How to Use QMS - Quality Management System

Overview

This tutorial will guide users on how to utilise the Quality Management System from the SMS Dashboard page.

This feature is only available for Compliance Plus subscription

Why RTOs Need a Quality Management System in Their SMS

Quality Management System (QMS) Dashboard is designed to help Registered Training Organisations meet the Standards for RTOs 2025 through everyday operations—not separate compliance tasks.

The 2025 Standards are outcome-focused, meaning RTOs must be able to demonstrate that quality systems are working in practice. This platform supports that requirement by embedding quality, governance, and continuous improvement processes directly into the workflows staff already use.

Rather than managing quality in disconnected documents or spreadsheets, the SMS provides a single source of truth for training delivery, student support, workforce management, governance, and evidence collection.

The QMS embeds governance, training quality, learner support, workforce management, and continuous improvement directly into the system—so quality is built into how work is done, not managed separately.

By capturing evidence as activities occur, the platform helps RTOs maintain audit readiness, identify risks early, and demonstrate real quality outcomes with less administrative effort.

Who can access QMS by default?
The Compliance role has full access to all features within the QMS. By default, users with the Admin role cannot edit the status of Performance Indicators or Performance Evidence.

However, permissions for all roles can be customised — please refer to the QMS Permissions section below for details

Step Tutorial

From the sidebar menu, go to Dashboard, then click the QMS tab

QMS Dashboard - Outcome Standards Compliance helps you monitor and manage quality through clear performance indicators and linked evidence. This introduces defined quality benchmarks and automated tracking across the QMS, making it easier to identify deviations, measure outcomes, and maintain ongoing compliance.

This contains the following sections:

Outcome Standards Compliance contains the following sections:

Quality Area - Outcome	Quality Area refers to a broad domain or category within the Outcome Standards that groups related expectations for quality training and assessment. In the 2025 Standards for RTOs, there are four Quality Areas: Training and assessment VET student support VET workforce Governance Each Quality Area has an Outcome Statement that describes the high-level outcome RTOs must achieve in that domain. Example: Quality Area 1 (Training and assessment) aims for training and assessment that engages students and enables attainment of nationally recognised, industry-relevant skills.
Standard	Standard is an outcome-focused requirement within a Quality Area that clearly states what an RTO must achieve. Each Standard outlines an expected quality outcome rather than prescriptive steps. Standards are numbered (e.g., Standard 1.1, Standard 2.3) and grouped under a Division within a Quality Area. Example: Standard 1.1 states that training is engaging, well-structured and enables students to attain the skills and knowledge consistent with the training product.
Division	Division is a sub-section within a Quality Area that groups closely related Standards. Divisions help organise the Standards logically for each aspect of activity. Each Division contains one or more Standards that address related outcomes. Example: In Quality Area 1 (Training and Assessment), there are Divisions such as “Training” (Standards 1.1–1.2) and “Assessment” (Standards 1.3–1.5).
Performance Indicator	Performance Indicator is a specific evidence-linked requirement that describes the things an RTO must be able to demonstrate to show it is meeting a Standard. Performance Indicators break down a Standard into measurable or demonstrable elements. They show how the outcome is to be evidenced in practice. Example: Under Standard 1.1, a Performance Indicator might require the RTO to show that training is structured and paced to support student progress and provides sufficient time for instruction and assessment.

Compliance status is automatically calculated and rolled up from Performance Evidence to Quality Area. If any of the sub items (Standard, Division, and Performance Indicator) has an issue (Evidence Gap), the Quality Area will still be marked as non-compliant. Relatively, if there are no issues, but something still needs checking (Awaiting Review), the Quality Area is marked the same way. The only time that the Quality Area will be Compliant (green check mark) is when all the underlying issues of the sub items (Standard, Division, and Performance Indicator) are resolved. This checking happens step-by-step from the lowest level (evidence) all the way up to the highest level (outcome), so one issue can affect the whole chain.

Exception to the automated calculation of status is when the Performance Indicator will only get "evidence gap" and "Awaiting Review" status set from performance evidence, however evidence must be reviewed by a Compliance Expert who will then set the Performance Indicator manually to get a "Compliant" Performance Indicator status.

Setting up the Performance Indicator

Performance Indicator Table has the following actions that you can setup:

1. Edit Performance Indicator Status
2. Edit Evidence Guide
3. View Status History
4. Edit Expiry Settings
   

IMPORTANT NOTE: Performance Indicator status can’t be updated to Compliant, unless all the Performance Indicator under the subsections have performance evidence/s on it with the Compliance Status of "Compliant (Green circle with white check mark)"

Edit PI Status: You can update the Performance Indicator status and Compliance Status Rationale here. It also has Reviewed By which will be auto populated with the username who is editing the status. Date Reviewed field will be auto populated with the date the status is being edited.

Performance Indicator	Drop down to determine whether the status of the PI is:  Compliant    Awaiting Review   Evidence Gap
Compliance Status Rationale	You can use this field to explain why you have chosen the selected compliance status. eg. provide an overall summary of how this performance indicator has been met.

Edit Evidence Guide

This feature allows you to update the Self Assessment Questions and Evidence of compliance Suggestions of the current Performance Indicator.

IMPORTANT NOTE: eSkilled Performance Indicator Evidence "Self Assessment Questions" AND "Evidence of Compliance Suggestions" are suggestions only, and do NOT guarantee compliance. eSkilled recommends having a RTO compliance expert review all "Self Assessment Questions" AND "Evidence of Compliance Suggestions" and update where necessary, before using the QMS. Only Qualified compliance experts should update performance indicators as Compliant, once they have thoroughly reviewed and confirmed the evidence provided meets the requirements set out in the 2025 standard for RTOs and in alignment with the practice guides provided by ASQA. https://www.asqa.gov.au/rtos/2025-standards-rtos/practice-guides

View Status History

You can track the changes of the Performance Indicator over time. History page contains the Date, User, Status, and Rationale columns.

Edit Expiry Settings

This allows you to update the Default 12mth expiry for Performance Evidence to an expiry that aligns to the risk of the Performance indicator in your RTO. For Example: If you train in a high safety risk area, you may want to set the expiry of Performance Evidence related to Training Performance Indicators to 3 months for more regular review.

Adding Performance Evidence

There are two (2) ways to link performance evidence to Performance indicators in the SMS. These are by simply adding a document to the system via the documents menu and mapping it to the performance indicator, or by adding it from the performance evidence section directly in the QMS. We explore both options below.

Select a System Document as Evidence	You can select a document from this dropdown, the document available were coming from the available documents in Documents page
+ Button	If you don't already have the document in the system yet, you can click the PLUS button to upload the document, and it will automatically be jammed to the performance inceptor where you add the document as performance evidence
Compliance Status	You can select Awaiting Review, Complaint, Evidence Gap from this dropdown.
Evidence Status	Read-only dropdown with the following values: • Expired: If date today is greater than the expiry date • Expiring Soon: If expiry date is within six weeks from the date today • Current: If expiry date is greater than six weeks from the date today
Compliance Rationale	You can use this section to describe how and why systems, practices and evidence demonstrate that a Standard is being achieved.
Expiry Date	Auto-populated with Status last updated + Default expiry, can be modified
Date Added	Current date the evidence is added

These are the ways to upload a Performance Evidence document in the system:

Option 1 - Directly on the Performance Evidence section in the QMS

Step 1: From the QMS Dashboard → Outcome Standards Compliance → Quality Area -Outcome → Standards → Division → Performance Indicator, click on the + button:

Step 2: From the exact performance evidence criterion where you want to add the document click the + button:

Step 3: Fill in the required details (In this option you no longer need to tag the correct Quality Area, Division, Relevant RTO Standards, and Performance Indicators as these are prepopulated since you directly added the document from the exact performance evidence criterion where it should be:

Performance evidence is now successfully added:

Option 2 - Via Documents Sidebar menu

Step 1: Go to the Documents sidebar menu, then click on the + button

Step 2: Make sure to tag the correct Quality Area, Division, Relevant RTO Standards, and Performance Indicators when adding the document. (Otherwise, you will not be able to see this performance document from the list of available evidence when editing/adding evidence). Once done, make sure to save the changes.

Step 3: From the QMS Dashboard → Outcome Standards Compliance → Quality Area - Outcome → Standards → Division → Performance Indicator, we can now confirm that the document is already added as performance evidence:

Performance Evidence Actions Menu

Performance Evidence action menu includes:

1. View Evidence Status
   
2. Review / Update Evidence
3. View Status History
4. Archive Evidence or Unarchive Evidence (depends on the evidence)
5. Delete Evidence
   

View Evidence Status

You can view evidence without risking accidental changes as all fields on this part are in read-only mode. Also, when user click on the document name, the document will display like we do in Document page.

Review/Update Status

The Review/Update menu option if for compliance staff to review and update the evidence status based on their review. They will determine if the evidence aligns to the performance indicator and set the status accordingly. This will also include their rationale for updating the status. The self assessment questions and evidence suggestion provide guidance to assist them in their review.

Reviewed Compliance Status

Clicking the Replace Evidence Document button. + Button and Select a System Document As Evidence from this pop up will provide you a dropdown where you can select documents. Similar to the concept of adding new performance evidence.

View Status History

This allows you to track historical status changes of the performance evidence.  It has Date, User, Status, and Rationale column.

Archiving Performance Evidence

Under the Standards for RTOs 2025, archiving evidence is not just about storing documents — it is about ensuring that evidence supporting compliance is:

• Accurate

• Secure

• Accessible when required

• Retained for the required period

• Protected from loss, damage or unauthorised access

Because the 2025 Standards are outcome-focused, archiving practices must support the RTO’s ability to demonstrate that outcomes were achieved — even retrospectively.

You can also put evidence to archive in QMS by selecting Archive Evidence and can removed the evidence from the archive by selecting Unarchive Evidence.

Archive:

To show Archived evidences and unarchive it:

Step 1: Click on the show Archived toggle
Step 2: Choose Unarchive Evidence from the action menu

Deleting Performance Evidence (Permanent)

QMS also offers the ability to delete performance evidence entirely, be extra careful when doing so as This action cannot be undone.

QMS Compliance Dashboard

QMS Compliance Dashboard provides users with a quick overview of Outcome Standards Compliance statistics. Users can easily monitor the total number of Complaint, Evidence Gap, Awaiting Review, Expiring Soon and Expired.

QMS Compliance Status Filter

This allows users to easily filter and refine Outcome Standards Compliance based on Performance Indicator Compliance Status, Performance Evidence Compliance Status and Performance Evidence Status for faster tracking of Outcome Standards Compliance.

You can combine active filters for the following:

Performance Indicator Compliance Status	Available options: Awaiting Review Compliant Evidence Gap
Performance Evidence Compliance Status	Available options: Awaiting Review Compliant Evidence Gap
Performance Evidence Status	Available options: Current Expired Expiring Soon
Clear all	When clicked, all selected options on the filters will be removed.

QMS Permission

This would dictate which specific functions of the QMS Dashboard can be accessed by an SMS role.

In Administration → Settings → Permissions → Admin/Compliance → Dashboard → QMS.

Default permissions for Admin and Compliance role:

 

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