In July 1996 JDQ Systems Inc. (JDQ) was formed by Jon Morris and Derek Shackleford to create a company that would combine Quality Assurance Consulting and Custom Software Application Development to provide unique expertise in work process improvement in an increasingly technical business environment.

In 1998 as the World Wide Web solidified itself as the future for business oriented applications, JDQ completed its first web browser-based applications.  As lead designer and developer of ProjectWatch™, Shackleford championed JDQ’s foray into custom web application development. To this day, ProjectWatch remains the foundation of all JDQ’s business processes, including task management, version control, timesheets and invoicing, issue tracking, document control and CRM.  “It is hard to imagine a world without integrated online tools.”, said Shackleford, “The transformation of data into useful knowledge and business intelligence is the primary goal of the current generation of application developers.”

JDQ’s expertise in custom application development resulted in long-term relationships with company’s like TELUS, Finning, Interex Forest Products, Bennett Survey, Enigma Interconnect, Teleflex Canada – Developmental Disabilities Association –  to name a few.  “JDQ has always excelled at integrated applications that solve end-to-end process issues and eliminate redundant data entry and data duplication,” Morris, ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt since 2004, added, “After more than 20 years solving business process issues, one begins to see how important it is for people to have easy access to reliable and timely data.”

Over the years, JDQ assisted many clients as they prepared their Quality Management Systems for ISO 9001 compliance and registration, including Ford, Finning Canada, Garaventa, Teleflex Canada, Knight Piesold Ltd, SRK Consulting Engineers, Pacbrake Company, LMI Technologies, Argus Technologies, Westport Innovations, PMC-Sierra and many others.

JDQ embraced a ‘green’ and ‘agile’ business strategy, well before it became popular. From day one, JDQ has relied on skilled and responsible employees and independent subcontractors, with remote offices, to successfully complete client projects, ranging from $5K to over $1M in size.  “We would like to congratulate our employees and independent subcontractors, individually and as team members, for delivering on every project they took on,” said Morris, “To this day, we have never had a JDQ project cancelled due to delays or budget overruns.”  For 20 years, JDQ has a consistent record of working with clients to “get the job done”.

In 2007, JDQ won the BCTIA Award for Leadership in Social Responsibility, reflecting the company’s commitment to helping, learning and profiting in the community it serves.  JDQ’s 3Spheres of Reciprocity™ initiative was, and continues to be, the foundation of that commitment.  For 7 years JDQ sponsored the popular Social Enterprise Heroes event that JDQ co-founded with the Vancity Community Foundation, giving back to the social enterprising community in innovative ways. Since inception, JDQ’s 3Spheres teams have assisted over 30 non-profits and social enterprises with pro-bono expertise aimed at helping them improve the processes that serve their social cause. Many of these projects were Community Good Works collaborations with Quality Assurance professionals from the Vancouver Section of ASQ Canada, from whom JDQ recently received the 2016 ASQ Vancouver Partnership Award.

With an eye to the future and the desire to remain on the cutting edge of technology for work process improvement, in 2015 JDQ embarked on a 3 year R&D vision to design and prototype a collaborative service robot to assist adults with developmental disabilities in their quest for more independence.  Through new partnerships with the Developmental Disabilities Association, BCIT, UBC and SFU, the 3Spheres™ Robotics project is in full swing, supported in part by approved NSERC and pending Mitacs research grants.

For 20 years, JDQ has served leading companies and non-profit organizations in their pursuit of ever improving and evolving business processes that are critical to their success. “We look forward to many more years of helping, learning and profiting”, concluded Morris, “and the opportunity to help a new generation of business leaders do the same.”