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Introducing Double Diamond

Double Diamond is an SQF-Certified fruit packer with orchard and warehouse operations in Quincy, Washington.

The company was awarded the Grower of the Year Award by Good Fruit Grower in 2021. Led by President Derek Allred, Double Diamond has earned an outstanding reputation for continuous improvement, ensuring the highest quality of apples, cherries, and apricots for their customers nationwide.

Every year, Double Diamond packs about two million boxes of apples, cherries, and apricots from company orchards and about a dozen outside growers.

Key Objectives

Double Diamond had always used paper for food safety record-keeping. But they started considering digital solutions as they became aware of the growing time, cost, and risk associated with audit preparation.

We looked at our operation and asked, what’s going to be the best bang for our buck? We decided if we prioritize food safety documentation and find a system that will help us do that, it would actually deliver the most benefit.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

1.

Organization & Visibility

Double Diamond had been storing FSQA records in oversized binders within an office that few dared to enter. Some records were scanned occasionally, but data wasn’t searchable within the images. A few processes were also documented in spreadsheets. This approach left data in a variety of locations with limited access, making it slow and difficult to find records when they were needed. This concern was felt most acutely in preparation for audits, which were long and stressful for their team. Double Diamond wanted a change that could unify all their compliance data in one central hub with better organization and visibility.

2.

Time Savings

Paper records were time-consuming for Double Diamond. They saw an opportunity for staff to cut down on some manual and duplicated data entry. They also saw an opportunity for management efficiency. Managers were constantly having to chase staff for incomplete, unclear, and missing paper records. Every mistake had to be manually detected by reading stacks of submissions. Finally, managers had to answer similar questions repetitively because staff would forget the policies and procedures related to paper records. Double Diamond wanted a change that could streamline how data was prompted, guided, entered, and verified.

3.

Unlocking the Value of Data

Double Diamond had a challenge with double-handling data. If they wanted to analyze their processes, they needed to duplicate the data from paper records into spreadsheets. It took so much time that the data typically piled up in binders, unused. This is a common pain point, as many companies pass audits but miss the larger opportunity for data-driven insight. Double Diamond wanted their record submissions to easily populate reports, so they could distill ongoing activities into key findings and summaries for management. They had an opportunity to enhance their response time, root cause investigation, and safety culture.

As customers, certifications, and the government came out with increasingly complex requirements, it started to strain documentation done on paper or in Excel.

How to Choose the Right Software for FSQA

Double Diamond met with several software providers over three months. They involved their Food Safety & QA team, and the ultimate decision was made by Jon Cox, who considered three key priorities in choosing Provision.

1.

Usability

Double Diamond’s staff had limited exposure to software. They needed a highly intuitive user experience to ensure their staff would adopt the system and ultimately save time by using it. Double Diamond relied on the testimonials of other well-known growers and packers:

Provision is more farmer-friendly and easier to use than other software.

Beth Pattillo • Noggins Farm

We chose Provision because of its intuitive interface, which makes it simple to enter, organize, and find information in an audit-ready format.

Susan Snow • Snow Farms

If you can text, you can use Provision.

Craig Ogilvie • BC Tree Fruits

2.

Affordability

A study commissioned by the FDA shows that an average facility spends 2,280 hours on record-keeping annually. This time investment creates a significant opportunity for efficiency and savings. However, many software solutions have pricing geared toward large organizations. Double Diamond needed an affordable option that was purpose-built for small and medium operations.

3.

Flexibility

Double Diamond wanted to unify all their documentation in one system so they could improve data visibility and streamline employee training. They also wanted to minimize change management by keeping existing record templates and workflows unchanged for several departments. Finally, they needed a system that could work on any size and brand of staff device. These requirements called for flexible software that could be custom-configured without limitations.

You have to earn adoption. You have to make it as easy as possible for your people to do it. If they were limited by their device, that would be a failure on me. But Provision forms are really easy to use on a tablet or a phone. One of the reasons we went with Provision is that it’s very versatile. There’s a lot of flexibility in how to build the forms. And it’s super easy to make changes.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

A lot of our operators have English as their second language. If you throw a complex platform in front of them, they’re not going to know what to do with it. We chose Provision because it is a very straightforward, very simple solution.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

How to Implement FSQA Software and Earn Adoption

There are four key tips for implementing digital FSQA, which helped Double Diamond to onboard dozens of staff in several departments, with dozens of record-keeping procedures.

1.

Expert Setup & Coaching

Double Diamond used Provision services to ensure successful adoption. Provision began with about 6 weeks of custom software configuration. Double Diamond simply had to review and test the setup, minimizing their initial time investment.

After Double Diamond approved the setup, Provision provided training for roughly 25 staff, and visited their site in May 2022 to advise the official rollout. In the following months, Double Diamond was supported by Provision’s staff and online resources to make minor tweaks. After their successful adoption, Double Diamond scheduled a final tune-up with Provision, who visited the site again in November 2022 to optimize their processes.

We sent Provision a big chunk of our forms, and they digitized them. We would go through and test them, and that process was not very difficult. Provision was very good to work with. They’ve been very responsive and fast.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

2.

Phased Implementation

Most important, Double Diamond chose to implement Provision in phases. Although the software was ready for use in May 2022, Double Diamond introduced it to staff gradually, taking until September 2022 to reach their final phase.

Double Diamond planned its phases by procedure, going from simple to complex, with timing based on the cherry and apple seasons. By breaking the implementation project into bite sizes , they were able to train staff more individually and fine tune processes before moving on.

March 2022

• Account Configuration by Provision
• Management Training by Provision

May 2022: Cherry Season

• Maintenance Procedures
• Sanitation Procedures

September 2022: Apple Season

• Environmental Monitoring Procedures
• Inspection Procedures

November 2022

• Final Enhancements

I have implemented software before at other companies, and learned not to do it all at once. I thought that would be too much and we wanted success.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

3.

Consistent Templates

Provision is a fully configurable platform and has no required templates. This allowed Double Diamond to keep the contents of their digital records relatively consistent with the analog versions. Each digital template was linked to related SOPs, and enhanced with task reminders, rule alerts, and reporting. The result was that digital records looked familiar, limiting change management, but saved time and mistakes with guard rails.

4.

Affordable Hardware

Provision is a web application with cloud storage for data, which means that no on-site servers were required for Double Diamond. They could access the software from any browser, and no download was required. This allowed Double Diamond to use any brand of device, new or old. Double Diamond chose to buy restored Samsung Galaxy tablets from Amazon, which saved roughly half the cost of procuring new tablets.

Double Diamond used Provision’s services to configure digital templates consistent with their analog templates, then implemented the system in multiple phases to streamline change management.

Key Results

In the 10 months between choosing Provision and completing this report, Double Diamond has fulfilled their key objectives of centralized record visibility, time savings, and smart data reporting.

Project Summary

Double Diamond’s teams have adopted Provision and use it to harmonize the way data is captured and stored. The time savings are noticeable. Managers are finding it easier to ensure timely, complete, and compliant record submissions. The data from each record is automatically summarized in custom reports, which is making it simple to monitor process performance and ensure Double Diamond is audit-ready every day.

There’s a lot of documentation and a lot of details you need to track. Having a digital system like Provision for non-conformities gives a layer of accountability for our teams. We limit risks by having all our documentation in one place.

Jon Cox • VP Science & Technology, Double Diamond Fruit

User Review

Interview with Yeny Gamboa
Quality Control & Food Safety Assistant • Double Diamond Fruit

Q: How usable has Provision been for you and your staff?

YG: Provision has been usable for me, because I can view records in real time and see if logs are getting completed on time. I think it’s a very helpful tool and can save a lot of time before and during audits.

Unexpected benefits come from our staff. Most of them adapted to the program without difficulty. They understood the importance of turning in their assignments on time, and how easy is to complete their work electronically. Some of our staff have asked us if they can add the rest of their assigned records to Provision. That tells us that they have gained the confidence to use the program and how easy it is to use.

Q: It sounds like you had a FSMA audit that went well using Provision?

YG: It was my first time doing a FSMA audit, and it only lasted about two hours. Having the flexibility to filter records using dates and other fields sped everything up; I did not have to go over all the books just to find a couple of items.

Q: How did you feel going in, compared to prior audits?

YG: I felt confident showing our records. Preparing the necessary reports prior to the audit dates was easy. Especially when you have the chance to view and verify logs daily and know that records are there.

Time Savings

Estimated by Yeny Gamboa
Quality Control & Food Safety Assistant • Double Diamond Fruit

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