Hopefully we can answer some of your immediate questions below:

1. How does HACCP Control Point compare to other HACCP software?

Like many HACCP tools, HACCP Control Point uses familiar HACCP terminology. Inside a plan, you have procedures, tasks, verifications, deviations and critical control points. Tasks represent work that can be assigned to workers to have them complete a form, fill in a log, perform a maintenance activity, etc.

This however, is where the similarity ends. HACCP Control Point is designed to help you plan out your HACCP activities with accuracy and confidence and manage them along the way. Many HACCP software programs help you document a plan on paper but do little to help manage day to day HACCP activites and data capturing. Many are also client software packages which means you load the software on one PC which one person uses to enter HACCP information. This creates a process bottleneck and does not solve the problem of having to communicate with workers when tasks are due\overdue.

HACCP Control Point works behind the scenes to make sure your HACCP plan schedule and tasks are communicated to everyone involved, allows multiple workers to enter information regarding tasks online and provides a real time view of all oustanding and upcoming tasks. There is currently no other software that takes this approach. 

2. How much does it cost?

Each login account is $95 (USD) per month. The licenses are for individuals, so everyone with an account can login from any computer, or as many computers as they like. You may setup as many HACCP plans and HACCP forms as you wish.

3. Is there a downloadable version?

No. One of the advantages to using our system is that you do not have to load anything on a computer and you can access the system from anywhere.

4. Why hosted software?

While there are pros and cons to hosted vs. local software, VSI (the HACCP Control Point parent company) believes that the advantages on the hosted side are growing, and the disadvantages are shrinking. Here are some of the benefits of hosted software to consider:

• Multiple people can access and use the software simultaneously.
• It's always accessible from anywhere you are (provided you have a 'Net connection). Access it from any PC in the office, warehouse, production area, at your home, or on the road.
• Avoid a "single point of failure" for your applications: HACCP Control Point is hosted by a tier 1 provider employing state-of-the-art high availability computing network facilities.
• You're always up to date. You are using the latest version of the application at all times.
• Better support. Say good-bye to support conversations that include: "What does the screen say now? OK press enter. Now what does the screen say? Can you send us your file?" Not necessary in the hosted model.

5. Can I use it for non-HACCP QA program management?

You could, but the evolution of the product is definitely centered around HACCP. Over time, HACCP Control Point will evolve to the point where it may not be appropriate for other kinds of programs. For now though, you be the judge. We have added very flexible QC functionality that allows you to capture QC data during production runs. Even if you are not HACCP certified you may find this functionality beneficial.

6. Who is this product targeted at?

Any company that need to mantain their HACCP certification.

Even if you're in a big company, chances are you're broken up into smaller sectors by product, so we think HACCP Control Point can help most if not all HACCP certified companies out there.

We are also in the process of developing a module that would allow large companies to remotely review HACCP programs at supplier locations without having to be onsite. The large companies love the idea because it saves them time, travel and money.

7. What about down-time?

HACCP Control Point's infrastructure is hosted by a world-class provider. Periodically VSI will perform system upgrades to implement new features in which case a communication will be sent out to users notifying them of downtime if necessary. Upgrades will be performed after hours and kept to a minimum.

8. What browsers do you support?

We do our best to ensure the application is available to the broadest audience possible. The current list of browsers we explicitly test with are:

• Windows: IE6 and IE7, Firefox 2.0
• Mac: Safari 2.0, Firefox 2.0

Other browsers on other platforms and devices may still work with HACCP Control Point but are not explicitly tested or guaranteed. In addition to using one of the above browsers, the HACCP Control Point application will only function if the browser is set to allow session cookies and Javascript.

You data is kept safe and secure in our database servers which are are backed up continuously. You have the abillity to export information from the system to Excel spreadsheets at any time. You can also zip up all of your forms and archive them to your local PC if you wish to.