A Quick Tour – ISO 9001:2008

A Quick Tour – ISO 9001:2008

Being accredited with the international quality management systems standard ISO BS EN 9001:2008 shows the outside world that you are in control of your business

You are able to demonstrate that the level of quality of your service/product will at the very least be sustained, and more importantly will continually improve.

Essentially:      Say What You Do

                        Do What You Say

                        Prove It

                        Improve It

The aim of the Quality Management System (QMS) in its entirety is about your clients’ requirements being met and ideally your clients being fully satisfied with all they receive from you.

The ISO 9001:208 standard can be (and should be) applicable to all areas of your business and encapsulates this in 5 sections.

1. General Requirements of the QMS
2. Management Responsibility
3. Resource Management
4. Product Realisation / Service Provision
5. Measurement, Analysis and Improvement

General Requirements

Firstly the standard sets the requirements of controlling and managing the management systems itself during the implementation stage and onwards.  Being able to evidence your activities is critical and a requirement is traceability and clarity.

Management Responsibility

Clearly this is straightforward.  Who does what? Who is responsible for the quality management system? Is the QMS rolled out across the business from the top?

This section covers such matters as describing core business activities.  These are presented by organisation charts, flow charts of the interaction of your different business activities, policies stating commitment to the QMS, visions and aims of the business formally documented, etc.

Resource Management

It is important to demonstrate that you provide the essential tools/means to be able to meet your clients’ requirements. For example:

a)    Competent and capable staff

b)    Reliable, safe vehicles

c)    Accurate, safe machinery

d)    Appropriate working environment

e)    Properly sourced, effective materials

f)     Appropriately selected subcontractors/subconsultants

g)    Company guidelines/ethics/rules

If resources are not effectively sources and managed, service provision may be effected and your levels of quality could take a dip.

Product Realisation / Service Provision

It almost goes without saying that if nothing else gets documents, the procedures for getting the job done are the most critical.

You need to have in place written systems to which your teams can refer so that your clients’ requirements can be met, at all times.  Procedures such as; Order Confirmation, Carry Out Job, Project Management, Client Communication, Supporting Administration, etc.

Depending on how complex the ‘job’ is of course will result in the number of systems you’ll have to write and the complexity of those procedures.  However – you don’t have to get embroiled in the nitty gritty.  Detailed work instructions shouldn’t really be necessary.  If your Resource Management is working well, you’ve employed qualified/competent teams who know how to carry out the work (your book keeper knows how to work Sage), the Company Manual just tells them how to manage the job, ie, what has to be done, by when, using which supporting documentation.

Measurement, Analysis and Improvement

This is the fun part – well I think so!

It’s the ‘Prove It’ part of ISO 9001:2008.

You must check that you are doing what you say you do.  There are lots of ways of doing this.  The standard requires that you carry out internal checks of your activities.  Ideally use competent staff (or outsource to consultants) who can carry out process auditing.  You need to review the activity – the holistic process – not individual persons carrying out the role, and not just individual stages of the activity.

Your teams won’t thank you if they personally feel you are checking up on them.  Therefore it is important that your auditors are sensitive, diplomatic, calm and patient.  Never allow auditors to check their own work and beware, if you’re using your own teams, of office politics, personality clashes, etc.  Yes I know – we’re all supposed to be able to rise above such ‘nonsense’, but we all know it can happen.

You can also measure effectiveness of  your activities by traditional KPI (key performance indicators) setting, specific monitoring activities and quick one off inspections.  Whatever methods you use, ensure they’re fit for purpose, help business activities not hinder them and are reviewed frequently for continued relevance.

So there you are and whistle stop guide to the international quality management systems standard ISO 9001:2008.

            Say What You Do

            Do What You Say

            Prove It

            Improve It

Ensuring that the level of the quality of your work is what you want it to be.

5 Steps to Writing a Procedure

So you realise that you need to write it down.  No longer can you and/or your staff cope with relying on someone being around to let everyone know what’s in their head.

But how much do you write down?  Too detailed and no-one can actually get on with the flow of the work, not detailed enough and ‘I didn’t know that!’ can be heard reverberating around the office – in any event it usually means disgruntled staff and unsatisfied customers.

1.  A system/procedure/check list – call the document whatever you like – must include:

• who is responsible for the action;
• what has to be carried out;
• the timescale for when the action has to be carried out;
• which, if any, templates/forms/policies have to be used/referred to.

2.  The presentation of the document can be important too – consider:

• brand image;
• the reader(s);
• method of issue/communication to wider world;
• how it will fit into your overall company manual.

3.  The format of the document is up to you and can be in a simple tabular format, a flow chart, a mix of the two or indeed a descriptive piece of prose.

4.  Flowcharts graphically show the process, use shapes and be consistent. For example, an oval shape is used for the start/end of the process, an oblong is used for an instruction, a diamond shows that a decision needs to be made, etc.  Bold borders shows that a template needs to be used at this stage of the procedure.

5.  These documented procedures are critical to your business and so need to be considered as control documents.  This means that they can’t be changed without due process. It must be shown that the reason for change is justified, the responsible person has approved the changes and that the amended document has been issued appropriately and if necessary training given to explain the changes.

Easy access to all company procedures, templates, policies, etc, is essential and be sure that only the current versions are accessible – don’t leave out-of-date documents lying around, beware of shortcuts placed on desktops!

Good luck and get your systems written down – it’ll mean you can relax more happily on your sun bed knowing back at the business everyone knows what has to be done.

Nitty Gritty? No need!

A quality management system is exactly that – a system for managing levels of quality.  It is a formal broad scoping system that describes what you do to make sure the levels of quality of your work (product or service) is maintained, sustained and of course improved.

Don’t get bogged down in the nitty gritty – these are ‘work instructions’ that are used for the individuals who have to carry it out.  Of course they can be very necessary, but not necessarily part of the overarching company manual/handbook/business bible – whatever you want to call it.

The management system is of course documented – how else can you consistently carry out the same systems? The manual (for arguments sake) lists core activities that must take place for the smooth, efficient and effective running of the business. Continuity – sustained levels of high quality – is your brand image and your brand image is important.

Of course, you choose what the level of quality of your product or service is – high, reasonable, poor!

Who you choose to design and manage your quality management system, is also important.  Do you choose someone who is a technical expert of your product/service?  S/he might just be too ‘fussy’ with the ‘nitty gritty’ and lose sight of the wider overview needed of your business.  Do you choose someone who’s an administration fanatic – everything done by the book and everything in its place?  Both these types have their strengths - add to that the manager whose ‘been there, done it and is now calm’ attitude to the mix and the quality management team will perform well for your business.

Tip:  say what you do, do what you say, prove it, improve it.

Quality Assurance Matters

1.  Quality assurance matters.

How can you assure your clients that you can maintain, sustain and improve the quality of your product or service?

If you’d like to give a customer guarantee, assure your product or service. 

A quality management system  designed in accordance with the internationally recognised quality standard ISO 9001:2008 provides a mechanism for ensuring good business management.

Deterermine your core business processes (activities), what are they, how are they interrelated? EG: business development, enquiry/order development, make the product, providing the service, after sales service, follow up, invoicing, close out.

Write these down and show how they connect to each other.

2. Procedures.

What systems do you have to have in place to make sure the core business processes are achieved. Write these down as a procedure, ie, a step by step guide to the activity, who is resonsible, when it has to be done and what templated documents have to be used?

3. Monitor/Measure

Don’t forget these systems then have to be audited for suitability, ie, are they working? Do you do what you say you do? Audit the systems/processes is your aim achieved – is the client fully satisfied with your work?

4. Corrective/preventive actions

Evaluate the findings of your process audits, are there any trends which will result in non-conformances? Put in place plans to prevent non-conformances and of course carry out all corrective actions – ‘put things right’.

Implementing a quality management system (a QMS) will help you to continually improve and your clients will be assured of the high level of quality of your product or service.

 

Sue Betts, Raising Your Standards

A quality management system (QMS) is a documented management process which, designed in accordance with the internationally recognised quality standard ISO 9001:2000 provides a mechanism for ensuring good business management.  A well planned QMS is:

·  effective

·  efficient

·  economical

·  an aid to continual improvement

                               

A well maintained and managed quality management system often requires focused time.  Employing the services of an experienced quality assurance consultant can benefit your organisation in the following ways:

·  freeing your staff to carry out their own work;

·  lessens the fear of ‘being checked up on’ by a colleague;

·  truly independent observations can be made; eg: ‘office politics’ do not cloud findings;

·  a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ will often highlight potential issues that may go unnoticed for some time due to continually working in that environment.

 

Whether accredited with or not, or aspiring to gain accreditation to ISO 9001:2000 a QMS provides a way for management to give direction to staff without removing the sense of ownership and initiative that is now vital to the success of all organisations.

 

Any organisation, regardless of size or function, wishing to implement a formal process for improved efficiency, employee involvement and increased customer satisfaction levels can benefit through implementing the common-sense management approach of ISO 9001:2000.

 

There is no single reason for implementing a QMS, often included are:

·  customer satisfaction

·  good business practice

·  customer care

·  marketplace advantage

 

 

systems, systems, systems

Think of being run over by that bus! Can anyone do your job if you’re not there? Write down what you do, check that what’s written down is what you do and make sure anyone can follow it.

Now you can afford to be run over and your business will run without you!