The MasterControl Quality Excellence suite bundles a number of products supporting work quality and compliance including training and exams, incidents and corrective actions (CA), documents and change, and other modules.
N/A
Arena PLM and QMS
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Arena by PTC is a cloud-based PLM and QMS platform. Arena helps product companies that rely on distributed teams and global supply chains to develop products, ensure regulatory compliance, and respond to customer demands.
N/A
Pricing
MasterControl Quality Excellence
Arena PLM and QMS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Arena PLM Launch
Contact Sales
Arena PLM Enterprise
Contact Sales
Arena QMS
Contact Sales
Arena QMS Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MasterControl Quality Excellence
Arena PLM and QMS
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Required
Additional Details
—
Arena's cloud-based PLM and QMS solutions include role-based subscriptions to meet diverse team needs. Their fixed-fee QuickStart™ implementations supports rapid deployment.
The MasterControl Quality Excellence suite is well suited for the life sciences and biotechnology as well as manufacturing companies that could benefit from the regulatory compliance that this suite of products offer. This product is highly recommended for industries that want to reduce paper overhead and digitally transform their QMS into a singular location
Arena PLM is well suited for part number, BOM and file management. Processing changes (ECNs, ACOs, DCO's, etc.) in Arena is very easy to do and provides great visibility on the status of submitted requests. The ability to communicate with Suppliers and grant them access to files in Arena is extremely helpful. Arena does not appear to be the best suited system for managing software
It provides easy, 'login-anywhere' internet cloud-based access to fundamental PLM functions.
It provides secure access control for employees & vendors (but you pay per person for access licenses).
Data is effectively 'always backed up' in the internet-cloud.
There is an option to attach thumbnail graphics representative of each item and create a Bill of Materials view that also displays the graphics to help provide item recognition for BOM readers.
There is no trigger if there is a duplicate document in the system. Since each InfoCard has its document number, unless used simultaneously with someone else, there is no trigger for duplicate documents.
When searching and looking at all the documents on the system, it would be nice to have a time column showing when it was released. All I am currently going off of is taking the document number and the highest, but that also takes time.
You can't get rid of a subtype if you have data associated with it. So if you enter documents a certain way and your team decides to change how, things will be more efficient, etc. You can't delete that subtype until you remove all data from the system, even if you don't need some. It's a big task if you have been using it for a long time.
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.
would rate MasterControl Quality Excellence a 7 out of 10 because, while it offers strong compliance tools, centralized document control, and effective audit readiness features, there are still areas that could be improved to enhance the overall user experience. The platform can sometimes feel complex and unintuitive, especially for new users, and customizing workflows to fit specific organizational needs can be challenging. Additionally, integration with other enterprise systems isn't always seamless, which can slow down processes. Despite these drawbacks, the system remains a reliable and valuable tool for maintaining quality and regulatory compliance.
We have so much time and effort invested into Arena. The history of approvals, revisions, etc. are necessary for many of our customers. We also have entire device histories recorded. Having to re-create that on another platform would be a feat requiring years of effort. But mostly, Arena just works. It's transformed our business into a much more streamlined system, resulting in a massive cost and time savings.
Some tasks require the users and SysAdmin to access multiple modules at a time. For example: to create a training course and an exam for a document in the system, the user needs to finish creating the document in the doc module, then go to the training module to create a course and an exam separately. Ideally, from the document page we should be able to access the training course, which could have some fields auto-populated. And from there, also create and link an exam, all without leaving the document page.
The Arena interface is fairly intuitive, and has very complete functionality. Documents are easily accessed according to prescribed user permissions, and the navigation pane is clearly positioned and sensibly structured. Notifications are sometimes a minor distraction, and document organization and hierarchy display may be difficult to follow at first. After a brief learning curve, perceived usability quickly increases for the typical user.
Seems like when I need to access our workspace for an emergency situation, this is when maintenance is scheduled, just the luck of the draw, I guess, and I just wait until the maintenance is complete, and then can proceed
The Technical Support team has grown exponentially over the last couple years. Some front line support staff are new to the system and so know less than the clients do. Back line staff are more seasoned and provide immediate assistance to the front line staff. They have an extensive knowledge bank to assist them as well as client access to most KB articles. Annual user group conference gives us chance to meet the support staff an also to resolve any outstanding issues. Any critical vendor notices are emailed immediately when found and a patch offered at the same time. These are rare, but quickly resolved.
Upon initial observation, Arena Solution appears to possess a rather intricate nature, yet this complexity was effectively navigated during the initial configuration phase with the invaluable assistance of an expert well-versed in Arena, a factor that greatly contributed to our comprehensive mastery and autonomous handling of Arena Solutions thereafter.
I rated the MasterControl in-person training a 10 because it was clear, practical, and well-paced. The trainer explained concepts thoroughly and answered questions effectively. I appreciated the hands-on walkthroughs, which made it easier to understand how to apply the system in real scenarios. Overall, it was a valuable learning experience that boosted my confidence in using MasterControl.
transparent and immediate when the documents are updated. Easy to check on training and customizable to the company's expectations. Allows easy exam creation with GXP assist and the correlation between job codes and courses has proven reliable. What i would advocate is that you see who has trained on the course in the Course Infocard, to the document infocard
The On line training was easy to understand and was very efficient for most of our users. We used the training tools to make sure we use all of the features to their fullest and correctly! After a few weeks mos of our users were very proficient with ARENA PLM and were able to work on their own and use mos of the sections and PLM capablilities.
The implementation of MasterControl Quality Excellence was largely successful, earning an 8 out of 10. The project was well-structured, and the implementation team provided solid guidance throughout the process. Key milestones were met on time, and the system was configured to meet most of our core requirements. One of the most valuable aspects was the hands-on training and support during go-live, which helped ensure user adoption. However, there were some challenges around data migration and aligning the system’s capabilities with our existing workflows, which required more time and effort than anticipated. Overall, the experience was positive, and the lessons learned have positioned us well for future system enhancements.
MasterControls' user interface is more visually appealing than others I have seen. It enhances the user experience of utilizing MasterControl Quality Excellence and provides clearer visual cues when certain items require attention. Other systems I have used rely on knowing what will execute the functions without much assistance. MasterControl provides additional cues when hovering over items that require entry to provide additional context.
I've used SAP, Agile in the past, for PLM, and unless the server is in your office, you cannot configure anything, and should it crash, you as the client are stuck until the issues are resolved. In my 15 plus years using Arena, there has only been one instance where the server was down, and the support team quickly resolved the issue with no loss or data or breach of any kind. Both PLMs are very light on what you can configure for your own company, most of it is out of the box, and you are stuck with it, whereas Arena Solutions gives you much more freedom to really tailor it to your company's specifics and what works for you.
Arena is easy to customize and therefore easy to scale. Different user groups with access restrictions can be easily created and new training plans can be created to support different user bases. Suppliers can also easily be added or items can be shared with them
Paper-based change control processes that previously took weeks have been reduced to days, significantly improving operational efficiency and document turnaround times.
Custom-developed forms within MasterControl Quality Excellence have enabled data validation at the point of entry, which has substantially reduced input errors and deviations. This benefit, however, is dependent on internal developer resources, as the platform functions primarily as a host.
After 15 years of use, poor initial implementation and software limitations created lasting technical debt. System migrations to resolve these issues is still ongoing after years of manual efforts, and unmet functionality continues to impact productivity, forcing additional software purchases to address gaps.
Arena PLM and QMS has allowed [...] to efficiently respond to Design Changes and process them effectively.
Arena PLM and QMS has completely automated our CAPA process, removing all paperwork and 99% of other electronic files.
Arena PLM and QMS has allowed our Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMO) to upload current manufacturing data; this puts [...]'s finger on the pulse of a CMO thousands of miles away. No more surprises.
