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ETQ Reliance manages quality across industries. Seal runs the work, with quality on the same records.

Seal, the GxP execution system, is your eBR, your QMS and more. Neil, your AI agent, does the paperwork across your systems. You sign. Skye Biologics cut non-⁠conformances by 40%. Start with one process beside ETQ Reliance.

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Where ETQ Reliance falls short.

From Octave’s and ETQ’s own pages, and Quality Magazine.

  • Reliance, a basic system
    A few weeks
    Reliance, multi-site
    A few months
    Seal, a first process
    48 hours

    Months to roll out.

    Octave says a basic Reliance system takes a few weeks, and a multi-site rollout a few months. Seal has a first process working for you to evaluate within 48 hours, once the scope is agreed and the inputs received.

    Octave, Reliance
  • Implementation
    Certified consultants
    Projects
    PMP certified managers
    Software validation
    A service
    Seal
    Neil, then your approval

    Configured by a services team.

    ETQ’s overview offers certified consultants, PMP certified project managers, remote configuration support and software validation as professional services. In Seal, Neil configures the first process from your procedure, and your team approves it.

    ETQ, Reliance Product Overview, January 2022
  • LIMS
    Through connectors
    MES, ERP
    Through connectors
    Seal
    One set of records

    The lab and the batch are in other systems.

    Octave connects Reliance to the ERP, MES, PLM and LIMS through REST APIs and prebuilt connectors. In Seal, the lab, the batch and quality are one set of records.

    Octave, Reliance
  • Form Field Advisor
    Prefills form fields
    Complaint & Feedback Advisor
    Supports complaint intake
    Neil
    Drafts the change

    Its AI fills in forms. Neil does the paperwork.

    Form Field Advisor prefills form fields from your historical records, and Complaint & Feedback Advisor supports complaint intake. Neil prepares the change itself and the paperwork around it, for your team to approve.

    Quality Magazine, February 2026

See it in Seal.

Real Seal screens with fictional test data: one late transfer, from the batch record to the fix, then Neil’s overnight release review.

  1. 1

    Each value at the step it belongs to.

    Batch B-041’s readings are recorded as the work happens, with its sample and its deviation linked to the record.

    Batch record B-041, post-mix hold and transfer, in Seal: the instruction to transfer within 45 minutes of completing the mix, process readings at 10:12, 10:42 and 11:04 with temperature and pH, and the linked lab sample IPC-041 and investigation DEV-018.
    1. The step’s limitTransfer within 45 minutes of completing the mix.
    2. Recorded as it happensMix complete at 10:12, transfer at 11:04: 52 minutes.
    3. The deviation, linkedDEV-018 sits on the batch record it concerns.
  2. 2

    The deviation starts with its evidence.

    DEV-018 has the batch, its readings and the sample linked, so the investigation starts from the facts.

    Deviation DEV-018, extended post-mix hold, in Seal: the affected batch B-041, the transfer 52 minutes after mixing against a permitted 45, and a table of evidence from the process readings, temperature readings and sample IPC-041.
    1. The batchB-041, the batch the deviation concerns.
    2. What happened52 minutes, against a permitted 45.
    3. The evidenceReadings and the sample, from the same records.
  3. 3

    The fix is a change to the workflow.

    CC-019 makes the record calculate the hold and route anything over 45 minutes. It is verified before release, and the next batch runs the new version.

    Change CC-019, elapsed-time check, in Seal: DEV-018 as the reason, the affected procedure MBR-014, a table of current and proposed workflow behaviour, a verification plan at 44, 45 and 46 minutes and a missing start time, and a release review for authorised people.
    1. From the deviationDEV-018 is the reason for the change.
    2. The workflow itselfThe hold is calculated from both timestamps, and anything over the limit is routed for assessment.
    3. Verified before releaseAt 44, 45 and 46 minutes, and with a start time missing.
  4. 4

    Neil checks every lot. People decide.

    Overnight, Neil checked each lot against its release plan and said what its record leaves out.

    The release board in Seal: 111 lots in release across three sites, $123M waiting, 86 with nothing open, and a table of the lots with findings, each with Neil’s summary, its value and a predicted certification date.
    1. The morning, in two lines111 lots and $123M waiting. 86 need only a decision.
    2. Neil’s summary of each lotWhat is open, and where Neil found it.
    3. A predicted certification dateFrom how long this site’s lots have taken.

What Seal’s customers measured.

Each figure links to the customer’s story.

QualityAcclinate and Skye Biologics

−50%
quality cycle times at Acclinate, from a procedure change to everyone trained.Acclinate
−40%
non-conformances at Skye Biologics, with training checked before execution.Skye Biologics

RecordsMiAlgae and Bioventix

−75%
documentation time at MiAlgae, from the lab to commercial production.MiAlgae
−80%
document admin time at Bioventix, after two decades on paper.Bioventix

ETQ Reliance and Seal, side by side.

Every source is listed under References.

ETQ RelianceSeal
What it isConfigurable QMS, from a company founded in 1992¹²The GxP execution system: your eBR, your QMS and more
Built forMany industries, ISO 9001 to IATF 16949¹Devices, diagnostics, drugs, biologics
Data modelForms and workflows in 40 quality applications¹Primitives your team composes: record types, their relationships, steps and checks
AIReliance AI: field recommendations, complaint intake³Neil, Seal’s AI agent, prepares changes to the process; your team approves them
Life sciencesA separate compliance offering⁴What the whole platform is for
Where the work runsERP, MES, PLM and LIMS, integrated¹In Seal, on the same records
RiskRegister, reassessed for effect⁵Risk linked to tested controls
Getting startedWeeks to months, by scope¹A 48-hour evaluation of one process, once the scope is agreed and the inputs received

Summary

The story
ETQ Reliance is good for enterprise quality management across manufacturing industries. ETQ was founded in 1992 and set out to build a flexible quality system that fits each organisation’s processes,⁶ and Reliance runs more than 40 quality applications, from document control and CAPA to audit, training and supplier quality.¹ Octave says quality teams adjust processes “on their own” with drag-and-drop tools,¹ yet ETQ’s own overview offered certified consultants and project managers, and a codeless designer with scripting behind it.⁷ Its AI, launched in January 2026, prefills form fields and supports complaint intake.³ If quality is a function of its own across many industries and plants, it can work well. Most life sciences teams need the deviation, the batch and the test on the same records, not in a quality system beside them.

1What ETQ Reliance offers.

ETQ was founded in 1992 and acquired by Hexagon in 2022;² it became part of Octave, which Hexagon spun off on 22 May 2026,⁸⁹ and Octave now sells the product as Reliance.¹ Reliance is a configurable quality management system built around document control, CAPA, audits and training, adapted with drag-and-drop workflows and point-and-click forms, with applications for lab investigations and life sciences compliance.¹ Its published customers range from Novo Nordisk and Avanos to Trane, Rheem and General Motors.¹⁰

ETQ announced Reliance AI in January 2026 with two products: Form Field Advisor, which prefills form fields from a customer’s historical records for a person to accept or reject, and Complaint & Feedback Advisor, for complaint intake and decision support.³ Its CAPA page also offers “smart recommendations for root cause analysis”.¹¹

2Running Seal alongside ETQ Reliance.

Teams move to Seal one process at a time. Seal’s ETQ Reliance connection is set up per project on Reliance’s RESTful Web Services. Agree the applications, forms and fields your configuration exposes before mapping events to other systems; in scope are the quality application records and fields enabled through Reliance Web Services. Start with read access; any change in Reliance needs separately configured actions and controls.

Once API access and mappings are configured, Neil can:

  • compare selected events, actions and later observations in a draft effectiveness review of a recurring CAPA;
  • join supplier quality events with permitted ERP receipt data to investigate a supplier trend;
  • collect selected quality records for an audit response and flag missing supporting evidence.

Each connection records which system stays the source of truth while the move is under way.

3Moving from ETQ Reliance to Seal.

Start with one process.

  1. Choose a process where a control keeps failing or a CAPA keeps recurring, such as an equipment interlock, a hold time or a release check.
  2. Bring the procedure, the risk assessment that relies on the control, a representative event and the records it touches. Start with sample material, or arrange an NDA before sharing confidential records.
  3. Neil proposes the workflow from the procedure, and your quality team checks it against the work. Once the scope is agreed and the inputs received, Seal prepares the first working process and its validation pack to evaluate within 48 hours. Production timing then depends on scope, interfaces, migration and your release requirements.
  4. Exercise the workflow and its failure cases, including a failed verification and its retest, before you approve release.
  5. Agree which records move and which stay retrievable in Reliance. Within that scope, relationships, attachments, versions and available audit context are preserved, and representative records are reconciled and retrieval verified before you rely on the new workflow. Existing procedures can come across in bulk as PDFs and become structured Seal documents as each is revised.

Retention obligations continue for the records that stay in Reliance. The risk and CAPA blueprints show those workflows in detail.

References

  1. 1Octave Reliance, Octave. https://www.octave.com/products/asset-performance-management/reliance (read 5 November 2026)
  2. 2Hexagon Acquires ETQ, SaaS-Based QMS Software Platform, Quality Magazine, 28 February 2022. https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/96892-hexagon-acquires-etq-saas-based-qms-software-platform (read 5 November 2026)
  3. 3ETQ Unveils Reliance AI: Always Intelligent Quality Management Ecosystem, Quality Magazine, 4 February 2026. https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99381-etq-reliance-ai-always-intelligent-quality-management-ecosystem (read 5 November 2026)
  4. 4Reliance Life Sciences Compliance Software, Octave. https://www.octave.com/products/asset-performance-management/reliance/life-sciences-compliance (read 5 November 2026)
  5. 5Reliance Risk Register, Octave. https://www.octave.com/products/asset-performance-management/reliance/risk-register (read 5 November 2026)
  6. 6EtQ: Top 20 QMS Solution Company 2016, CIOReview. https://www.cioreview.com/etq-2016 (read 5 November 2026)
  7. 7ETQ Reliance Product Overview, ETQ, part of Hexagon, January 2022. https://host.etq.com/app/uploads/2022/01/ETQ-Reliance-Product-Overview_012122.pdf (read 5 November 2026)
  8. 8Hexagon spin-off takes shape with ‘Octave’ moniker, Engineering.com, 18 June 2025. https://www.engineering.com/hexagon-spin-off-takes-shape-with-octave-moniker/ (read 5 November 2026)
  9. 9Octave Intelligence plc Listed on Nasdaq New York, Octave (GlobeNewswire release, reproduced by Inderes), 28 May 2026. https://www.inderes.se/en/releases/octave-intelligence-plc-listed-on-nasdaq-new-york (read 5 November 2026)
  10. 10Change Management Software, Octave. https://www.octave.com/products/asset-performance-management/reliance/change-management (read 5 November 2026)
  11. 11CAPA Management Software, Reliance, Octave. https://www.octave.com/products/asset-performance-management/reliance/corrective-action (read 5 November 2026)

AQuestions and answers

Is Seal better than ETQ Reliance?

Yes. ETQ Reliance is good for enterprise quality management across manufacturing industries. ETQ was founded in 1992 and set out to build a flexible quality system that fits each organisation’s processes, and Reliance runs more than 40 quality applications, from document control and CAPA to audit, training and supplier quality. Octave says quality teams adjust processes “on their own” with drag-and-drop tools, yet ETQ’s own overview offered certified consultants and project managers, and a codeless designer with scripting behind it. Its AI, launched in January 2026, prefills form fields and supports complaint intake. If quality is a function of its own across many industries and plants, it can work well. Most life sciences teams need the deviation, the batch and the test on the same records, not in a quality system beside them. Seal has no fixed model of one kind of work. It is built from primitives: record types, the relationships between them, and the steps and checks that use them, which your own team composes into your process, with Neil able to prepare each change for approval. So one platform runs process development, the laboratory, manufacturing, batch release and the quality system, and each change becomes a new version, released once its selected tests pass, while earlier runs keep theirs. Moving from paper, Skye Biologics cut non-conformances by 40%, with training checked before execution.

Is Seal an alternative to ETQ Reliance?

Yes. ETQ Reliance is designed for quality management across manufacturing industries. Seal covers CAPA, deviations, nonconformances, complaints, change control, audits, suppliers, documents, training and risk, built for regulated life sciences, and runs the laboratory and manufacturing work on the same records. A corrective action is released as a verified change to the workflow and measured on the runs that follow.

Is ETQ Reliance now called Octave Reliance?

Yes. ETQ became part of Octave, the software company Hexagon spun off on 22 May 2026, and Octave now sells the product as Reliance, formerly ETQ Reliance. Octave says the rebrand does not change its core functionality.

Can Seal work alongside ETQ Reliance?

Yes. Seal’s ETQ Reliance connection is set up per project on Reliance’s RESTful Web Services, scoped to the applications, forms and fields your configuration exposes. It starts with read access, so Neil can bring Reliance CAPAs, supplier events and audit records into investigations and reviews while you move processes to Seal.

Does ETQ Reliance run laboratory or manufacturing work?

Reliance is designed for quality management across manufacturing industries: it connects to the ERP, MES, PLM and LIMS where the work runs, and manages lab investigations rather than the testing itself. In Seal, the laboratory and manufacturing work runs on the same records as the quality system, so the control a risk assessment relies on is configured, tested and versioned in the workflow.

How does Reliance’s AI compare with Neil?

ETQ announced Reliance AI in January 2026: Form Field Advisor prefills form fields from a customer’s historical records for a person to accept or reject, and Complaint & Feedback Advisor supports complaint intake and decisions. Its CAPA page also offers smart root cause recommendations. Neil prepares changes to the process itself, with their tests, for your approval, working across Seal’s records and connected systems. In line with the EU’s draft GMP Annex 22 on AI, Neil is not used in GMP execution. It helps set up configuration, which your team verifies and releases under change control.

How long does it take to start with Seal?

Once the scope is agreed and the inputs received, Seal prepares a first working process and its validation pack to evaluate within 48 hours, configured from one of your procedures. Production timing then depends on scope, interfaces, migration and your release requirements.

Start beside ETQ Reliance.

Start with one process. Seal’s ETQ Reliance connection reads the Reliance records that process needs, so nothing has to move on day one.

Book a demo