Is ISO 9001 2000 registration right for my organization?
Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO 9001 2000
registration for your organization.
Is the number of registrations in your market sector increasing?
Are your competitors seeking registration?
Are your customers asking about registration?
Are registrations increasing in your industry?
Are your customers asking you to become registered?
Have your group HQ asked you to gain registration?
Do you want to reap the financial benefits of registration?
Have the number of customer or consumer complaints increased?
Do preventable errors keep occur again and again in your business?
It is not possible to state exactly what benefits will your organization will gain by
having a formal quality system, primarily because each organization is different.
However, I think it is fair to say that most organisations will benefit from having
a formalized Quality Management system where:
Work proceeds in an orderly and predictable way.
The same old preventable errors stop occurring.
Customer and consumer complaints fall dramatically.
Your Management System improves.
Internal communication within your organization improves.
Returned product from customers reduces week on week.
The quality of your product and or service improves.
The level of customer and employee satisfaction improves.
Your organization produces quality data to improve your business.
By now you should have a reasonable idea of whether or not ISO 9001 2000 registration
is right for your organization and whether or not you will gain financially from
adopting the ISO 9001 2000 standard as a method of running your business effectively
and efficiently.
If you are now seriously considering seeking registration to the ISO 9001 2000
standard you must begin to understand what the standard requires of an organization.
There are many books and resources available which discuss implementing the ISO 9001
2000 Quality Management Standard into an organization, including the documentation
and resources to be found on this web site.
You may like to begin your ISO 9001 2000 education by reading the various articles
and resources to be found on this web site.
These resources include, among other things:
[Example Quality Manual]
[Example Procedure]
[Explanation of the ISO 9001 2000 standard]
[Gap Analysis]
[ISO 9001 2000 Consultancy Services]
[ISO 9001 2000 Software]
[ISO 9001 2000 Training Resources]
[Example Process Flow Diagrams]
To begin to understand the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard we recommend
that you read [Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration].
Alternatively you could take a training course that describes the ISO 9001 2000 Quality
Management Standard and the registration process.
[See Training Resources].
To determine the amount of input required by your organization to comply with the
requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard will require that you assess your existing
management system. You could to fetch in a consultant at this stage because a
[Consultant] will be able to identify exactly what
your organization needs to do in order to achieve the requirements of the ISO 9001
2000 Quality Management Standard.
Many organizations opt to carry out a [Gap Analysis Audit]
by themselves.
However, this is such an important part of the ISO 9001 2000 registration process it
is worth seeking professional help from a [Consultant].
Many organizations who opt to jump straight into the Gap Analysis Audit process
themselves can often waste time, money and resources by not fully understanding the
intent of the ISO 9001 2000 standard. Whereas seeking professional advice from a
consultant will set your organization on the right path with clear instructions on
who, what, where, why, when and how things should be done.
If on the other hand your organization already has a very good understanding of the
ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard and you have:
A documented Quality policy.
Been setting and using documented Quality objectives.
Documented Top management reviews of your Quality Management System.
Documented top level Quality Management System Manual.
Documented effective and efficient process procedures and or work instructions.
Documented employee skills and training records which are regularly reviewed.
Documented ISO 9001 2000 compliant Quality Management System Audits.
Documented an effective and compliant Customer complaint process.
Documented an effective corrective & preventive action process.
If you are doing all the above then you may be well on your way toward gaining ISO
9001 2000 registration.
However, if your Quality Management System is incomplete or immature it will require
much more effort to become compliant. You can continue to adjust your system, audit
for compliance, train employees etc. Until you reach a position where you feel you
have done as much as you are able to do yourself.
Once you have reached this stage you may be concerned that you have missed something
important. It seems rather silly to embark on a full registration audit at great cost
to your organization when you can hire a [Consultant]
to carry out a [Gap Analysis Audit] for a relatively small
sum of money to ensure that all is correct.
A pre-assessment or gap analysis audit is survey carried out by a professional who
compares what processes your organization has in place compared to those required by
the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard.
The consultant will report any deficiencies in your organizations processes,
it is then up to you to decide if you want to tackle these deficiencies by yourself
or to engage the professional services of [Consultant].
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