Document control systems usually add work. They don't make quality work easier, they force an inefficient way of documenting it.

A document management support that supports controlled documentation is often used to to manage the quality management system. It is effectively a DMS, but it does not support processes. It is effectively a DMS, but it does not support processes. In addition, it requires all procedures, protocols and records to be in documents.

General standards that the task and process management system is important for:

General standards – no industry specific

ISO 9001

It is impossible not to start with the most general standard. It is not uncommon for companies to "get" the ISO 9001 standard and nothing changes at all in the way teams function. But even this standard, when actually implemented, requires that:

• Everyone is trained for the job
• Each activity is clearly stated in terms of what it means to be done correctly
• Important steps and deliverables were verified

The task management system automates these requirements so that they can be met without supervision and usually without training. Of course, there is also automatic evidence that the activity requirements have been met

ISO 20000

The standard requires that activities are closely monitored, data is collected to evaluate service delivery, and services are regularly verified. The task management system is key to ensuring that the required data is available

ISO 27000

The standard deals with security, and in particular contains rules for securing facilities. It is therefore not primarily process-oriented. The benefit for ISO 27000 is therefore mainly in supporting the record-keeping part. The critical part where task management is important is the systematic check that important activities are not forgotten.

Automotive standards

Automotive standards can be divided according to two basic keys:

• General × Manufacturer-specific
• Dealing mainly with manufacturing × Dealing mainly with development

Manufacturing is mainly addressed by IATF 16949, but also, for example, by manufacturer-specific TFP. In terms of importance and contribution of system support, ISO 16949 is on a par with ISO 26262.

A number of standards, both manufacturer-specific (e.g. Formel Q) and generic ISO 26262, ASPICE, or VDA 6.3, are being developed.

All of these standards cannot do without task management. Their requirements for precision of procedures and control of all steps are so high that it would be very difficult to supervise everything on an ongoing basis. In addition, it is necessary to have evidence of the completion of all steps, which is quite impossible without electronic activity management..

In addition to process support, keeping track of all the records that must be processed (plans, requirements, tests, etc.) is also important for standards. In addition, it is important that the records are integrated with the tasks, because the records must include an overview of how each record was processed.