On my.ASQ.org the following question was asked “The Device History Record is a form in fillable PDF format. Worker opens the PDF from a secure source within the local network. The only thing they can change is checkmark Pass/Fail, Yes/No and enter serial numbers in the allowed fields. Then after the assembly process is done for each procedure, the worker prints the DHR, signs and dates it by hand, to verify the accuracy of data entered. No re-printing or saving PDF’s is allowed.”
This comes up a lot. This is really a simple version of a hybrid situation, where both electronic and paper versions of the record exists.
Turning to the PIC/S draft guidance we find on page 44 of 52 “Each element of the hybrid system should be qualified and controlled in accordance with the guidance relating to manual and computerised systems”
Here would be my recommendation (and its one tried and tested).
The pdf form needs to be under the same document management system and controls as any other form. Ideally the exact same system. This provides version control and change management to the form. It also allows users to know they have the current version at all times.
Once it is printed, the paper version is the record. It has a wet-signature and it under all the same predicate record requirements. This record gets archived appropriately.
Where I have seen companies get messed up here is when the pdf exists in a separate, usually poorly controlled system from the rest of your document management. Situations like this should really be evaluated from the document management perspective and not the computer systems life-cycle perspective. But its all data integrity.
Investigations of a Dog 