Setting Up CAPA (Phase IV): Planning and Execution

After investigating a CAPA, it is important to resolve the issue. This means moving on to the planning and execution phase. During this phase, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can make it easier to track important data and keep everyone on your team on the same page for resolving the CAPA. In this blog, we will cover the essential parts of planning and execution of the CAPA process.  

Phase IV: Planning and Execution

The first step of the planning and execution phase is what you’d expect: make an action plan. Your CAPA investigation should have revealed the root causes of the issue, as well as any factors that may have contributed to its growth. Your plan should map out what actions must occur to address these causes. The action plan must be specific with clear steps assigned to staff members, and deadlines for completion. Regulatory bodies like the FDA want to see that your action plan is timely while completely addressing the problems of the CAPA. 

It’s possible that part of your action plan will require adding a new software functionality, like increasing your tracking capabilities. A one-stop shop like Datix can help with these software needs by offering you solutions tailored toward your business. Rather than putting a square peg in a round hole, we offer our clients the right software tools for their specific issues. Learn more about implementing an ERP with Datix. 

Once defined, you need to execute your action plan. This could involve updating procedures, adding steps to product inspection, more staff training, changing a policy, or communicating new expectations to suppliers. As with every other part of the CAPA, completing your action plan must be documented with extensive records. An ERP supports this documentation by allowing you to put your plan into your system, assign tasks (with deadlines) to different employees, and track their notes for completing these steps. With the right ERP, it only takes moments to pull up this information if it needs to be reviewed by auditors or internal stakeholders.

If your current software doesn’t support clear CAPA documentation or transparency, don’t worry. At Datix, we have 25 years’ experience with ERP ecosystem implementations and can help you transform your software to make the CAPA process easier. From start to finish, our team will support you in solving your issues, so you never have to deal with a repeat CAPA again.

Wrap Up

Planning and executing for a CAPA is about more than simply maintaining compliance. It is about ensuring that your company offers the best quality products and services possible to your customers. In our next blog, we will review the final phase of CAPA: review and verification. Stay tuned!

Read Phase I of CAPA: Inquiry and Assessment

Read Phase II of CAPA: Pre-Investigation

Read Phase III of CAPA: Investigation

About Datix

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