruses.

One way to deal with such threats is to introduce a suitable information security management system into your organisation. Currently this is non-existent in the vast majority of organisations. Even those organisations that do have a process in place may not be as protected as they believe. According to Alan Calder, most organisations information systems are not secure even though they may believe that they are.

Alan said
"Information security management systems in the vast majority of organisations are non-existent, and even where systems have been designed and implemented, they are usually inadequate. IS027001 is the new framework to counter this and will ultimately take over from ISO9001, in terms of corporate importance and acceptance."

A suitable ISMS enables you to maintain and improve information security throughout your organisation, as well as demonstrate compliance to customers, certification bodies and regulatory authorities. It helps customers to feel secure and ensures organisations are following best practice. In the long run, this will enable you to achieve increased revenue and profitability as well as reduced expenditure and workload.

Over the last seven years, more than 3000 organisations worldwide have certified to BS7799-2 and ISO 27001, with certifications over the next two years predicted to take the total to over 4000. In the coming months, it is likely that ISO27001 will become even more prominent. Here at Gael we agree with Alan Calder and believe that, for certain organisations in both the public and private sector, ISO27001 will be the next big thing in Compliance.

What does your organisation think that the implications of this new standard will be and how will it affect you? Is anyone currently using Q-Pulse to manage ISO27001? We are interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Please let us know your opinions and we’ll keep you updated with further news on this important topic in further issues.

Contact Angela Wands at angelaw@gaelquality.com or on
+44 (0)1355 593 400 for more information.

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That's it for this edition of thepulse.

The next edition will be with you in January but if you can't wait until then, you can check out our regular news, forums and information on Gael and on compliance issues at our re-designed website at www.gaelquality.com.

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