ISO Certification

188 stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) - Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

2008-03-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

FORWARD

The 188 stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188+ stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

THE 188 STAGE HERO'S JOURNEY:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).

d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventure and the micro elements within.

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

(simply go to http://www.screenplay-structure.com/ or http://www.story-structure.org/ for full details)

*****Trial 3 Evolution*****

Trial 3 often shows the Hero evolving (becoming closer to his New Self), In Straw Dogs (1971), David enters the pub but this time is not afraid of Tom and buys them all a drink. Further, he is accepted - the Major invites him over.

*****Wolves Clothing*****

In entering the World of the Sword, the Hero and Allies again camouflage themselves in the Wolves Clothing. They become invisible on some level. In Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry literarily puts on an invisible cloak. In Raging Bull (1980), Tommy has to speak to the mafia don and behave as though he was one of them. In Diamonds are Forever (1971), James Bond pretends to be a worker in the plan.

*****New World of the Transformation and Trials*****

Even though the Hero may be willing, he (or she) may not be happy with the way the progression is turning out. In Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Clyde is angry because they?ve committed murder.

*****Refusal of the Call*****

A staple of the Hero's Journey and Transformation. The Hero refuses psychologically for a number of reasons, is interdicted by the interdictor (punishments for following the Call) and blocked by Doves using a number of techniques. In Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Bonnie plays hard to get, she?s is going to work. She walks, Clyde follows.

Learn more?

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero?s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.monomyth.info/

188 stages of the Hero's Journey can also be reached from http://www.heros-journey.info/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Comparison of Microsoft Office 2003 with Microsoft Office 2007

2008-03-06T01:10:00.001-08:00

Lots of people have Microsoft Office 2003 and are interested in upgrading to Microsoft Office 2007. However, there are lots of differences between the two although they are the same program with different edition years. As a result, anyone with Microsoft Office 2003 should keep on reading to learn about some of the differences of Microsoft Office 2007.

One of the changes is the digital signature. For instance, if you are in Microsoft Office 2007 training you will learn that with this edition the digital signature is formatted with XMLDSig, which is different than what you learned in Microsoft Office 2003 training. Also, the Microsoft office training courses will teach you that in Office 2007 you will find the digital signature under File, Finalize Document, Signatures rather than in Tools, Options, Security, Digital Signatures. The digital signatures were changed to be more intuitive and easier to find.

Another change that you will learn about in all of your Microsoft office training programs is that the add in tool for Office 2003 was removed. It was replaced by a document inspector that can run multiple times at once which makes it easer to clean up documents.

In Microsoft Office 2007 there is now some versioning offered. Before in Microsoft Office 2003 you could only enable or disable versioning, but now versioning numbers are included and numbers such as 3.3 may be used as well as whole numbers like 3.

Another change that exists in Microsoft Office 2007 that is different from Microsoft Office 2003 is that Windows Rights Management Client v. 1.0 is no longer supported. A new client version of Windows Rights Management Client SP1 is used in Microsoft Office 2007 and the new version is easy to install and no change is seen when the new version is installed.

Yet another change that occurred is the Send for Review feature that could be found in Microsoft Office 2003 under File, Send to, Mail Recipient (for review). These entry points do not exist in Microsoft Office 2007.

There are of course many other changes that occur in Microsoft Office 2007 that Microsoft Office 2003 users must learn and get accustomed to. However, there are not so many that users who upgrade will have too difficult of a time converting.

Caitlina Fuller is a freelance writer. One of the changes is the digital signature. For instance, if you are in Microsoft Office 2007 training you will learn that with this edition the digital signature is formatted with XMLDSig, which is different than what you learned in Microsoft Office 2003 training. Also, the Microsoft office training courses will teach you that in Office 2007 you will find the digital signature under File, Finalize Document, Signatures rather than in Tools, Options, Security, Digital Signatures.

Hybrid Car Comparisons For 2007 - Buy A Hybrid Save The Planet?

2008-03-06T01:09:00.000-08:00

For the past couple -three years, there has been much buzz going on about Hybrid Cars and the many benefits they seem to offer. It seems that Hybrid Cars may be the solution to both major problems we face in the United States today when it comes to transportation...

What are those two problems facing the United States when it comes to transportation?

1. Surging Oil Prices

2. Concern about the environment

So, how do you know which hybrid car to buy?

Compare your options and the benefits.

Owning a Hybrid car will offer you many, many benefits.

To name a few hybrid benefits:

Tax breaks by many states and Federal Government
Fuel cost savings - Hybrids use less fuel
Hybrid Cars are better for the environment producing less emissions

For these reasons and the never ending surge of gas pump prices, hybrid cars have experienced a sharp increase in sales.
More and more car manufacturers are joining the hybrid vehicle arena with their own versions. Both the old stand by companies that have been around for ever as well as many new "green car" companies are popping up to enter into the Hybrid Car Revolution. This is wonderful for those of you who are planning to buy a hybrid car, you now have so many choices it's almost unbelievable, that?s why you really need to compare hybrid cars to see which one would fit perfectly with your needs.
In this article we will only compare two of the worlds leading hybrid car manufactures, the Japanese giant's Toyota and Honda.
Toyota and Honda are credited with producing many top innovations of hybrid technology and their hybrid cars are the most popular, most awarded hybrid vehicles on the hybrid market today.
Here, in this article we will compare the hybrid cars they are offering for 2007 year, these will include the Honda Accord Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Lexus GS 450H, Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Toyota Prius.
Their fuel efficiency can be compared through their average consumption per mile in different situations, like; City Driving ? where the traffic is constantly stopping, Highway Driving ? where the engine can freely operate at maximum level and their combined average usage.
Miles Per Gallon and Average Used Per Gallon

Honda Accord Hybrid ? 28 MPG (city), 35 MPG (Highway) and 31 MPG (Combined Average)
Honda Civic - 49 MPG (city), 51 MPG (Highway) and 50 MPG (Combined Average)
Lexus GS 450H - 25 MPG (city), 28 MPG (Highway) and 26 MPG (Combined Average)
Toyota Camry Hybrid - 40 MPG (city), 38 MPG (Highway) and 39 MPG (Combined Average)
Toyota Prius - 60 MPG (city), 51 MPG (Highway) and 55 MPG (Combined Average)

Before you just go out and pick the one with the highest MPG average, you need to consider something else.

Fuel type.

All of these vehicles use regular gasoline except for the Lexus which uses Premium Gasoline that is much pricier per gallon.

You also need to compare the size class of each hybrid car as well as the engine size and liters of the engine.

Accord Hybrid is a midsize car with a 3 liter - 6 cylinder engine.
Civic Hybrid is a compact car with a 1.3 liter ? 4 cylinder engine.
Lexus GS 450H is another compact car with a 3.5 liter ? 6 cylinder engine.
Toyota Camry Hybrid is a midsize sedan equipped with a 2.4 liter ? 4 cylinder engine
Toyota Prius is a compact car with a 1.5 liter ? 4 cylinder engine.

The bigger the car and the more powerful the engine is, the more fuel will be consumed. Considering all these aspects and doing your homework can lead to a fantastic hybrid vehicle purchase.

You have to put all of the considerations on the table when searching for the best hybrid to buy.

So, before you rush right out an get that shiny new hybrid car, compare first and do your homework. Find the one that will suit your needs and fit your personality best and you will be on your way to helping save the environment as well as saving yourself some money on fuel.

Frederick Musser is the owner of e85 Tips. A site dedicated to informing the world about alternative fuels and energy and their many benefits.

For more information on e85 and alternative fuels please visit e85Tips.com

Comparison Nokia 7390 Vs Nokia 5200

2008-03-05T01:22:00.000-08:00

Nokia has launched its latest range of handsets designed in clamshell and slider mechanism. Nokia 5200 flaunts a cool new slide concept with spring assisted opening while Nokia 7390 is a sleek folder phone from the L?Amour collection.

Nokia 5200 delivers great music function with superb audio quality and dedicated music keys. Get an enhanced music experience with its music player that supports MP3, SpMidi and AAC formats. The integrated stereo FM radio helps you listen to popular sound tracks and interact with different radio stations. The music player also supports ring tones including MP3, polyphonic and True tones. Bluetooth and Infrared provide easy transfer of your music files to any compatible device. The in-built VGA camera with 4x digital zoom enables you to take good quality photos in landscape mode. You can watch your music videos on the high definition 262Kcolour display. Nokia 5200 features a hot swappable microSD memory card slot which can easily store your photos and music. Besides, you can enjoy fast-paced Internet service via XHTML browser.

Avail multimedia comforts through Nokia 7390. The fashionable gadget boasts a 3 mega pixel camera with auto focus and flash. Capture your photos and MPEG4 videos with the camera, and view them on the wide screen display. Transfer your videos to any compatible PC via Bluetooth, or share them with friends by sending through MMS and email. The integrated MP3 player and FM radio provide you great music with excellent stereo sound technology. The handset is equipped with a microSD memory card slot expandable up to 2 GB. Store all your favourite songs in your device and share them online via EDGE technology. You can also access latest Java games, wallpapers, themes and lots more.

Browse through the contract deals available with these Nokia handsets. Sign up the best deal and get additional incentives including 12 months free line rental, free minutes, and a free handset! Buy a Nokia phone and stay updated with the latest mobile phone technology.

I am webmaster of best contract mobile phone phone this site offer latest 12 Month Free Line Rental like Mobile phones, samsung x820, and more latest mobile phone like nokia n93 select according your choice.

Treadmill Comparison - Smooth 7.1 HR PRO vs Nordic Track E3200

2008-03-04T01:28:00.000-08:00

Before you make your treadmill purchase, it is important to make a treadmill comparison to find the right model for you. Finding and purchasing a treadmill can be an excellent start to your fitness program. Both the Nordic Track E3200 and the Smooth 9.3 are good treadmills with benefits and drawbacks of each.

Nordic Track E3200

A treadmill comparison between the Nordic Track E3200 and the Smooth 9.3 should start with the benefits of the Nordic Track. It comes with four preset programs, a twenty by fifty-six running surface, and a 3.0 horsepower motor. It is both durable and sturdy. It is a machine that is built to handle your toughest workout programs. It is quiet, and it has some great panel features to help you monitor your workout progress. It has a reasonable price, and it is very comfortable.

For all of the features of this machine, though, there are a few drawbacks. It is very heavy and difficult to move. It requires some space, and it can be tough to set-up.

Smooth 7.1 HR PRO

In this treadmill comparison, the Smooth 7.1 has some great benefits, too. While the Nordic Track has four present programs, the Smooth 7.1, in comparison, has eight. Two of those are for people who are ready for some serious cardio training. It features a massive 2.75 horsepower motor and it is also durable and sturdy. It will handle most workouts in the home environment. It, too, is a quiet machine, and it makes for a great jogging workout.

When you compare it with the Nordic Track model, it, too, has some drawbacks. It could be a bit faster (it has a top speed of ten miles per hour), and the running surface does not offer a decline function. However I do prefer the Smooth Fitness brand. All their treadmills are of a very high quality.

A treadmill comparison of both of these models reveals that either is a good choice for the home model you are looking for.

Dean Iggo is the webmaster of a home exercise equipment website providing reviews of the best dumbbells and used fitness equipment including, treadmills and ellipticals from top brands including Proform, Precor, Total Gym, Smooth, Weider and more.

Parity Training becomes one of the first to be accredited to deliver the ITIL? related ISO 20000 consultancy course

2008-03-04T01:26:00.000-08:00

ISO/IEC has just released ISO/IEC 20000 as the new international IT service management standard, providing documents that IT organizations can use to get certification that they conform to those requirements.

The new standard is aligned with and complementary to the process approach defined within the IT infrastructure library (ITIL); qualified auditors can now assess organizations' ITIL conformance.

Published by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), ISO/IEC 20000 will enable organizations to benchmark their capability in delivering managed services, measuring service levels and assessing performance.

Parity Training has become an Accredited Course Provider to deliver the ITIL? related ISO 20000 consultancy course. This means that Parity are competent and positioned to help organizations gain the consultancy skills and knowledge required to move towards gaining ISO20000.

Within the last eight months nearly 700 people world-wide have gained the consultancy qualification and more than forty companies are now ISO20000/BS15000 accredited. Many Government and Private sector organizations require their existing and potential IT service providers (internal and external) to be ISO20000 certified.

Parity's customers that already have accreditation, include: BT Global Services, ATOS, EDS and CSC.

"As ITIL adoption increases worldwide, IT process compliance will become the basis for discussions between IT organizations and business users, outsourcing providers, and clients and Parity Training is well positioned to help its customers achieve business results. We are delighted to be among one of the first training providers to offer our clients these skills that will help towards certification" says Ebi Zadeh, Managing Director, Parity Training.

About Parity:
Parity, uniquely for its size, offers a full range of IT services including;

Business process consultancy
Change management training
Management training
Technology training
IT Service Management training
Development and management of complex IT systems
Oracle and Microsoft technology and application skills
Permanent and temporary IT staff
Resource process outsourcing

Major companies include:

Alcatel, Allianz, AT&T, British American Tobacco, CISCO, Department for Education & Skills, Department for Work & Pensions, Glaxo Smith Kline, HBOS, Hewlett Packard, HM Revenue & Customs, HSBC, IBM, ICI, Ministry of Defence, NASA, Connecting for Health at the NHS, O2, Perot Systems, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Mail, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, The Cabinet Office, The Meterological Office, and T-Systems.

Contact details:

For more information, visit Parity or contact Gina Cannon (g.cannon@parity.net)

A Definition and a Comparison Copyright 2004, Michael La

2008-03-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this article is to consider Print-On-Demand publishing as an alternative for the aspiring author. It has its strengths and its weaknesses. You may wonder as you begin reading this, but in the end I'm going to say some good things about it.

To a large extent, the title explains the technology. The way that literature has traditionally been printed involves running many copies simultaneously in order to bring the price per copy down. Smaller print runs, such as advertising brochures or concert programs, cost more per copy because they are small print runs. Until recently, printing a single book was all but unthinkable.

In the case of novels, the traditional print publisher begins by publishing several thousand copies. His goal is to run off the smallest number of copies he can while getting the best possible price per copy.

These books are then sent to bookstores, which tend to prefer something along the lines of what has succeeded before. The remainder sits in a warehouse somewhere. Perhaps to be shipped as the orders come in, perhaps to be joined by any "remaindered" copies the bookstores couldn't move.

This represents an investment on the part of that publisher, hence his paranoia about experimenting with new formats or (more importantly) new authors.

Print-On-Demand (POD), as the name implies, uses a completely different process. The end result is, the price per copy on a small run is much lower. How small of a run? Try one book. Zero inventory. The book is economically produced when the reader orders it, not before.

This technology was probably invented for sales literature. Then someone realized it might be a pretty cool way to get ARCs (Advance Review Copies) out to the book reviewers before the book was actually available. Finally, someone decided to get it into the publishing mainstream.

Why is it so much cheaper to publish a single book via POD? The reasons really aren't relevant to this article, besides which they'd probably bore you. But if you care, the first link below spells it all out.

http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/pod_01.htm http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/pod_02.htm http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/pod_03.htm http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/pod_04.htm http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/pod_05.htm

I recommend reading (or at least skimming) all five of those, by the way. It's quite a comprehensive analysis of how. Then come back to this article to determine why. Or if.

Have you ever heard of the author who self-published and wound up with a best-seller? They do exist!

Now look at all the self-published authors who couldn't do that. They're the vast majority. The author who uses POD could be facing similar long shot odds.

(Keep reading. I'll say good things about POD eventually.)

POD has a definite advantage over self-publishing, in that you don't wind up with a few hundred (or more?) copies of a book in your basement because you can't sell them. Thus, it's cheaper, with no difference in quality unless you hook up with losers.

But neither option will bring you the readership that you'll get from a successful book with a traditional print publisher.

I have self published. I went to a local print shop back in the pre-POD days, ran off 80 copies at $3 a copy, and sold them to local bookstores for $6 a copy. Lots of fun, and lots of learning, but I didn't get rich. My wage per hour stunk, but that was fine with me because I honestly didn't care. I broke even and gave away the rest. A pleasant way to spend lunch hours during the work week.

Most of us, though, just don't have that kind of time. And even if we do, why bother? Take the money you'd have invested and buy some Microsoft stock, then take the time you'd have invested and write more books. You'll be happier and you'll make more money.

Having said all that, why am I recommending POD at all? In my case, it's because I've written some books that no print publisher will ever pick up. That's my honest appraisal.

If I were a mercenary type, I'd follow that up with something like "Why'd you even write those books then?" But if you are a REAL writer, you know the answer.

It's always about writing first, marketing second. Two different hats. I'm assuming you already did the writing and now are wondering what the heck to do with it.

As an example, my EPPIE 2002 finalist is too short. I wrote it back when print publishers wanted 40,000 words. Now they want 50,000. But it doesn't take 50,000 words to tell that particular story, and I'm not padding it. Even if I were willing, it'd stink and nobody would buy it. Give the publishers some credit. They know padding when they see it. The same goes for the readers.

As another example, consider my short story collection. Critically acclaimed and selling moderately well, but no traditional publisher wants short story collections from unknown authors. It's just that simple.

So, I simultaneously published these books in e-book form and POD form. E-books are cheaper and more environmentally friendly, but the paperback option is still there for those who can't or won't ever read an e-book.

(Daddy is in that group, by the way. How about your family?)

Places who publish only POD began by accepting anything sent their way. Pay your money, and do your own editing and marketing. This gave POD a credibility problem. There are POD outfits who don't operate this way, but the credibility problem will take time to heal.

As an author, your goal is to write what's in your heart, find people who like to read what you like to write, and get it out to them. (That's my goal, anyway.) If your name happens to be Tom Clancy, that equals many readers. But that's simply luck of the draw.

Many of us don't have such mass appeal. Possibly you're the sort of writer who knows exactly where you stand in that respect. But many don't, and they're flooding the POD market with stuff that most readers just plain don't want. Add to that the badly edited stuff, and the credibility problem with POD is understandable.

Ideally, what you want is for your e-publisher to simultaneously release your book in both formats without charging a POD setup fee. That way, you can direct all your promotional efforts to that single URL. However, these e-publishers have a real problem with backlog now, so if you want to travel the road I did, you'll need much more patience than I did.

Taking advantage of a free POD option with your e-book will also help your promotional efforts. Many reviewers just plain won't touch an e-book. If you've done the POD bit, in addition to being able to tell all your friends and family, "Look at this, I'm a real author because here's the paperback," you'll be able to send review copies via POD to those book reviewers.

(I told my friends and family to kiss my butt, but I'm just a crochety old cuss.)

If you find yourself with an e-publisher who doesn't offer free POD, you may wish to shop around for a POD publisher. As you do this, remember the business model. If a publisher makes all its money from writers, it doesn't need to sell a single book to a single reader to stay in business.

No matter how much praise they send your way, that's the bottom line. Writing is a calling, but publishing is a business. Those authors who can't distinguish between the two are what keep the opportunists in business. (I was such an author for most of my life.)

Some POD places are no more than thinly veiled vanity (or subsidy) presses. They have a valuable role to serve, but let's be honest. Most do no editing, and they don't care. They may not be making a massive profit from your setup fees, but they're certainly making enough to stay in business. Even if you don't sell any books to anyone except your Gramma.

(A few new POD places help with marketing and charge no fees of any kind. I've been told http://www.bewrite.net is such a place, but have yet to visit it.)

Earlier, I recommended e-publishing before print publishing for the free editing you'll receive. If you're going with POD, consider it mandatory. Either that, or pay an editor. The author who can write a mistake-free manuscript does not exist.

Still interested in POD publishing? I've done it, by the way, and it worked out well. Here are the questions you should ask yourself when you select a POD publisher:

A) Sale price of each book
1) Who decides what it is?
2) Will readers pay that much for your book?

B) Profit per sale vs. your setup cost 1) How many copies must you sell to break even? 2) Can you do it?
3) If not, do you care? How big of a financial hit are you willing to take just to see your name in print?

As a rule, US$100 or less setup cost is good and US$1000 is very bad. The latter, no matter how much publicity they promise you, is only a thinly disguised vanity publisher. You will not sell enough books to recoup that $1000 unless you are a real marketing machine. Even then you shouldn't pay the $1000 up front. Pay $100 or less and then sell all those books. $1000 or more won't get you anything that $100 or less won't.

A comprehensive list of POD publishers, along with descriptions, can be found on-line at http://dehanna.com/database.htm

The site mentioned fails to mention Booksurge (http://www.booksurge.com), also known as Digitz (http://www.digitz.net), and Publish America (http://www.publishamerica.com). The first charges US$99 and the second is free.

Another that isn't mentioned is Digital Print Australia at http://www.digitalprintaustralia.com. I've used them before. My setup cost was AUD$35 (roughly US$18), which compares rather favorably to those listed.

Their price per copy is also excellent. The quality is at least as good as what you'll find in the bookstores. If you've ever bought a paperback from Writers Exchange E-Publishing, you've seen it already. If not, Digital Print will send you a free sample. They sent mine to China.

Two problems you may have with them, though, are shipping charges from Australia if that's not where your readers are located, and the fact that they don't offer a way to sell the books on their site.

For selling the books, I used the Book Store feature on Authors Den (http://www.authorsden.com) back when it was free. It offers a secure server. I know some authors who I trusted enough to send money to without a secure server. But I suspect that most of your prospective readers won't know you that well. In fact, they won't know you at all.

Another option is the shopping cart feature at PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/refer/pal=BH2CTDYDK8RPW), which I haven't researched. But take a look. You oughta have PayPal anyway, because it lets people send you money or vice versa through email, absolutely free. They'll give you $5 just for signing up.

If the POD place only prints "trade paperbacks," which are the larger ones, your cost per book (and sale price per book) will be higher than if you can print "mass-market paperbacks." The choice is yours, but whatever you decide, visit the local bookstores and price similar-sized books. If you write like Stephen King but charge twice as much per book, readers are going to buy the author they've heard of, and that's probably not you. Yet...

Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.

ISO 9001 - 2000 -- Implement Your Quality Management System With Minimum Headaches

2008-03-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

If you have been unlucky enough to have been saddled with the onerous task of achieving ISO 9001:2000 compliance for your company, this article may prove to be your big break. At the very least it will put you on a minimum fuss path to ISO 9001 certification. It may very well also rescue your career, because--as you already know--as a great deal is riding on your success.

ISO, of course, stands for the International Organization of Standardization, a worldwide organization responsible for the development of many different kinds of standards. ISO 9001:2000 is the most recent version of their Quality Management System Standard. It consists of a collection of documentation that describes how a company should implement their quality management system.

To achieve certification, a company must produce both a Quality Manual and a Quality Procedures Manual. This is no light undertaking. These manuals must be audited by a registrar for compliancy, and renewed at the end of each 3 year period. The larger and more complex your company, the more difficult the process will be.

So why would a company chose to conform to an ISO 9001 profile? Rarely is it because it seems like a good idea. Many companies are filled with bright people who can develop their own quality management system. The primary motivating force is market pressure. Your quality management system may well be up to scratch, but who is to say?

A potential customer surveying the marketplace, and presented with two or more competing companies he might choose to do business with, needs to feel good about his final choice. If the decision comes down to who has the best quality management system in place, common sense suggests he go with the company that has gone through the ISO 9001 certification process.

In the long run, an organization that implements an ISO 9001 system is likely to discover the company runs better, with improved performance and higher profitability. But for a company just getting started, such considerations are often seen as "ideals" that get short shrift as managers race to make the company profitable in the shortest amount of time. It therefore takes commitment and foresight, as well as an acute understanding of market vision in order to get to the ISO 9001 finish line.

If your company already has a decent quality management system in place, your main task will be to redesign the system so that it addresses all the sticking points of the ISO 9001 documentation. If your company is large, this may prove to be some not insignificant undertaking.

You might be tempted to hire ISO 9001 consultants. This will be expensive, and may not in fact lead to the desired result, which is a streamlined version of the Quality Manual and Quality Procedures Manual that you must submit for certification.

The reason for this is that consultants never fully appreciate the scope and depth of your company, and cannot be expected to share the urgency of your plight to get it right the first time. For this reason, choosing the right in-house person to head the job may be the best option for your company. Perhaps, even, that person is you. If so, you definitely have your work cut out for you, particularly if you work for a company of any real size.

The benefit, and it is a big one, of having been tasked with preparation for ISO 9001 certification is that your personal value to the company is going to be cemented--no, it will be cast in iron--by a successful conclusion to certification.

The trick then, is to find a way to achieve the desired result WITHOUT saddling yourself with all the headaches this job can provide. If you have already peeked at the ISO 9001:2000 documentation you can be forgiven for thinking that you may have bit off more than you can chew. Going from zero to sixty on this task can seem like a formidable proposition.

But it need not. If it seems like you are destined to begin dreaming that you personally will be taking the ISO 9001 certification test, night after restless night, instead of your quality management system, take heart. Because there is a way to get a jump start on the process, and avoid so much of the hassle that you have taken on.

To find out how to leverage the ISO 9001 proficiency of an already successfully certified company, and dramatically cut your expected ISO 9001 development costs by slashing the time it takes to achieve certification, get across to my Squidoo lens on Isom's Quality Handbook For ISO 9001 Certification. This may prove to be the best decision you have made this year!

ISO 9001: The Three Components of the Implementation Process

2008-03-01T01:15:00.000-08:00

The three components to implementing an ISO 9001 quality management system are: 1) documentation, 2) information management, and 3) operational changes.

Documentation

On the surface it may seem like developing the ISO 9001 documentation shouldn?t be that difficult. You must have a manual that includes a policy, objectives, scope, and the interaction of the processes; and you must have written instructions for:

Managing the quality system documents
Managing the quality system records
Conducting internal audits
Controlling nonconforming product
Implementing corrective action
Implementing preventive action

The standard also hints at the need for additional instructions, e.g., referring to the work instructions, section 7.1 states ?shall determine the following, as appropriate,? but technically, aside from the manual and these six instructions, anything more is optional.

The reality, however, is that in order to get the most out of a quality management system a significant amount of additional documentation is required. A primary function of the system is to establish consistency and eliminate misunderstandings, which is best facilitated with clear and unambiguous written instructions. Policies, which are a pervasive part of any system, have absolutely no value if they're not in writing, and enforcing accountability is extremely difficult if the responsibilities are not spelled out.

The ISO 9001 system documentation is normally organized into four sections, including:

The Manual, which provides background information and explains how the system works;
The Administrative Procedures, which include the procedures and policies that define how the company complies with the requirements of the standard and how it manages the processes that are unique to its operation;
The Operating Instructions, which are the detailed instructions used to control manufacturing and service activities; and
The Reference Documentation, which are documents like industry standards, equipment maintenance manuals, corporate auditing guidelines, employee policies, etc. that define practices, procedures, or performance criteria not covered by the other documents. These can either be externally or internally generated.

No two organizations have the same goals and objectives or do things exactly the same way, which means there are always some differences between the procedures and policies of different organizations. It also means that completely documented ?off-the-shelf? systems don?t exist and some document development is inevitable. The challenge is to minimize the effort without sacrificing value.

The Manual ? The administrative procedures are usually the more difficult and time-consuming of the four sections to develop. The manual, on the other hand, is relatively straightforward and probably the easiest part to develop. The standard suggests what should be included, and an example of a ?well written? manual can provide the format for organizing the material. Most of the work is in converting the ideas of the example into documents that describe your situation. Goals and objectives have to be established, processes defined, responsibilities established, the interaction of the processes explained, and the system parameters established.

Administrative Procedures ? The secret to developing administrative procedures is 1) using a format that creates readable documents, 2) finding examples of procedures that offer solutions that apply to your needs, and 3) organizing the documentation based a process list.

The ?process approach? is the system structure recommended by the authors of the standard and the process list is the starting point of the process approach.

Think of processes as objectives, i.e., maximizing employee output, making sure new products comply with customer requirements, or making sure working conditions adequately support the production objectives. A set of procedures that constitute a means for meeting an objective is what the standard refers to as an ?activity group?. Employee vetting, performance reviews, and training procedures is an examples of an activity group that maximizes employee output. The objectives are the outputs of the ?process approach? and the procedures (the activity groups) the inputs. Example:

Input = Policies and procedures for making sure employees are motivated, informed, and capable of performing the assigned responsibilities

Output = Maximum employee output

The process list is simply a list of those objectives that best represent the needs of your organization. They can be different for every organization and are rarely in sync with the outline of the standard.

The format used for developing the procedures, to a large extent, determines whether employees will embrace the system. It can be the difference between documents that are easy to read and ones that are not. The better formats include a clear propose, policies that are relevant to the purpose, and an explanation why things are done the way they are done. A good format also leaves no doubt as to who is accountable for the actions of the procedures.

Examples of procedures from other systems provide ideas on how to develop new procedures and how to improve existing procedures. The same examples can also provide formatting ideas. Don?t fall into the trap of thinking that there must be a procedure of every requirement of the standard, or that the documentation has to follow the outline of the standard. The authors of the standard have made it clear that this is not the case. You are encouraged to use a process approach, which is inherently unique to your operation, and to include processes that are important to you but may not included in the standard.

While individual examples can be helpful, continuous system templates that lock into the outline of the standard tend to complicate the implementation process. They depersonalize the system, limit the system to the scope of the standard, and make the process of writing procedures more difficult. Also, don?t go overboard on process mapping and flowcharting. Procedures should be clear to everybody, not just the primary users. A fundamental covenant of the system is continual improvement and some of best improvement ideas come from employees with unrelated responsibilities.

Operating Procedures ? The trick to developing operating procedures is in understanding the balance between training and documentation requirements, and in knowing how much information is needed. Too many companies develop too much unnecessary detail.

The standard requires employers to provide employees with the information needed to correctly perform their assigned responsibilities. Proof is either documentation showing that they have been provided the necessary instructions, or training records, which also verifies that they have been provided the necessary instructions. The value of written operating instructions is that they make it easier to hold employees accountable for their actions. From this standpoint, it is only necessary to document those aspects of an operation that are subject to misinterpretation or misunderstanding, which normally doesn?t require a great deal of detail.

Information Management

Managing information is a big part of the standard. The standard states that records shall be maintained in the case of management review meeting minutes (5.6.1); education, training, skills and experience (6.2.2); product validation and verification (7.1.d); inputs for product design and development (7.3.2); and calibration records (7.6). In addition, the standard also requires ?evidence of conformity?, which is either physical evidence or documented records, and in many cases records are preferable and sometimes the only alternative.

Records provide a means of confirming that the quality system is controlled, customer requirements are understood, audits are conducted, customers are heard, problems are found and corrected, non-conforming goods are managed, purchasing information is correct, products are traceable, and incoming goods are inspected.

The method of managing information is generally some combination of 1) a file management program, 2) database files such as Microsoft Access, or 3) hard copy files, i.e., binders, file cabinets and manila folders, all of which have advantages and disadvantages.

File Management Programs ? File management programs are typically tamper-proof and capable of handling a large volume of information. They?re designed to be paperless systems. Assignments, authorization levels, and additions and revisions to records are keyed into the program, which, under certain conditions, trigger action commands that are communicated via email. There are a few programs tailored to manage primarily ISO 9000 records, but most are universal in nature and designed to manage all types of records. The user is normally responsible for developing the forms and reports needed to manage specific types of records.

The programs are expensive; they come with annual and sometimes monthly maintenance fees; and there are usually costs associated with installation, the number of users, data migration, and training. Many have their own programming language, which makes the user dependent on people with that language skill. And some are web based, which means the program is running on someone else?s server. Generally, they are best suited for companies with a lot of people dealing with a large volume of information.

Database Files ? Database files are less expensive, more flexible, and easier to manage. You can either develop your own files or purchase files that have been programmed to deal with specific types of records.

The majority use Microsoft Access and run on a Microsoft Windows operating system. The cost is the cost of the files plus the cost of the Microsoft programs. (The 9000 Advisers offer individual Access files for all the ISO 9001 record keeping requirements.) The files are placed on a server and secured by whatever means is used to secure the server files. Changes and enhancements can be made by anyone who understands Microsoft Access. In most cases there are no user fees or reoccurring maintenance fees, and existing database files can be transferred into the files with the migration functions of the Access program.

Hard Copy Records ? Almost everyone ends up with some hard copy records: documents that can?t be scanned, documents with signatures, and documents that are available to all employees. However, building a record keeping policy completely around this approach is risky, even for small companies. It is too easy to misplace documents that move from one person to the next; and it is difficult to manage information that is located in various files, in different offices, and assigned to different people. Responsibilities change and individuals tend to change the way information is gathered and filed. Manual record keeping frequently results in unnecessary duplication, e.g., sales using a different customer list than the person keeping track of the customer complaints. It is also difficult to gather, analyze, and disseminate information. File cabinets are not as accessible as computers and don?t have the sorting, reporting, linking and analytical capabilities of database files.

Operational Changes

The final component of the implementation process is the operational changes, which are the changes needed in order to meet the procedural requirements of a system. They include both the things that are done in order to ensure that the products and services comply with the requirements specified by the customer, as well as the measure taken to in order to improve products and services and the processes used to produce the products and services.

Some of the more common ones include:

Administration ? 1) Conduct at least one management review meeting. 2) Communicate system developments to all employees. 3) Demonstrate that the key performance indicators are measured, evaluated, and communicated.
ISO Representative ? 1) Make sure that the auditors are adequately trained. 2) Develop an audit schedule and conduct audits on all of the system procedures. 3) Demonstrate that the corrective and preventive action processes are working. 4) Make system procedures and forms available to employees.
Human Resources ?1) Verify that all employees have a basic understanding of the ISO 9000 system. 2) Prove that all employees are capable of performing their respective work assignments, including the top-level executives. 2) Establish a training program for developing employee skills.
Purchasing ? 1) Demonstrate that all of the primary vendors are qualified and that their performance is routinely evaluated. 2) Prove that material specifications are verified before they are released to vendors.
Sales/Customer Service ? 1) Demonstrate that customer feedback is gathered and analyzed, including records of complaints. 2) Prove that processing capabilities are reviewed before orders for new products are confirmed.
Engineering ? 1) Demonstrate that the information released to production is current, accurate, and complies with customer requirements. 2) Demonstrate that product changes affecting form, fit, or function are not implemented without customer approval.
Production ? 1) Establish a calibration program that complies with the requirements of the standard. 2) Demonstrate that machinery capabilities have been validated. 3) Prove that nonconforming materials are not mixed in with satisfactory materials. 4) Prove that that shipments comply with the customer requirements. 5) Prove that incoming materials comply with purchase specifications. 6) Prove that operators are provided with the information required to produce products that conform to customer requirements. 7) Demonstrate how materials with shelf life are managed.

System documentation and information management are the paperwork part of the system. The operational changes are the action part and represent the part of the implementation process that makes the system work.

John is founder and president of http://9000advisers.com/ : a consulting firm specializing in implementing ISO quality management systems. He has over thirty years of manufacturing management experience in the metalworking industry and another six years of consulting experience implementing quality and costing systems. He has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering and an MBA.

What You Should Know Before Implementing an ISO 9001 Quality Management System

2008-02-28T22:53:00.000-08:00

Successfully implementing an ISO 9001 Quality Management System depends on developing a clear understanding of seven aspects of the program, including:

1. The purpose of a quality management system

The principles of quality management are:

Quality is achieved through conformance to defined specifications in terms of performance, price, and delivery and is not just limited to how a product or service looks or performs.

Customer satisfaction is achieved by understanding the customer requirements and using methods to ensure that these requirements are consistently met.

Controlling and improving processes are achieved through the use of documented policies, procedures, and continual improvement activities.

The ISO 9001 Quality Management System is a business system designed to make it easier for companies to comply with these principles.

The system establishes both the rules for identifying the customer requirements and the policies and procedures for providing organizations with the means for delivering products and services that comply with these requirements. It also creates a means for ensuring consistency, stability, and the continual improvement of the processes used in running a business. It's based on documentation and demands effective information management, operational discipline, and accountability.

The ISO 9001 Quality Management System was developed and is managed by an internationally recognized organization. The system was originally implemented in 1987, subsequently revised in 2000, and is currently used in over 130 different countries by over 350,000 companies.

2. The benefits of a system

An ISO9001 Quality Management System has the potential of providing several significant benefits, including:

Improved Profitability ? Profit improvement results from more productive employees, better organization, better suppliers, better infrastructure, and systematic continual improvement programs.

Employees are more productive because the system establishes standards for hiring and training, requires employee involvement, and demands accountability.

Documented procedures create better organization, which promotes consistency and reduces the number of mistakes.

Qualification criteria, auditing procedures, and the use of performance measurements improves supplier performance.

Controls and policies placed on the management of the infrastructure including the buildings, machinery, tooling, software and hardware, and the general working conditions result in more reliable and better working conditions.

Corrective and preventive action programs and other continual improvement processes provide a mechanism for preventing problems from reoccurring, finding and fixing problems before they occur, and developing new and better ways of doing things.

If effectively implemented a quality management system can eliminate duplication and process variability, lower cycle times and inventories, and reduce both in-house and field failures.

Improved Customer Satisfaction ? Customers benefit because:

Policies and procedures for managing process information, measuring instruments, and the verification and validation requirements result in better products.

Procedural changes and improvements in supplier performance result in better deliveries.

Changes in the way customer communication and product development are managed result in better customer relations.

Increased Sales ? ISO 9001 certification is an internationally recognized accomplishment. It?s a bragging right but more importantly it?s a promotional opportunity. It opens doors to prospects that treat certification as a tipping point or a supplier requirement, and it's a means of letting your customers know that you comply with a set of internationally recognized management standards.

Improved Job Satisfaction ? Job satisfaction improves because:

The system includes change processes that provide all employees with an opportunity to make a difference in how a company is managed.

There's comfort in knowing what you're responsible for doing, and

There?s security in knowing that the system creates a more competitive position.

The instructions bridge interrelated responsibilities, which eliminates confusion and reduces conflict.

The key word to remember is ?potential.? The benefits don?t come automatically and won't happen without a genuine commitment starting at the top, a system that is well composed and managed, and a long-term commitment.

3. The components of the implementation process

The three components of the implementation process are: 1) documentation, 2) information management, and 3) operational changes.

Documentation ? On the surface it may seem that developing the ISO 9000 documentation shouldn?t be that difficult. You must have a manual that includes a policy, objectives, scope, and the interaction of the processes; and you must have written instructions for:

1. Managing the quality system documents
2. Managing the quality system records
3. Conducting internal audits
4. Controlling nonconforming product
5. Implementing corrective action
6. Implementing preventive action

The standard also hints at the need for additional instructions, e. g. referring to the work instructions, section 7.1 states ?shall determine the following, as appropriate,? but technically, aside from the manual and these six instructions, anything more is optional.

The reality, however, is that in order to get the most out of a quality management system a great deal of additional documentation is required. A primary function of the system is to establish consistency and eliminate misunderstandings, which is best facilitated with clear and unambiguous written instructions. Policies, which are a pervasive part of any system, have absolutely no value if they're not in writing, and enforcing accountability is extremely difficult if the responsibilities are not spelled out.

Information Management ? Extensive information management is another integral part of the implementation process. Just keeping track of all of the records associated with the quality system is in itself a daunting challenge. Then there are training records, records of all of the customer complaints, warranty claims, and past due shipments. There's also sales and purchasing records, traceability documentation, product development records, verification and validation records, incoming inspection records, and internal and external non-conformance records.

All of this involves gathering, managing, and analyzing information, which is an unavoidable requirement of the ISO 9001 standard.

Operational Changes ? The final component of the implementation process is the operational changes, which are the changes needed in order to meet the procedural requirements of your system. These include such things as training, instrument calibration, housekeeping, product traceability, product preservation, managing nonconforming materials, auditing, and the implementation of the corrective and preventive action activities. It's not good enough to say what you're going to do, you actually have to do it.

4. The system content

An ISO 9001 quality management system is not limited to just the processes and procedures required by the ISO 9001 Standard.

Section 0.3 in the Introduction of the International Standard states: ISO 9004 is recommended as a guide for organizations whose top management wish to move beyond the requirements of ISO 9001, in pursuit of continual improvement of performance.

Section 0.4 states:
This International Standard does not include guidance specific to other management systems, such as those particular to environmental management, occupational health and safety management, financial management, or risk management. However, this International Standard enables an organization to align or integrate its own quality management system(s) in order to establish a quality management system that follows the guidelines of this International Standard.

The implications are: 1) you?re encouraged to use the ideas in the 9004 standard and therefore not limited to building your quality management system exclusively around the requirements in the ISO 9001 standard, and 2) you?re free to combine processes and instructions from other systems.

What makes this significant is the fact that the ISO 9001 requirements are far from inclusive. There's nothing, for instance, in the standard to address inventory control, yet this is a major concern for most companies and a logical addition to a quality management system. The same can be said for product costing. It?s difficult to develop the cost of quality if you?re not costing your products. Nor is there anything in the standard to regulate environmental, safety, business planning, or financial concerns, all of which have a significant impact on the way most people run their business.

The objective is to create a system that effectively manages the important activities of your business, which means that if something is not included in the standard but nevertheless important to your operation, not only can it be included it should be included.

5. The system structure

The authors of the standard have also made it clear that the outline of the standard is not meant as an outline for the quality system documentation.

Section 0.1 of the Introduction states:
It is not the intent of this International Standard to imply uniformity in the structure of quality management systems or uniformity of documentation.

It is also noted that every system is:
[i]nfluenced by varying needs, particular objectives, the products provided, the processes employed, and the size and structure of the organization.

The message is that you're responsible for structuring your own system. There is no process list and no procedure list anywhere to be found in the standard, and nowhere in the standard is it suggested that you should use the outline of the standard as a basis for identifying your processes or developing your procedures.

To the contrary, a persuasive argument can be made that to do so is a mistake. It limits the scope of the system because it removes the need for thinking about the processes that are unique to your operation, and it bogs down the implementation process because it causes you to design procedures around requirements rather than developing procedures to meet your needs, which can be like pushing a square peg into a round hole.

6. The ?process approach?

While the ?process approach? is one of the eight quality management principles listed in section 4.3 of the ISO 9004 standards, and the use of the ?process approach? is recommended as a means for structuring your ISO 9001 system (refer to section 0.2 of the standard), neither standard provides a clear explanation of what a process approach is.

The ISO 9004 standard defines the process approach principle as:
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process.

The ISO 9001 standard defines a process as:
An activity using resources, and managed in order to enable the transformation of inputs into outputs.

Our way of interpreting the meaning of a ?process? is to group related activities based on defining inputs and outputs. For example, the inputs and outputs of the human resource process may be defined as:

Input = Rules for making sure employees are informed and capable of performing the assigned responsibilities

Output = Capable, competent, trusted, and motivated employees

A process that defines the management of the infrastructure of an organization may be described by:

Input = Rules and policies for managing the tangible assets used to support the business

Output =Fewer disruptions, a better working environment resulting in fewer mistakes, better efficiency, better throughput, and more satisfied customers

Policies and procedures that affect such things as hiring, training, and performance management would be part of the human resource process. Housekeeping, machinery maintenance, network maintenance, and the maintenance of measuring devices would be part of the infrastructure process.

The authors of the 9001 standard explain the ?process approach? as: The application of a system of processes within an organization, together with the identification and interactions of these processes, and their management.

Our way of interpreting the meaning of ?process approach? is to think in terms of a common objective for a set of different processes. An objective might be the continual improvement of the management system, which is what is used in the illustration shown in the standard; or an objective might be the growth and profitability of the organization, which is what we use in our 9000 Advisers system model. It?s the objective that binds the processes together and determines how the processes interact. It is also an explanation that fits the model illustrated in the ISO 9001 Standard.

Structuring systems based on this interpretation of the ?process approach? result in systems that are more personal, flexible, and easier to develop. You?re not handcuffed by the outline of the ISO

Standard, and you're not limited by the requirements of the standard. You establish processes that represent the particular needs of your operation and develop the policies and procedures that bring about the desired output of these processes. Then you make sure these policies and procedures accommodate all of the requirements of the ISO 9001 Standard.

7. The basic compliance requirements

Under certain circumstances it is possible to request an ?exclusion? if for some reason you find it impossible to comply with certain requirements within the standard. The requirement must be part of clause 7 of the standard, you must provide an explanation and the justification for the request in the Quality System Manual, and your alternative solution must not affect the ability ?to provide product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements.? (Refer to sections 1.2 and 4.2.2 of the standard.)

Procedures that are added to your system as a result of ideas taken from the ISO 9004 Standard, or from other systems, or simply because they are an important part of the way you run your business are not subject to the compliance audit for ISO 9001 certification. Only the requirements specified in the ISO 9001 standard are audited, but unless you have been granted an exclusion you must comply with all of these requirements.

Mr. John Orthaber, BS Metallurgical Engineering, MBA

For the last ten years John has worked as independent consultant specializing in quality systems and product costing. He owns Success Resources and the subsidiary The 9000 Advisers, which specializes in assisting companies implement ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems.

Implementing ISO 9000

2008-02-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

You may be in a position where your customers are demanding you implement an ISO 9000 quality system or you would like to do it for the benefits it can provide your organization. You may not have the resources to hire a consultant to help you. Can you achieve this task on your own, without the help of a consultant? Yes. You do not need a consultant to implement an ISO 9000 quality management system. You can do it with the resources you have.

Will a consultant provide you a better quality system than you can implement yourself? No. I say that not as a disrespect to consultants but because quality systems are ever evolving and developing. It's not where you start that is important it's where you end up in a year or two down the road. A consultant can expedite the process and save you a great deal of time. What takes you a day to do and figure out, a consultant can do in an hour or two. Based on this, why would anybody hire a consultant? The same reason some people hire someone to mow their yard and do their landscaping, that time is more valuable to be spent somewhere else.

You may be a position where ISO 9000 implementation is required but the necessary resources are not available to hire a consultant, what do you do? The first thing is to gain information. You need to become educated in the ISO 9000 standards and what they mean and their intent. Whether you hire a consultant or are choosing to implement a quality system on your own you need to purchase the following list of standards:

ISO 9000:2005 Quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary

ISO 9001:2000 Quality management systems - Requirements

ISO 9004:2000 Quality management systems - Guidelines for performance improvements

ISO 19011:2002 Guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems auditing

ISO 10014:2006 Quality management - Guidelines for realizing financial and economic benefits

You can obtain these standards from the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The most important piece of advice I can give you, once you have purchased these standards, READ THEM. Find yourself a quiet place and read them. Read them several times. The reading is dull and the wording is somewhat confusing, it's alright, read them. These are international standards, not a John Grisham novel. You are not going to be riveted to the reading and hardly waiting to get back to it. You may find yourself more confused after reading them, that is fine, keep reading. After a several readings, it will begin to make sense to you. You will gain a new understanding of what the standards are saying and begin to realize what needs to be done and how to do it.

At this point, you understand the standard and what needs to be done. If you ever question anything or are not quite sure, refer to the standard. Go back and read it again. The first thing you need to do is provide an overview for your top management. If cost constraints prevent you from hiring someone to train top management, then provide the training yourself. Chances are, your top management knows significantly less about ISO 9000 than you do. That makes you an expert and should you travel greater than 50 miles, you can begin to charge consultant fees.

Your training to top management should answer the following questions, what is ISO?, what is it going to do for us? why are we implementing it? how much is this going to cost us and how long will it take? how are we going to do it? what role does top management have?

What is ISO? ISO 9000 is an internationally recognized quality management systems standard. It's premise is based on knowing customer requirements and continually enhancing customer satisfaction. This is achieved by developing key business processes, monitoring them with metrics against objectives to ensure effectiveness and putting forth effort to continually improve those processes.

What is it going to do for us? The adoption of an ISO 9000 quality system allows us to consistently provides products and services to our customers that meet there expectations and continually enhance their satisfaction. Why are we implementing ISO 9000? Chances are it's one of two reasons, one is your customers are requesting it or two you are interested in achieving the results in can provide. How much will it cost and how long will it take? If you complete it internally you can plan on it taking about a year (depending on your size and available resources) and it won't cost you anything other than what you are currently paying people. You should plan on spending about $1,100 - $1,300 dollars for one person to go to internal auditor training. That person can then train the rest of your designated internal auditors.

The registration audit will be $5,000 - $6,000 and the surveillance audits run $3,000 per year. Approximately, it amounts to a one time cost of $9,000 and annual cost of $3,000. How are we going to do it? We will perform a gap analysis to determine our deficiencies and develop an implementation team from that. We will track the progress of implementation. What role does top management have in ISO 9000? Top management has the biggest role. That group is responsible for the planning, development, maintenance and improvement of the system. Top management is expected to be actively involved in reviewing the designated process metric data and making decisions based on that data.

After you train top management, you must assess where you are now. There are most likely processes in place that are being done even without documentation. Write down all of your key business processes, accounting, purchasing, human resources, customer service, etc. After you get them written down, now you need to flowchart them out to document how they work. A simple downward flowing flowchart in one column with responsibility in another column and the last column has records.

Once you get them documented, now go through the standard and write down any process, clause or section of the standard that your current process does not address. These are the gaps in your system. They are the areas the standard states needs to be addressed that you are not. Once you have this, put it into a document where you can track the action against who is responsible and time line agreed to. Similar to this:

Action Responsible Date Develop internal audit process Joe F. 11-14-06 Train internal auditors Tom C 12-18-06

After you have transferred the actions needed into the above format, you have developed your implementation plan. Ensure this plan is reviewed and monitored by top management frequently. They must be kept in the loop. At some point of the implementation you will want to train the entire workforce on ISO 9000. Work out a schedule that is flexible. It does not have to be extremely detailed, but provide a good overview of what ISO 9000 is, why it is being implemented and how it will impact them. Good luck, you can do it.

Robert Badner is a freelance writer for Innovations for Quality, LLC. Innovations for Quality provides live, interactive, online training for ISO 9000 and ASQ Certification. You can visit their websites at http://www.asqcertification.org and http://iso9000training.org

History of ISO 9000

2008-02-27T00:38:00.000-08:00

ISO 9000 grew out of BS 5750, a standard published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in 1979. Initially, it was used only in manufacturing industries. ISO 9000 is now employed across a variety of other types of businesses. It is a set of international standards of quality management systems. ISO 9000 has been accepted by more than 100 countries as their national quality assurance standard by the end of 1997.

The history of ISO 9000 dates back to Mil-Q-9858a, the first quality standard for military procurement established in 1959 by the US. By 1962, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) developed its quality system requirements for suppliers. In 1965, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) accepted the AQAP (allied quality assurance procedures) specifications for the procurement of equipments.

During the 1970s, BSI published BS 9000 (the first UK standard for quality assurance) and BS 5179 (guidelines for quality assurance) norms. In 1979, it created BS 5750, a series of standards for use by manufacturing companies. They were enforced through assessments and audits. In 1988, ISO (International Standards Organization) adopted the BS 5750 standard without changes and published it globally under the name ISO 9000. The ISO adopted this standard with a view to create an international definition of the necessary characteristics of a quality system for all businesses, regardless of industry. In 1994, the ISO revised the ISO 9000 standard and published it globally.

In the beginning, ISO 9000 was implemented exclusively by large companies. But by mid-1990s, small and mid-sized companies began to increasingly implement these standards. In the United States, the total number of registrations increased from a little more than 2,200 in 1993 to more than 17,000 in 1998. Of these 17,000 registrations, almost 60 percent were held by businesses with annual sales of $100 million or less.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Assessments

2008-02-26T01:25:00.000-08:00

Establishing standards is critical to the success of every business. That is why numerous companies go for ISO 9000 certification, which is a series of globally identified standards and rules that define an effective quality system. ISO standards themselves do not perform assessments or audits to ensure that they are applied by companies in conformity with the requirements of the standards.

Many testing laboratories and certification bodies conduct independent assessment services to provide evidence that services, goods, or systems match to ISO standards. The assessment of a quality system against the ISO 9000 standard is variously referred to as certification and registration. The certification corroborates that the system is in conformity with all the standard requirements. Agencies that issue ISO 9000 certificates are called certification bodies or registration bodies or registrars.

The registrars evaluate and validate an organization's management (including quality, environmental, safety) system for conforming to the ISO standards. This verification, confirmation and the concluding validation are commonly known as ISO assessment auditing process. Generally, there are two types of assessment auditing - auditing by an external certification body and auditing by internal employees trained for this process. In the ISO 9000 context, the term accreditation refers to the work of national accreditation bodies. ANAB is a well-known accreditation body in the US, famous for its ethics and integrity.

All ISO 9000 series require measurements and assessments for customer satisfaction and management capabilities. Many private and government organizations carry out reasonably priced conformity assessment services. Most of these organizations have professionals who are experienced in working with very small organizations to multi nationals.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Elements

2008-02-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

ISO 9000 is a set of standards for quality management systems. Perhaps, it is the most popular generic international standard today. First published in 1987 and modified in 1994, it is the true basis for businesses to develop or improve their quality assurance systems. Today, most international businesses document their quality systems according to the ISO 9001 elements.

There are a total of 20 elements (sections) in the overall ISO 9000 standard. Each section explains what a company has to do in order to show that it is abiding by the ISO 9000 rules. Each of these elements should be clearly and completely documented.

The twenty ISO 9000 elements include management responsibility, quality management system (QMS), contract review, design control, document control, purchasing, purchaser supplied product, process control, inspection and testing, inspection, measuring and test equipment, inspection and test status, control of non-conforming product, corrective action, handling, storage, packaging and delivery, control of quality records, internal quality audits, training, servicing, and statistical techniques and product ID and traceability.

Management responsibility addresses the responsibility of an organization to set up a system that frequently meets consumer requirements and expectations, even in times of managerial change. Quality management system defines general requirements, along with documentation requirements such as quality manual, procedures, work instructions and records.

Design control requires that all phases in the designing of products or services must be managed and conducted by qualified employees. The ISO element document control requires that all documents and data used must be controlled and authorized.

The section of statistical techniques includes data analysis, sampling methods, and SPC (statistical process control). These processes should be based on established procedures and sound statistical techniques.

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ISO 9000 FAQs

2008-02-13T02:56:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is a set of standards internationally accepted by businesses and consumers. It allows organizations to establish and monitor quality management systems. ISO 9000 standards are considered to be generic standards since they can apply to any business, product or service irrespective of the industry. They have been developed and are maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

1. What is the ISO 9000 family?

The ISO 9000 family consists of three quality assurance and quality management standards, namely, ISO 9000: 2000, ISO 9001:2000, and ISO 9004:2000. The ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9004:2000 present guidelines for performance improvement, while the ISO 9001:2000 presents requirements. These standards are implemented by individual businesses, corporations, and government organizations.

2. What are the benefits of ISO 9000?

Major benefits include increased marketability, reduced operational expenses, better management control, improved internal communication, reduction of product-liability risks, and improved customer service.

3. What are the main phases involved in obtaining ISO 9000 certification?

There are two major phases - documentation and certification. Documentation process is done in-house or by the help of an ISO 9000 consultant. Most businesses seek the services of an experienced consultant to create the quality system. An agency accredited in this regard does the certification. The certification process includes documentation review and compliance audit. Documentation review is done with or without visits to the organization. Compliance audit is generally conducted on the site.

4. Is a consultant must for implementing ISO 9000?

The manuals of standards and certification are written in such a way that most of us can hardly understand what they are saying. Only an experienced consultant can help you understand and effectively administer new and existing quality systems.

5. How much does it cost to become ISO 9000 certified?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. The cost depends on a lot of factors such as complexity of operations, number of locations of plants, willingness of owners, and type of standards to be implemented.

6. How long does it take to attain ISO 9000 certification?

Depending upon the commitment of the owner and/or managers, the time taken could be 3 months to a whole year. ISO certification is granted initially for a period of three years.

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ISO 9000 History

2008-02-13T02:55:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is an important marketing tool and is recognized world wide. Maintained by the ISO (international standards organization), it is a family of ISO standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 grew out of British standards institution's BS 5750. The ISO 9000 series are managed by several accreditation and certification bodies. Though the standard was first applied to manufacturing industries, it is now employed across a variety of other types of businesses.

Studies show that the history of industrialization has seen lots of standards on quality issues. For instance, during the two world wars, a high percentage of bullets and bombs went off in the factories themselves in the course of manufacturing. In an effort to curb such causalities, UK?s ministry of defense appointed inspectors in the factories to supervise the production process.

In 1959, the United States introduced Mil-Q-9858a, the first quality standard for military procurement. By 1962, NASA developed its quality system requirements for suppliers. Six years later, NATO accepted the AQAP (allied quality assurance procedures) specifications for the procurement of equipments. In 1969, UK and Canada introduced suppliers? quality assurance standards.

During the 1970s, British standards institution (BSI) published BS 9000 (the first UK standard for quality assurance) and BS 5179 (guidelines for quality assurance) norms. During the period, the BSI held meetings with industry to set a common standard. Consequently, in 1979, the institution developed BS 5750, a series of standards for use by manufacturing companies. They were enforced through assessments and audits.

In 1987, the BSI revised the standard to take in service providers and manufacturing industries also. In 1988, ISO adopted the BS 5750 standard without changes and published it globally under the name, ISO 9000.

In 1994, ISO revised the standard. In December 2000, the standard was again reorganized. The new ISO 9000 standard has many resemblances to its predecessors.

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ISO 9000 Implementation

2008-02-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

Businesses face lots of challenges in the international market. Implementing an ISO 9000 initiative is an action-oriented program that refers to obtaining ISO 9000 registration and working with its standards. The ISO certification process starts with pre-assessment audits and passes through on-going maintenance. The process of implementing ISO 9000 includes identifying, collecting and organizing the information required for certification.

ISO 9000 is a generic standard. It can be applied to any organization that intends to set up a quality management system, whether the organization is small or large, for-profit or governmental, whatever the service or product. The certification is now implemented by thousands of companies around the world. Many countries have taken it as their national standard.

Application of ISO standards generally refers to the process of implementing the collective intent of ISO 9000 family. The family includes four standards on quality management and quality assurance, namely, ISO 9000: 2000 (presenting fundamentals and vocabulary), ISO 9001: 2000 (presenting quality requirements), ISO 9004: 2000 (providing guidelines for performance improvement), and ISO 19011 (which is the auditing quality and environmental management systems).

Implementing quality management and quality assurance, as well as using the principles and guidelines contained in this family help the organization ensure complete customer satisfaction. ISO 9000 implementation also helps organizations design and manage their processes effectively to attain corporate aims, choose the right things to perform based on an objective analysis of the environment, and create an environment in which people will be motivated.

Many ISO services offer ISO implementation assistance for organizations. Their service includes professional implementation or upgrading of the appropriate standard in the organization through consulting (i.e., planning, procedures developing, system audits, etc), training, continuous improvement support, and risk analysis programs. The training programs instruct project managers how to implement ISO 9000 in their organization. ISO 9000 self implementation manual kits are also available in the market.

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ISO 9000 Procedures

2008-02-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

The basic ISO 9000 procedures include document control procedure, records procedure, internal audit procedure, control of non-conformance procedure, corrective action procedure, and preventive action procedure. Documentation is a basis upon which an ISO-compliant quality system is constructed. An unauthorized change in any information makes problems. Your mandatory document control procedure must define how you approve documents, update and re-approve amended documents, prevent the inadvertent use of obsolete documents, and ensure that documents are available where they are needed.

A mandatory records procedure is needed to specify which records are kept, by whom, for how long and how they are disposed of. These records include the records of sales activities, internal audit results and follow-up actions, results of corrective action, records of design and development reviews and any related actions, records to demonstrate the validation of special processes, and records of the product nonconformities and any subsequent actions.

An internal audit procedure requires resources such as criteria, scope, program frequency, method, report results, and keep records. The non-conformance procedure has to address how you deal any problems.

In a corrective action procedure, you should see how you decide the cause of the problem, review non-conformance and customer complaints, and decide an appropriate course of action to stop the recurring problem. With preventive action procedure, you take steps that should see how you decide the potential cause of the problem, review potential problems, and decide an appropriate course of action to stop the problem occurring.

The process of achieving ISO 9000 certification can be intimidating because it requires several procedures to follow. The instructions regarding standards and certification are written in such a way that most of us can hardly recognize what they are saying. Luckily, there are several specialists available to assist in the process.

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ISO 9000 Production

2008-02-09T01:55:00.001-08:00

Many industries and governments depend on ISO 9000 production standards these days. ISO 9000 production standards guarantee that all products are of a consistently high quality.

Although the ISO production standards are still voluntary, lots of companies are using them as a standard when targeting foreign markets which require environmentally-safe products. The ISO 9000 production departments assure the quality of all equipment shipped.

ISO 9000 production standards basically have three requirements. First, the business should document the quality system and business process in detail. Second, the business should make sure that each employee understands and follows the guidelines stated by the documentation. Third, the documented quality system should be continuously monitored through internal and external audits, and updated when required.

ISO 9001 ensures quality assurance in design, production, installation and servicing for manufacturing businesses that design and make their own products. ISO 9002 is employed in contractual arrangements when specified needs are declared in terms of established design or specifications. ISO 9003 needs a dealer to demonstrate its capability to detect and control the disposition of any product nonconformity during final check and testing. ISO 9004 sets a standard for an organization's internal quality management.

ISO 9000 production standards consist of a total of 20 elements (sections) that explain what a company has to do in order to show that it is abiding by ISO 9000 rules. Each element should be clearly and completely documented.

Many company owners find that ISO 9000 production is an invaluable marketing tool to alleviate the problems of TQM (total quality management). But a very few also see it as an unnecessary bureaucratic boondoggle.

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ISO 9000 Quality Assurance

2008-02-08T00:12:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is a set of standards developed by the ISO (international organization for standardization) for quality assurance systems. It was first published in 1987 and the standards were modified in 1994. ISO 9000 serves as a true base for organizations to improve their quality assurance systems.

A quality assurance system involves the organizational structure, duties, procedures, processes, and materials for applying quality management. It is designed to help businesses assure their services and products, and please customer hopes by meeting their specifications. Quality assurance covers all activities of a product?s life cycle, including planning, controlling, measuring, testing and reporting, and improving quality levels.

ISO 9000 quality assurance models view an enterprise as a network of interconnected processes. For a quality system to be ISO-compliant, the processes should address areas known in the standard and should be documented and practiced as described. Documenting a process gives an organization the opportunity to understand, control, and improve its process network.

ISO quality assurance is a management activity that contains auditing and reporting actions. These two functions assist the manager to verify the efficiency of the quality system. ISO 9000 expresses quality assurance resources in general terms that can be used by any organization irrespective of the products or services provided. However, ISO 9000 does not explain how a business should apply these quality system elements.

Most companies first attempt to get certified to one of the quality assurance system models in the ISO 9000 series. For this, the company?s quality system and actions are audited by third party auditors for conformity to the standard and for effective operation. Upon successful certification, the company obtains a certificate from a certification body represented by the auditors.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Services

2008-02-06T23:00:00.000-08:00

Designing a quality management system that fulfills the requirements of ISO 9000 is not a difficult task. Many ISO 9000 services help businesses build up systems that obey the requirements of the ISO 9000 series of international standards.

ISO 9000 is a complete quality control system recognized and respected throughout the world. It applies to all types of businesses irrespective of their size and final outcome. ISO 9000 now includes three quality standards, namely, ISO 9000:2000, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9004:2000. The first one introduces requirements and other two present guidelines.

These services assist business organizations to attain ISO 9000 knowledge, implement the standard, and prepare for registration with the least time, in the most convenient way, and cost-effectively too. Both product and service oriented businesses seek the assistance of ISO 9000 services to improve their productivity and customer happiness through reduced waste and rework, shortened cycle times, superior supplier relations, and improved problem tracking. Most ISO 9000 services are customized to your organization?s particular needs.

Their auditor team of these ISO 9000 services consists of experienced professionals who are qualified to evaluate companies pursuing all variations of certification under the ISO 9000 standard. The audits done by such professionals provide public recognition that your business is dedicated to producing quality products or services, and giving prompt delivery.

With many years of experience, ISO 9000 services can prepare your organization to implement standards and avoid unforeseen casualties. They offer assistance through unique services, tools, and workshops and training events such as facilitator training, internal audit training, and documentation training.

Many ISO 9000 services also offer project planning with senior management, compliance reviews and gap analyses, quality manual/procedure review, writing and organizing procedures and other documentation, assistance with supplier development, and liaison with third-party assessors.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Training

2008-02-05T23:14:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 training is the process of training individuals for the purpose of attaining ISO certification. ISO 9000 is a set of standards implemented by organizations for quality management systems that control the fabrication of a product or service. Perhaps today?s most popular generic international standard, it guarantees first-rate quality at all stages of design, development, manufacturing and delivery.

ISO 9000 training enables an individual to understand various quality standards as well as how they are basically planned. That is, it provides a clears idea about the interrelationship of ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and ISO 9004. The training program is also good for understanding ISO requirements and various ISO clauses. Most ISO 9000 training courses also include introduction to the ISO 9000 quality management system (QMS), process documentation, implementing an efficient QMS, and process auditing.

Process documentation workshops help you learn how to document your management system. This includes detailed methods for developing, documenting and implementing your business and quality processes. These programs also help you gain practical experience.

Before receiving ISO 9000 certification, businesses conduct an audit of documents and methods. An auditor training course help you train your own auditors to conduct process audits. These courses explain how to carry out a process audit and how to audit documented and undocumented processes.

Stat-A-Matrix in New Jersey, Management Systems International in California, and ISO 9000 Network in Massachusetts are some of the leading companies offering ISO 9000 training and consulting. They provide on-site seminars and help organizations achieve ISO 9000 registration. Their training covers the most up-to-date information, process mapping, and project management. Their classes are developed and delivered by ISO 9000 experts.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Vicarious Liability

2008-02-05T00:51:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is an enormously successful international quality management system set by the international standards organization. Apart from helping in designing a quality assurance system, ISO 9000 also imposes many liabilities and responsibilities on the part of business organizations.

ISO certification can guard organizations against corporate vicarious liability. Vicarious liability refers to the legal responsibility (accountability) of an employer for the actions, crime or injury done by one of his employees in the course of discharging duties. Crimes that come under the purview of vicarious liability include fraud and theft, defamation, breach of confidence and data protection, and discrimination based on race and gender.

ISO 9000 vicarious liability processes help firms reduce risks. The extent of liability depends upon the relation between the nature of the employment and the crime that has been committed. When the two are connected closely enough, the employer can be held liable.

Common forms of vicarious liabilities include employers' vicarious liability, principals' vicarious liability, and the liability of corporations in tort. Consider, for example, principals? liability. In this case, the owner of a car is vicariously liable for the rash and negligent driving of the driver. The owner is the principal and the driver is his employee. Laws have been reluctant to extend this liability to the owners of some other kinds of chattel. For instance, the owner of an airplane is not vicariously liable for a pilot?s misdeeds.

A business can operate only through the actions and deeds of its employees and agents. Therefore, it is important to decide to what extend vicarious liability will apply to hold a business liable for the frauds of its directors or other officers. ISO 9000 certification provides a clear description of such situations.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

What is ISO 9000

2008-02-04T00:45:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is a set of international standards that ensure product and service quality. In 1987, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created the ISO 9000 standards providing guidelines to implement and operate quality management systems.

The ISO revised the standards in 1994, and again reorganized the standards and published an updated version in December 2000. The revised version includes three quality standards, namely, ISO 9000:2000, ISO 9001:2000, and ISO 9004:2000. The first one presents requirements, while the last two present guidelines.

ISO 9000 standards help businesses create in-house quality systems and monitor their existing quality systems. To develop quality systems, businesses should first identify areas in which quality control is required. Next step is to recognize what changes are to be made. After that, they should implement the standards by updating and managing their new quality processes.

ISO 9000 certification provides several benefits that can influence almost all activities of a company. The advantages range from increased stature to bottom-line operational saving. Of the numerous benefits include increased marketability, reduced operational expenses, better management control, improved internal communication, reduction of product-liability risks, and improved customer service.

For quality management, ISO 9000 standards require a total of twenty elements (sections.) They include management responsibility, quality management system, order entry, design control, document and data control, purchasing, control of customer supplied products, product identification and tractability, and process control.

ISO 9000 standards are generic as they can apply to any business, service or product, regardless of the industry. Businesses that employ these standards include manufacturing, processing, servicing, printing, forestry, electronics, steel, computing, legal services, financial services, accounting, trucking, and banking.

ISO 9000 is of great importance owing to its worldwide orientation. It has become the logical selection of all organizations that do business internationally, and for customers who want an international standard of quality. At present, national standards bodies from more than 120 nations support ISO 9000 quality standards.

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ISO 9001: A Brief Explanation on ISO 9001 Quality Procedure

2008-02-01T23:24:00.001-08:00

When our company intend to implement Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2000), we should prepare quality management system documentation that includes documented statement of quality policy and quality objectives, a quality manual, quality procedures and workplace references or work instructions to ensure the effective planning, operation, and control of company processes.

In regard with quality procedure, it should be established, documented, implemented and maintained. The documented ISO 9001:2000 procedure may be different from one company to another because of the size of company and type of activities, the complexity of processes and their interactions and the competence of their personnel.

In practice, format of ISO 9001:2000 quality procedures may also differ from one company to another. For a company that is trying to make their own ISO 9001: 2000 quality procedures for the first time, using ISO 9001:2000 procedure examples can be very helpful. It does not mean duplicating the ISO 9001:2000 procedure example for the company own use.

An ISO 9001:2000 quality procedure may consist of cover sheet, flow diagram, and procedure in detail. The cover sheet contains Company name, title of ISO 9001:2000 procedure, sheet number, document number and revision record (revision number, description of revision, date of revision and signature of the person in charge.

The flow diagram explains step by step from the beginning how the ISO 9001:2000 procedure flows. And the procedure its self should at least have an objective, scope, general explanation, definitions used in the procedure, content of the procedure, records used, related documents and important attachments. The contents of ISO 9001:2000 procedure is a text description of the work flow or instructions based on its flow diagram. The description is started with the persons in charge and followed by explanation of their tasks or jobs as specified in the flow diagram.

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ISO9000 & Beyond

2008-01-31T00:59:00.000-08:00

To be successful, organisations must prove themselves to be indispensable to their customers, be attuned to their employees' needs, be willing to partner with their suppliers, and be considerate of the social, environmental, and safety outcomes of their performance. These rather new and expanded objectives of business operations, are the main pillars of business excellence.

Samson and Challis (2002) studied leading international organisations in an effort to determine why some were more successful than others in their pursuit of excellence. They identified a total of 14 principles that served as catalysts for business excellence. The extent to which each organisation embodied these principles appeared to be directly related to the speed of its journey towards excellence.

Furthermore, the EFQM Excellence Model, which is used to adjudicate the European Quality Award, and the most frequently discussed model in quality literature (van der Wiele et aI., 1995, 2001), uses self-assessment as a tool to identify organisational strengths, as well as areas in which there exists room for improvement. Its outcome is a structured plan for amelioration, which is subsequently monitored for progress. In addition to this self-assessment component, the EFQM assists organisations with their continuous improvement initiatives by facilitating gauging of progress against measures of total quality management, identification of improvement opportunities benchmarking and organisational learning (McAdam and Kelly, 2002).

Truly effective use of the excellence models for continuous improvement requires the input of management and employees. For maximum benefit, it must be effectively marketed by top management and internalised by the staff of the organisation (van der Wiele et aI., 2000). Also, to be optimally effective, quality improvements should be prioritised and should focus on the results category of a business excellence model such as the EFQM Excellence Model (EFQM, 1999; Seghezzi, 2001), the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA, 2002), or the Canadian Framework for Business Excellence (CFBE, 2002).

Quality management The family of ISO 9000 standards can be regarded as the foundation on which organisations can build their excellence programs. The success of a quality management program that builds upon the foundation of the ISO 9000 system has been said to relate to the original motivation for registration (van der Wiele et aI., 2001). The message is that the added value that an organisation derives from the ISO 9000 standards should be a result of that organisation's motives for, and approach to, implementation (Cobb, 2003; Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002; Singels et aI., 2001). Issues such as organisation, internal and external communications, employee awareness of quality, product conformance and customer satisfaction are all addressed within the ISO 9000 system, simplifying management commitment to quality. This can be a driving force to go beyond and achieve business excellence. However, if not done properly, it is also possible that implementation of ISO 9000 may lead to excessive emphasis on the documented procedures and less emphasis on achieving business objectives (Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002).

The importance and relevance of quality cannot be overstated. In recent decades, public, private, and third-sector organisations have been awakened to the necessity of creating and ensuring quality in every aspect of their operations. Far beyond "permitting things to run smoothly", an emphasis on quality in management systems is now considered essential to an organisation's prosperity. Globalisation and an enhanced concept of corporate liability are two important societal trends contributing to this emphasis on quality. There are numerous reports in the literature that describe quality management practices and the benefits that emanate from implementation of an ISO 9000 system. Many of these are case studies or reports of the benefits and drawbacks of such systems. The emphasis is on continuous improvement which is beyond simple conformance to the ISO 9000 standards.

The Balanced Scorecard The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is an instrument which translates the mission and strategy of an organisation into a broad collection of action metrics and indicators, and which subsequently provides the structure necessary to serve as control and strategic measurement system (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). The BSC is applicable to any type of organisation, albeit with modifications. For example, a BSC for non-profit organisations must be modified to include a mission perspective and any other additional perspectives which provide specific information on social demographic factors regarding the organisation's environment. Viewed as a performance measurement system (PMS), the BSC is not a new tool as PMSs have existed for a long time in all organisations and in most cultures, in one form or another. Hence the novelty of the BSC does not reside in its existence but rather in the attempt to achieve standardisation via conventions and universal rules (Urrutia de Hoyos, 2001).

The BSC's most standardised antecedent is the "tableau de bord" (Mallo and Merlo, 1995), a tool utilised principally by French companies, and whose configuration and conceptual basis is very similar to the BSC. One explanation for the lack of standardisation of PMSs along the line of the tableau de bord and BSC is certainly the lack of publicised information regarding their existence due to its being an excessively strategic tool; due to their strategic nature, organisations are very reluctant to disclose their existence and utilisation.

Development of the BSC The development of the BSC has gone through three distinct phases.

The First phase Initially the BSC was intended as a measurement tool, with an operational and tactical focus. It was a collection of indicators arranged by perspectives or key areas, which permitted the identification of the determinants of the performance of a business. The original objective was to overcome the limitations of using only financial indicators. These last only provided information about actual, past performance, and failed to provide information on the drivers of future performance (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). The four BSC perspectives - financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth - were selected on the basis of the results of a study by David Norton and Harvard University (Kaplan and Norton, 1992).

The Second phase In the process of identifying indicators for each of the four perspectives, it was discovered that by developing strategy maps, not only could the appropriate indicators be identified, but also management could utilise the BSC for strategic planning. In the first phase, indicators were identified subsequent to the development and definition of the organisation's strategy, and had an operational and/or tactical focus. During this phase, it was discovered that it was not enough to simply identify indicators, it was also necessary that the indicators were extracted directly from the strategic plan. This so as to identify, and explicitly describe, the causal relationships with the organisation's strategy. In other words, the indicators were identified prior to the development and definition of the organisation's strategy, and as such playa key role in the development and definition of the strategy. The act of measurement has consequences that exceed simply providing information on past results. It also directs attention to the future, since the indicators selected by management are 'de facto' those which are important to management. Hence, with a clearly defined strategy, coherently communicated and aligned with change drivers, what was initially an information/measurement tool, and part of the management control function, was converted into a tool for strategic management (Kaplan and Norton, 2000) and a part of the strategy formation process.

The Third phase The BSC communicates the organisation's strategic plan via maps in which the cause-effect relationships between the different strategic objectives can be visualised. This permits management to utilise the BSC as a tool for change management leading to the achievement of Business Excellence.

Conclusion This article explored the broad issues related to business excellence and the application of ISo 9000 and the BSC as the first steps in achieving excellence. ISO 9000 and the BSC aim at assisting firms to develop systems and procedures which allow them to achieve business excellence by becoming more customer-oriented. The implementation of such systems requires on-going support from senior management; taking into consideration the role of internal reporting and operational control systems to monitor and proactively adapt to changing business needs.

Sandro Azzopardi is a professional author who writes articles on his web site and local newspapers. http://www.theinfopit.com/business/iso9000/iso9000andbeyond-1.php

An Brief Explanation on ISO 9001:2000 Quality Procedure

2008-01-29T01:42:00.001-08:00

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Six Sigma Vs ISO 9000

2008-01-28T01:18:00.001-08:00

The debate over whether or not to choose Six Sigma over ISO 9000 is getting more interesting with each passing day. In an attempt to determine which of these is the better of the two, it is highly pertinent to discuss that in the context of applicability of them to industries. And there exists a huge amount of difference between the approaches of these two methodologies in tackling the issues.

Six Sigma - A Critical View

Six Sigma utilizes a multi-faceted approach to doing business with total improvement of the end product being the goal. In doing so, Six Sigma defines and analyzes the processes critically almost always focusing on process improvements. The statistical tools used in Six Sigma help not just in the adoption of processes but are also critical tools of Six Sigma implementation.

Process Development Stages

Let us examine the above statement as applicable to a process for easier understanding. While working on process improvement, the Black Belts break up the original sequence of different events that comprise the entire process and each event is further subdivided internally. This enables the "belts" to take an entirely different view of the process via the entire process as a whole. The powerful statistical tools employed at this stage of evaluation make the picture clearer and help the "belts" to arrive at decisions about the value additions those made to the process by different events.

This principle obviously goes beyond standardizing the processes and setting the pathway for being vigilant about adherence to the Six Sigma methodology. Useless values which have lost meaning make way for more meaningful events and eventually more robust and comprehensive processes. In a Six Sigma environment, customer demands will assume a key role in driving the processes towards aligning all activities with the vision of the leader of the company. The approach is "how to" rather than "what to" deliver.

The ISO 9000 Approach

The ISO approach towards quality management concentrates on standardization of the activities of production. The eight quality principles of ISO 9000, along with its twenty-four requirements outline business processes. The emphasis here is on the control of events in each aspect of doing business by documenting evidence and reports. The eight principles of ISO 9000 include prioritizing customer data, purchasing and quality systems, among other critical aspects. ISO 9000 recognizes each process, whose end goals are the same, as an independent entity. Documented quality requirements typically decide, based on set rules, whether or not a particular process adhered to that standard.

Document and Process Control

Maintenance of quality is achieved by adhering to key process and document control. Operating procedures and process control documents restrict deviations outside the concepts of what you should be doing in every process. What-you-should-be-doing is given emphasis under standard conditions rather than dealing with process improvement.

Stalwarts in industry are examining the possibility of merging the best practices of the two. Several industry leaders have already acknowledged the benefits of using both methodologies to compliment each other. Another view is that, as Six Sigma implementation is what you do within your company (unlike the certification in ISO) the company does not get recognition for achieving successful Six Sigma implementation. However, as long as the culmination of a business activity is defined by both methodologies as retaining and improving the customer base along with maximizing the bottom line, rejection of one in favor of other will be hard to justify.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts

ISO 9001 Software

2008-01-25T00:26:00.001-08:00

ISO 9001 Software

Companies that need quality management systems realize that products like ISO 9001 software are important tools to insure their product safety, consistency and profitability. Using ISO 9001 software can help guarantee that any company can monitor productivity, customer satisfaction and product quality with reports that contain solid information. This information is now vital to management in order for maximum efficiency in any industry. This is why ISO 9001 software is vital to any sized company. Continuous improvement means continuous profitability. Here are just a few reasons why:

o Companies increase sales because of better performance, quality, and delivery. This propels you ahead of your competition.

o ISO 9001 software helps retain employees and attract more highly qualified employees because they are assured of a controlled and consistent work environment.

o The experience of a more professional workplace boosts employee morale.

o Reduced operating costs dramatically increase your company?s productivity, leading to higher profitability.

o Customer satisfaction and higher profitability expand your market share and demand for your consistently higher product quality.

o When you're compliant or certified to the appropriate standard, the businesses that work with you know that quality objectives, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction are your goals. Many companies require that their suppliers are ISO 9001 compliant; therefore, once you're certified, your opportunities increase.

ISO 9001 software has be utilized and has developed experience of helping manufacturing, service, and distribution organizations to be more efficient and more profitable through continuous improvement programs. We help you to implement the time-tested methods of continuous improvement to measure performance, analyze data, and apply the appropriate process changes. This includes using ISO 9001 software.

ISO 9001 software also offers a suite of modules to enable you to manage the document management and ISO 9001 Compliance Management process. These modules enable complete transparent system measurement with targeted action items ensuring all persons are notified of tasks and carry them out in a prompt and efficient manner.

ISO 9001 software provides training in there software and also bring extensive experience in implementing the ISO 9001 software in various environments.

Training Options

There are also three other ways ISO delivers training to help companies comply with industry standards:

2. General users training to assist users in the company in utilizing the ISO 9001 software system in there day to day environment for document management and responding to action items.

3. Upgrade training program help for companies who experience personnel turnover to bring the new person up to speed on the ISO 9001 software system.

4. Overview seminars providing orientation sessions for those new employees or those new to the software

The ISO 9001 software comes from extensive experience introducing effective and affordable quality management systems to a wide variety of industries and service organizations. Numerous companies who have worked with us reap the benefits of increased profitability, enhanced customer relations, elevated employee morale, and increased sales. Clients enjoy our flexibility in organizing the process around their needs and their schedules. We have a proven track record of success and customer satisfaction.

Becky King is a well respected software reviewer who lives in California with her family and two dogs.

Learn More at: www.interaxgrp.com

redkoch@yahoo.com

ISO 9000 AND SEI-CMM PROCESSES AND STANDARDS FOR OUTSOURCING

2008-01-25T00:23:00.000-08:00

Companies seeking international outsourcing are increasingly expecting providers who can offer high quality services and work products, as defined by formal compliance with international standards such as ISO 9000 and SEI-CMM. Providers who offer high quality work but do not adhere to recognized ISO or SEI-CMM standards will surely lose out to those who do.

In fact, a growing number of companies who will use outsourcing already use ISO standards, which define the rules for selecting outsourcing providers. In this case, these companies MUST select outsourcing companies that use the same or similar standards. For example, Clause 7.4, "Purchasing," of the ISO handbook, "ISO 9001 for Small Businesses," deals in detail with the complex area of contracting out processes, products or services which is commonly referred to as " outsourcing " or " subcontracting ". It covers who is responsible, the relationship between outsourcing, the organization and customers, how to ensure that you get what is expected, plus how to select companies with the necessary capability to meet requirements.

About the Standards :

ISO 9000

- The International Organization for Standards (ISO 9000 series).
- International set of documents on quality assurance. Written by members of a worldwide delegation.
- 3 core quality systems documents.
- Models of quality assurance.

SEI-CMM Model

- SEI (Software Engineering Institute) established in 1984.
- The CMM (Capability Maturity Model) of SEI is a framework that describes the key elements of an effective software outsourcing process.
- CMM - composed of 5 maturity levels.
- Each level facilitates a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement.

Achieving each level of the model institutionalizes a different component in the software process, resulting in an overall increase in the process capability of the organization.

For outsourcing providers, it is therefore critically necessary that you understand ISO 9000 and SEI-CMM processes and standards not only for your own purposes, but also so that you can better understand the requirements of the companies who will be your clients. Having certification in these standards will greatly improve your business profile and increase your potential for doing business in an increasingly quality-conscious world.

For further information on software outsourcing , offshore outsourcing and offshore software development , please visit http://www.a1technology.com .

ISO 9001 Software

2008-01-23T02:05:00.001-08:00

o Companies increase sales because of better performance, quality, and delivery. This propels you ahead of your competition.

o ISO 9001 software helps retain employees and attract more highly qualified employees because they are assured of a controlled and consistent work environment.

o The experience of a more professional workplace boosts employee morale.

o Reduced operating costs dramatically increase your company's productivity, leading to higher profitability.

o Customer satisfaction and higher profitability expand your market share and demand for your consistently higher product quality.

ISO 9001 software provides training in there software and also bring extensive experience in implementing the ISO 9001 software in various environments.

Training Options There are also three other ways ISO delivers training to help companies comply with industry standards:

1. Full training program help for administrators of our ISO 9001 software program at your location this training includes full orientation to our document management, corrective action calibration records , training records and numerous other features of our software 2. General users training to assist users in the company in utilizing the ISO 9001 software system in there day to day environment for document management and responding to action items. 3. Upgrade training program help for companies who experience personnel turnover to bring the new person up to speed on the ISO 9001 software system. 4. Overview seminars providing orientation sessions for those new employees or those new to the software

Learn More at: www.interaxgrp.com

Becky King is a well respected software reviewer who lives in California with her family and two dogs.

ISO 9000 Solutions

2008-01-19T00:37:00.001-08:00

Businesses that have undergone the process of registering, training and certifying as ISO 9000 compliant will tell you that it is nothing short of tiresome. From attempting to decipher the complex language of the manuals to the actual implementation of the ISO 9000 standards, the entire process can be overwhelming to unsuspecting managers.

Over 300 software solutions are available for guidance on the process. These programs generally assist in the creation, implementation and management of the quality control system. In addition, hundreds of consulting firms exist throughout the world and offer ISO 9000 solutions. Either of these options can help you begin the difficult process of ISO 9000 certification.

Experts have estimated that it takes approximately 7-10 months to read and understand the complex ISO 9000 manual. In addition to the time it takes to actually read through the manual, companies should take into consideration the cost of the auditor's visit. You certainly want to make sure you understand what is expected of you before you dish out upwards of $10,000 for the auditor. If you are not prepared at the time of the auditor's visit, he or she will certainly be happy to come back for a second round. However, this will cost your company even more money and can quickly become a very expensive process.

Companies offering ISO 9000 solutions can help your company to save time and money. By helping you with the entire process, from understanding the training manuals to grilling you on issues that the auditor will cover, you can expect big savings and a much less daunting process. If your company needs ISO 9000 help, you should consult with a specialist.

Many good resources on ISO 9000 are available through the web. An excellent book is ISO 9000 Answer Book by Rob Kantner. This book is written in plain English that is easier to read and understand than the complex certification manuals, and offers assistance with ISO 9000 solutions. The book covers the details of some of the most frequently asked questions from companies around the world. ISO 9000 Answer Book is an excellent resource for both novices and those experienced in the ISO 9000 process.

ISO 9000 Info provides detailed information about ISO 9000 standards, software, consulting, help, and solutions. ISO 9000 Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

Understanding Film Types and ISO Ratings - Beginning Photography Basics

2008-01-19T00:36:00.001-08:00

Beginning photographers are usually so wrapped up in learning about exposure, depth of field, and creative composition - they tend to overlook the importance of what they are recording the image onto. Whether it be film or a digital sensor - what takes place when the image hits it has a huge determining factor of what it will look like, and most especially will determine how much work you have to do in the darkroom or on the PC.

It should be noted that while I will be mentioning popular film brands, I am not promoting them. I'm not sponsored, nor am I a film sales affiliate. These are the brands I am accustomed to working with. You will need to decide for yourself and hopefully these guidelines will help you.

In my beginning years as a film photographer if you were to dig through my backpack you would find a dozen different film types and way too many rolls per type. "Afterall," I would mutter under the extra weight, "never know what I will encounter!" To a certain extent that is true, but having 10 rolls of 100 ISO color print film of varying brands is a bit extreme!

A simple guideline to follow that you can test for yourself starts with choosing the right ISO rating for the film you work with. As a matter of fact, these ISO principals are the same for digital cameras as well!

Quite simply, the ISO rating is that number on the film box. If you purchased it at the local grocery store it's usually a 200, 400, or 800. That number is the film's rating of how sensitive it is to light. The higher the number the more sensitive - the lower, the less. The mistake many beginning photographers make is the assumption that the higher the number the better because they can shoot in lower light and not use flash, and still use faster shutter speeds. This is fine if you are CSI photographer at a crime scene at night...not so fine if you are shooting a gorgeous landscape with the last of the day's light on the horizon.

Basically - the higher the ISO number the worse the quality of the image - especially if you will enlarge prints. The lower the ISO (particularly where landscapes and nature are concerned) the better the image quality. With print film - color or black & white, when you get up into the 800 and higher range you will see an increase of grain in the printed image. This becomes even more visible as you enlarge the photo. While some artsy photos are quite appealing with this grain, it is extremely unappealing in fine art landscapes or nature. Of course the higher ISO rated films have their place in photography: sports and, well, CSI night photography!

In the 125 ISO or lower range these films are extremely fine grain and generally reproduce fantastic colors! They are excellent for enlargements. Black and white film in this ISO range will have superb contrast and an incredibly smooth tonal range (the transition from white to black).

As a starting point I recommend the following ISO ratings:

50 - 125: Landscapes and scenics
125 - 160: Portraits, people photography where flattering skin reproduction is important
200 or higher: Sports

In case you are wondering, you will not find these high quality films at your local convenience store! You will need to find a camera shop or buy from a professional supplier.

Now, with a general understanding of ISO, this leads to the next part: which film types? For the sake of simplifying education I am focusing on Daylight film, which is usually what you are handed over the counter. But should you shoot with print film or slide film? (also referred to as transparency or chrome film) This will depend on what you are shooting and what will be the end result.

Color Landscapes

Most serious film photographers will agree that slide film in the 100 ISO or lower range is what they work with exclusively. Along with many other photographers, if I am working in color film for landscapes you will only find Fuji Velvia (50 ISO) or Fuji Provia (100 ISO) slide film in my bag. They enlarge prints extremely well, have unsurpassed sharp resolution, and reproduce fantastic shadows and realistic colors. If you have any aspirations of submitting your work to publishers, you will need to learn to work with slide film. Most only accept transparencies or digital files.

The disadvantages with these slide films is they are just that - transparencies. You will have to spend a few more bucks to have prints made from them, and unless you are working with a highly skilled printer the results can be sometimes be disappointing compared to the original transparency. If you want to make a digital file out of it you will need to buy a high end film and transparency scanner. Slide film is also very easy to over expose during the shoot. So until you are accomplished at right-on exposures, you may think I'm an idiot recommending these slide films.

If you are a serious landscape photographer my personal recommendation is to avoid color print films. I switched to the high-end slide films because I never found a color print film that satisfied me. However, I have no doubt there are photographers who have something to say about that.

Black and white landscapes are entirely different. There are many excellent black and white print films available, but after much testing you will only find Ilford PanF (50 ISO) and FP4 (125 ISO) in my film bag. In my bold opinion - black and white print film for landscapes and scenics does not get any better than these.

Portrait and People Photography

Until you become highly skilled with exposure, and you are working with models that have flawless skin - stick to print films. The most important factor with color portrait photography is skin tones. Using films with ISO ratings lower than 160 will bring out the red pigments in a person's skin more than if you stick to the 160 range. Go below 100 and your model will look like they have a nasty rash! I speak from experience.

Kodak makes a wonderful color portrait film called Portra 160. In my opinion it reproduces the most pleasant skin tones and the contrast is perfect. Just as important, it enlarges very well. If you want to try black and white portraits I also recommend giving Ilford FP4 a try. You will see some of the smoothest facial tones imaginable with this film!

One of the advantages with color and black & white print film is the exposure tolerance (or film lattitude) is excellent. This means that if your exposure is just slightly off, the image will still most likely come out looking very nice.

I recommend these as starting points to find what works best for your photography. It is important for you to learn for yourself what works well, and what does not. However, applying these principals will give you a significant step up towards perfecting your photographic work.

Chip Clark is a San Diego based professional photographer, with over 20 years experience in landscape photography, wildlife photography, sports photography, and portraiture.

Chip Clark's photography tutorials are available at http://www.chipclarkphotography.com/advanced-techniques-for-beginning-photographers.htm

Publishing and reprint rights are granted solely according to the guidelines set forth by Ezinearticles.com.

ISO For the Small Business

2008-01-18T01:40:00.001-08:00

ISO has been around long enough that everyone is aware of what can be gained by implementation of this system, yet many businesses are still reluctant to adopt this practice into their operations. There are several reasons for this, probably the number one being that it is deemed to be too costly and time consuming when compared to the perceived gains for smaller businesses to readily commit to this rigorous and detailed approach to improvement.

Designing and adopting this standard can appear intimidating when you look at all that is involved. As a small company you may feel that your limited staff and resources are not fully equipped to handle this myriad of documentation, standardization, auditing, and most of all, training that is required to create and maintain a successful ISO system. As daunting as the process may seem, with a little planning it can be much easier than you might think.

It is true that approaching ISO as a large organization normally will is quite overwhelming for a smaller company; however, you can approach this endeavor from at totally different perspective and still be successful. The usual route to ISO is to enroll in some form of structured process by registering in a class or seminar through a local college or private service. Since this approach typically follows a somewhat predetermined time frame, keeping pace can put a considerable burden on your limited resources.

ATTACK THE PROBLEM ON YOUR OWN TERMS

Purchase the standard and review it to get a thorough understanding of what is required. Outline where you are currently with your operational procedures. Compare where you are to where you need to be and outline the necessary actions that need to be addressed to meet the requirements of the standard. You can now develop a plan to address each the tasks that fits within your budget and progresses at a pace that does not overtax your workforce.

Make a commitment to methodically work toward implementation on your own. You can enroll in the accreditation programs or work through your underwriter down the road, after you have implemented all or most of the system. This approach leaves room to adapt and to achieve your goal while still remaining capable of handling your day to day manufacturing issues. The downside is that you must remain committed. It is easy to get sidetracked or buried in your daily problem solving and let your completion of ISO to go by the wayside.

BREAK THE PROCESS DOWN

Like any other large and seemingly involved problem, break it down into smaller more manageable tasks. Choose a familiar task to work on that fits into your current experience and capability. Break it down further by limiting the chosen task to a specific area of your organization. Pick one shift, one department, perhaps one work cell that you are comfortable with.

By limiting your area of implementation you increase your odds for success for several reasons. First, you will only be affecting a small portion of your facility which means expense and disruptions will be minimized. If you make mistakes their impact will not be as detrimental. You will be able to visualize not only what needs to be done, but how well you are progressing. You will be able to debug your system on the fly without having to remove the controls, etc. to keep your normal production on schedule.

Secondly, you will be able to determine exactly what is required to implement the change. Do you have the necessary data on hand? What supporting processes or documentation will be required? Is your staff capable of handling all the duties? Will additional investigation, personnel or training be required? You will be able to spread out the expenses over a longer period and allow the necessary time to train your staff.

Furthermore, as you finish a task you will gain a clearer understanding of what will be required to implement this same task into other areas. This will allow you to budget your costs and time much more accurately in the future. As you complete the required documentation and procedures you will have valuable templates that can be easily adjusted for use in other areas or for different processes.

And lastly, once your system has been debugged and implemented in one area it will be much easier to implement it in another. The entire process will also be more readily accepted by your workforce as you progress because having taken the time to get it right the first time, you will have made it easier to understand and comply in the rest of your operation.

LEARN AS YOU GO

As you progress through the standard and the different areas of your organization you be gaining the experience and confidence needed to be successful. Your technical writing skills will improve. Your team building skills will improve. Your mentoring abilities will improve. Your staff will have a deeper and broader understanding of your processes and capabilities down to the fine details. All these will improve your operations and your bottom line. Before you know it, you will be running a much more efficient, capable and reliable business.

As your processes improve so will your competitiveness in the market and you can take advantage of your new found experience to streamline your operations. You will be able to sell, estimate, produce and deliver to more accurate numbers. You will be capable of predicting trouble, discovering problems, solving issues and adapting to your needs more quickly than you could before. When the time comes to increase personnel you will have a clearer picture of the skills the potential employees need to bring with them to your company.

GET ONLY THE HELP YOU REALLY NEED

As an issue comes to light you can’t readily handle, do the research or hire the help you need at that time. Attend the seminars, take the classes or hire a consultant to provide the needed help or direction. Another great source of help in this area is your insurance provider or the underwriter you propose to use when the time comes for certification. You can greatly reduce your training costs by getting the assistance as it is actually needed. Rather than pay for a broad range of advice and direction, some of which you will undoubtedly already possess, get the specific help you actually need and only as the need arises.

DECIDE IF CERTIFICATION IS RIGHT FOR YOU

As you progress through the implementation of the ISO system your understanding of what is required to achieve success will grow. Those tasks which at first seemed complicated and beyond comprehension will become clearer and attainable and suddenly you will be at a point where the system is in place and working. Now is the time to determine if you want to take that last step and actually become ISO certified.

Becoming certified offers some advantages. Certification is a way to celebrate your new found success. The inherent requirements of certification lend themselves to keeping the system in place and functioning properly. It also tells your current and prospective customers, as well as your competition, that you are a world class organization. Certification opens the door to markets that were previously closed to you. Still, certification may not be for everyone. If your products or market access are not limited by being ISO then you may decide to delay or put off certification altogether.

Whether you opt for that piece of paper or not, you will still be able to reap the benefits the ISO system provides. By taking the time to implement the ISO system on your own terms you can significantly reduce the costs of doing so and outperform that section of your competition that found ISO unnecessary or too costly. At the end of the day, the fact is, you will have made enormous strides in your organizations potential, and even though it may have taken you a bit longer, it is still better late than never.

Mr. Cavalluzzi is the founder and owner of CONSOLUTE, LLC. His extensive background in engineering dates back to 1978 an includes the robotics, automotive, aerospace, metals and plastics industries.

Visit us at Consolute, LLC

TQM - ISO 9001 - Six Sigma: Do Process Management Programs Discourage Innovation?

2008-01-18T01:39:00.001-08:00

A Knowledge@Wharton article based on joint research with the Harvard Business School says now may be the time to re-evaluate the corporate efficacy of process management and tailor them to the right applications. Studies show that misapplied process management can hinder companies and dull innovation. "In the appropriate setting, process management activities can help companies improve efficiency, but the risk is that you misapply these programs, in particular in areas where people are supposed to be innovative," notes Mary Benner–management professor at Wharton.

Process management methodologies focused on continuous improvement such as TQM (the work of Dr. Deming), surfaced in the 1980s in the US after the Japanese adopted it successfully. In 1960 the Emperor of Japan awarded Dr. Deming the Second Order Medal of the Sacred Treasure for his help in transforming Japanese industry. Six Sigma started at Motorola and became popular in the mid-1990s due to GE’s visible efforts. The basic premise is to improve quality to only three defects per million through systematic in processes improvement, and careful statistical measurement of outcomes.

The ISO 9001:2000 international standard specifies requirements for a Quality Management System overseeing the production of a product or service. It is not a standard for ensuring a product or service is of quality; rather, it attests to how well processes work, and how they will be managed and reviewed. Earlier incarnations of the standard were heavily criticized for the internal focus on extensive documentation, but like all things worth doing the standard evolved to the current 2000 much improved version. Continual improvement, leadership involvement, and customer satisfaction are pivotal components of the standard.

Six Sigma is similar to TQM in its focus on techniques for solving problems and using statistical methods to improve processes. But whereas TQM emphasizes employee involvement organization-wide, the Six Sigma approach is to train experts (known as green belts and black belts) who work on solving important problems while they teach others in the company. The publicized success of GE after Jack Welch adopted Six Sigma (to which he devotes a chapter of his book "Winning"), more than a quarter of the FORTUNE 200 followed suit. Yet not all firms were able to find the same magic.

In fact, of 58 large companies that have announced Six Sigma programs, 91 percent have trailed the S&P 500 since, according to an analysis by Charles Holland of consulting firm Qualpro http://www.qualproinc.com/ . Critics say that one of the chief problems of Six Sigma is that it is narrowly designed to fix an existing process, allowing little room for new ideas or an entirely different approach. All that talent–all those best and brightest–were devoted to, say, driving defects down to 3.4 per million and not on coming up with new products or disruptive technologies.

An inward-looking culture can leave firms vulnerable in a business world that is changing at a breakneck pace–whether it's Craigslist stealing classified ads from local newspapers or VoIP threatening to make phone calls virtually free. Innovation is "a meta-stable entity," says Vishva Dixit, Vice President for research of Genentech, who oversees 800 scientists at a company that has created some of the most revolutionary anticancer drugs on the market. "Nothing will kill it faster than trying to manage it, predict it, and put it on a timeline."

No business can afford to focus its energies on its own navel in that environment. "Getting outside is everything," says GE's Immelt (who still deploys Six Sigma). From the day he took over as CEO, he says, he knew the company would need to be "much more forward-facing in the future than we ever were in the past." He explains: "It's not about change. It's about sudden, abrupt, and uncontrollable change. If you're not externally focused in this world, you can really lose your edge."

Professional experience traverses key business disciplines including entrepreneurship, leadership, and strategic management. From a 15 year stint with a start-up developer of software and equipment for the automation and controls industry, which led to several promotions including VP of Sales; to the acquisition of this firm by a Blue Chip company; to managing businesses with P&L accountability for Fortune 100 firms, I have enjoyed a productive career accented by sales/marketing, management, and team bulding talents. Recent educational achievements include an MBA from the University of Miami, Six Sigma Green Belt Certification, and ISO 9001 QMS Certification.

Mapping ISO 9001 - 2000 With CMMI

2008-01-17T02:23:00.001-08:00

This article is an effort to create a mapping between the one of the most common standard and one of the most common models.

In this section different clauses of the ISO 9001:2000 standard is compared with the GP’s of CMMI:

(ISO: Clause 4) – Quality Management System
• Organization process focus
• Organization process definition
• Project planning
• Process and product quality assurance
• Configuration management
• Supplier agreement management

CMMI

Generic Practices – 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2

(ISO: Clause 5) – Management Responsibility
• Organization process focus
• Organization process definition
• Requirement development
• Project monitoring and control
• Organizational process performance
• Quantitative project management

CMMI

Generic Practices – 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 2.10, 3.1,

(ISO: Clause 6) – Resource management

• Project planning
• Organization training
• Organizational environment for integration

CMMI

Generic Practices – 2.3, 2.5,

(ISO: Clause 7) – Product Realization
• Requirement management
• Requirement development
• Technical solution
• Product integration
• Measurement and analysis
• Quantitative project management
• Verification
• Validation
• Organization process definition
• Project planning
• Project monitoring and control
• Integrated project management
• Configuration management
• Supplier agreement management

CMMI

Generic Practices – 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 3.1

(ISO: Clause 8) - Measurement Analysis & Improvement

• Project monitoring and control
• Process and product quality assurance
• Measurement and analysis
• Configuration management
• Requirement management
• Requirement development
• Supplier agreement management
• Organization process focus
• Verification
• Validation
• Organizational innovation and development
• Organizational process performance
• Quantitative project management
• Casual analysis and resolution

CMMI

Generic Practices – 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 3.2

In ISO 9001:2000 there are six mandatory procedures which have to be fulfilled. This section brings to light where these mandatory procedures are covered in CMMI.

Mapping with six mandatory procedures based on ISO 9001:2000 to CMMI

4.2.2 – Control of Documents

• Configuration management (Generic practices 2.6)

4.2.4 – Control of records

• Configuration management (Generic practices 2.6, 2.2)

8.2.2 – Internal Audit

• Organization process focus (Specific practices 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2)
• Process and product quality assurance (Generic practices 2.4, 2.6)
• Measurement and analysis (Specific practices 2.4, 2.6, 2.9)

8.3 – Control of non-conforming Product

• Configuration management (All generic practices)
• Project monitoring and control (Specific practices 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)

8.5.2 – Corrective Action

• Organization process focus (Specific practices 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
• Project monitoring and control (2.1, 2.2, 2.3)

8.5.3 – Preventive Action

• Organization process focus (Specific practices 2.4)
• Causal analysis and resolution (Specific practices 1.1, 1.2 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)

Whenever we do any project/activity all of us knowingly or unknowingly follow the cycle which is known as PDCA i.e. Plan, Do, Check, Act. This section shows how PDCA is covered in both ISO 9001:2000 and CMMI

Mapping with PDCA based on ISO 9001:2000 to CMMI

P – Plan

ISO
• Clause 4 Quality Management System
• Clause 5 Management Responsibility
• Clause 6 Resource management

CMMI
• Organization process focus
• Organization process definition
• Project planning
• Process and product quality assurance
• Configuration management
• Supplier agreement management
• Organization training
• Organizational environment for integration
• Requirement development
• Project monitoring and control
• Quantitative project management

D – DO

ISO • Clause 7 Product Realization

CMMI
• Requirement development
• Technical solution
• Product integration
• Measurement and analysis
• Quantitative project management
• Verification
• Validation
• Organization process definition
• Project planning
• Project monitoring and control
• Integrated project management
• Configuration management
• Supplier agreement management

C – Check

ISO
• Measurement analysis & Improvement

CMMI
• Project monitoring and control
• Process and product quality assurance
• Measurement and analysis
• Configuration management
• Requirement management
• Requirement development
• Supplier agreement management
• Organization process focus
• Verification
• Validation
• Organizational innovation and development
• Organizational process performance
• Quantitative project management
• Casual analysis and resolution

A – Act

ISO
• Measurement analysis & Improvement

Tariq Kamal is working as a Process Consultant in New Delhi. He provides consultancy in the Quality field in software. Visit his website http://www.gate2quality.com

ISO 9000 – Management Systems for Business Success

2008-01-13T23:12:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 is a management system produced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The purpose of the ISO 9000 is the improvement of the efficiency and productivity of organizations. Businesses use ISO 9000 to make sure they consistently satisfy customers, and comply with their industry’s regulations.

Systems are often the last things on the minds of small business owners. Instead of organized processes, most small businesses rely on the expertise of staff and owners and their ability to communicate that expertise to each other. Unfortunately, individual skills and relationships don’t scale – as businesses grow, those that don’t have a management system become inconsistent, chaotic and inefficient.

Developing management systems is something all successful businesses have to do. Unfortunately, most organizations come up with systems in isolation from everybody else. Not only is this “re-inventing the wheel” but it also means that they can’t take advantage of management best practices.

ISO 9000 is an international, generic management system that can be applied to service and product oriented businesses, as well as public administrations and government departments. It allows organizations to take advantage of the latest models for setting up and running a management system.

ISO 9000 improves:

Customer Satisfaction – by focusing on improving what the organization does to provide value for customers, ISO 9000 promotes consistent high-level quality.

Efficiency – by concentrating on how processes provide quality to customers instead of simply the final product, ISO 9000 improves organizations’ efficiency.

Marketing – because ISO 9000 is an internationally recognized standard, using it communicates quality and reliability to customers and partners.

Employee Motivation – by establishing a consistent, comprehensive set of rules and procedures, ISO 9000 ensures that employees know exactly what their responsibilities are and how to fulfill them.

International Trade – because ISO 9000 is an internationally developed management system, adopting it significantly simplifies their relationship with organizations in other countries.

The ISO itself does not provide ISO 9000 certification. Instead, organizations can obtain certification from third party auditors. Certification is not required, and even businesses that choose not to go to the expense of having a formal audit can benefit significantly from implementing ISO 9000.

For more information see the International Organization for Standardization website or the Industry Canada ISO 9000 checklist.

Nigel Fogden is an English teacher and writer with 24 by 5 Tech Comm, a technical writing company that specializes in fast, high-quality writing and editing. For more articles on writing, technology and business, sign up for the 24 by 5 Tech Comm Newsletter at http://www.24by5.com and stop by our blog at http://www.24by5.com/wordpress/

How to Formulate your Quality Policy Statement and Quality Objectives in your ISO Quality Manual

2008-01-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

When embarking on a new quality management system and writing a new quality manual for your organization, one of the most important decisions to make is how your quality policy statement should read. A quality policy statement is a requirement of an ISO9001:2000 quality management system, and can be regarded as the general guiding philosophy of your company or organization.

If you compare guiding a company to steering a ship, the nautical equivalent of a quality policy statement might be something like "We are going to sail to New York". This is a general statement of the overall goal. In your company's quality manual, you might say something like "Our goals are to achieve 100 percent customer satisfaction, constantly innovate in our products, and continually improve in all our activities". How can you steer the ship if you don't know where you want to go?

The quality objectives you choose to include in your quality manual, on the other hand, are the nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day objectives that will show how you are doing in regards to your overall goal. Quality objectives are also a requirement of an ISO9001:2000 quality management system, and must be included in your quality manual.

Depending on the size and complexity of your organization, I recommend that you have from 3 to 7 quality objectives in your quality manual. Any less than three is probably inadequate to accurately measure the improvement in your quality. Any more than 7 is probably too difficult to keep track of, and may start to become redundant.

Quality objectives must be measurable based on objective, numerical data. A vague statement in your quality manual such as "create the best product" is not measurable. The word "best" is a subjective evaluation, and can not be measured accurately. Your quality objectives should most likely contain some sort of numerical reference. Here are some examples:

Customer Satisfaction Rating -- 97 percent or better.
Customer Returns -- less than 10 per month
Customer Returns -- less than .5 percent of sales.
Final Inspection Rejection Rate -- less than .5 percent of units produced.

You must keep records of your organization's performance. You must keep track of how you do with respect to each of your quality objectives. These records will be reviewed by your third party auditor in the event you are audited to the ISO9001:2000 standard.

Whether or not you are ISO certified, it is definitely in your best interest to keep track of where you are in relation to where you want to be. In order to steer the ship accurately, not only do you need to know where you want to go, but you also need to know where you are currently.

I recommend that you compile statistics on your quality objective performance at least twice a year. Your performance measurements should be one of the inputs for your management review meeting, but you are free to compile and examine the statistics as often as you feel would be helpful.

Whether it be during the course of your management review, or at any other time, an analysis of your quality objective performance can be quite revealing. It can validate that you are on the right track, or can point out deficiencies. Hopefully a regular analysis of your quality objectives will keep you on track, and keep pointing you in right direction, in your quest for continually improving your quality system and your whole organization.

I always recommend that people keep their ISO quality manual as simple as possible, while covering the necessary requirements of ISO9001:2000. Keep your quality policy statement simple, but meaningful. Keep your quality objectives simple, meaningful, and measurable.

Timothy Macenroe
ISO Consultant and Quality Manager

My Blog about ISO Certification and Quality Manuals - QualityManualChat.com

ISO Quality Manual Sample and Templates - ISO-Quality-Manual.com

ISO 9001 - The Three Components of the Implementation Process

2008-01-11T00:46:00.001-08:00

The three components to implementing an ISO 9001 quality management system are: 1) documentation, 2) information management, and 3) operational changes.

Documentation

On the surface it may seem like developing the ISO 9001 documentation shouldn’t be that difficult. You must have a manual that includes a policy, objectives, scope, and the interaction of the processes; and you must have written instructions for:

Managing the quality system documents
Managing the quality system records
Conducting internal audits
Controlling nonconforming product
Implementing corrective action
Implementing preventive action

The standard also hints at the need for additional instructions, e.g., referring to the work instructions, section 7.1 states “shall determine the following, as appropriate,” but technically, aside from the manual and these six instructions, anything more is optional.

The ISO 9001 system documentation is normally organized into four sections, including:

The Manual, which provides background information and explains how the system works;
The Administrative Procedures, which include the procedures and policies that define how the company complies with the requirements of the standard and how it manages the processes that are unique to its operation;
The Operating Instructions, which are the detailed instructions used to control manufacturing and service activities; and
The Reference Documentation, which are documents like industry standards, equipment maintenance manuals, corporate auditing guidelines, employee policies, etc. that define practices, procedures, or performance criteria not covered by the other documents. These can either be externally or internally generated.

No two organizations have the same goals and objectives or do things exactly the same way, which means there are always some differences between the procedures and policies of different organizations. It also means that completely documented “off-the-shelf” systems don’t exist and some document development is inevitable. The challenge is to minimize the effort without sacrificing value.

The Manual – The administrative procedures are usually the more difficult and time-consuming of the four sections to develop. The manual, on the other hand, is relatively straightforward and probably the easiest part to develop. The standard suggests what should be included, and an example of a “well written” manual can provide the format for organizing the material. Most of the work is in converting the ideas of the example into documents that describe your situation. Goals and objectives have to be established, processes defined, responsibilities established, the interaction of the processes explained, and the system parameters established.

Administrative Procedures – The secret to developing administrative procedures is 1) using a format that creates readable documents, 2) finding examples of procedures that offer solutions that apply to your needs, and 3) organizing the documentation based a process list.

The “process approach” is the system structure recommended by the authors of the standard and the process list is the starting point of the process approach.

Think of processes as objectives, i.e., maximizing employee output, making sure new products comply with customer requirements, or making sure working conditions adequately support the production objectives. A set of procedures that constitute a means for meeting an objective is what the standard refers to as an “activity group”. Employee vetting, performance reviews, and training procedures is an examples of an activity group that maximizes employee output. The objectives are the outputs of the “process approach” and the procedures (the activity groups) the inputs. Example:

Input = Policies and procedures for making sure employees are motivated, informed, and capable of performing the assigned responsibilities

Output = Maximum employee output

Examples of procedures from other systems provide ideas on how to develop new procedures and how to improve existing procedures. The same examples can also provide formatting ideas. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that there must be a procedure of every requirement of the standard, or that the documentation has to follow the outline of the standard. The authors of the standard have made it clear that this is not the case. You are encouraged to use a process approach, which is inherently unique to your operation, and to include processes that are important to you but may not included in the standard.

While individual examples can be helpful, continuous system templates that lock into the outline of the standard tend to complicate the implementation process. They depersonalize the system, limit the system to the scope of the standard, and make the process of writing procedures more difficult. Also, don’t go overboard on process mapping and flowcharting. Procedures should be clear to everybody, not just the primary users. A fundamental covenant of the system is continual improvement and some of best improvement ideas come from employees with unrelated responsibilities.

Operating Procedures – The trick to developing operating procedures is in understanding the balance between training and documentation requirements, and in knowing how much information is needed. Too many companies develop too much unnecessary detail.

Information Management

Managing information is a big part of the standard. The standard states that records shall be maintained in the case of management review meeting minutes (5.6.1); education, training, skills and experience (6.2.2); product validation and verification (7.1.d); inputs for product design and development (7.3.2); and calibration records (7.6). In addition, the standard also requires “evidence of conformity”, which is either physical evidence or documented records, and in many cases records are preferable and sometimes the only alternative.

File Management Programs – File management programs are typically tamper-proof and capable of handling a large volume of information. They’re designed to be paperless systems. Assignments, authorization levels, and additions and revisions to records are keyed into the program, which, under certain conditions, trigger action commands that are communicated via email. There are a few programs tailored to manage primarily ISO 9000 records, but most are universal in nature and designed to manage all types of records. The user is normally responsible for developing the forms and reports needed to manage specific types of records.

The programs are expensive; they come with annual and sometimes monthly maintenance fees; and there are usually costs associated with installation, the number of users, data migration, and training. Many have their own programming language, which makes the user dependent on people with that language skill. And some are web based, which means the program is running on someone else’s server. Generally, they are best suited for companies with a lot of people dealing with a large volume of information.

Database Files – Database files are less expensive, more flexible, and easier to manage. You can either develop your own files or purchase files that have been programmed to deal with specific types of records.

Hard Copy Records – Almost everyone ends up with some hard copy records: documents that can’t be scanned, documents with signatures, and documents that are available to all employees. However, building a record keeping policy completely around this approach is risky, even for small companies. It is too easy to misplace documents that move from one person to the next; and it is difficult to manage information that is located in various files, in different offices, and assigned to different people. Responsibilities change and individuals tend to change the way information is gathered and filed. Manual record keeping frequently results in unnecessary duplication, e.g., sales using a different customer list than the person keeping track of the customer complaints. It is also difficult to gather, analyze, and disseminate information. File cabinets are not as accessible as computers and don’t have the sorting, reporting, linking and analytical capabilities of database files.

Operational Changes

Some of the more common ones include:

Administration – 1) Conduct at least one management review meeting. 2) Communicate system developments to all employees. 3) Demonstrate that the key performance indicators are measured, evaluated, and communicated.

ISO Representative – 1) Make sure that the auditors are adequately trained. 2) Develop an audit schedule and conduct audits on all of the system procedures. 3) Demonstrate that the corrective and preventive action processes are working. 4) Make system procedures and forms available to employees.
Human Resources –1) Verify that all employees have a basic understanding of the ISO 9000 system. 2) Prove that all employees are capable of performing their respective work assignments, including the top-level executives. 2) Establish a training program for developing employee skills.
Purchasing – 1) Demonstrate that all of the primary vendors are qualified and that their performance is routinely evaluated. 2) Prove that material specifications are verified before they are released to vendors.
Sales/Customer Service – 1) Demonstrate that customer feedback is gathered and analyzed, including records of complaints. 2) Prove that processing capabilities are reviewed before orders for new products are confirmed.
Engineering – 1) Demonstrate that the information released to production is current, accurate, and complies with customer requirements. 2) Demonstrate that product changes affecting form, fit, or function are not implemented without customer approval.
Production – 1) Establish a calibration program that complies with the requirements of the standard. 2) Demonstrate that machinery capabilities have been validated. 3) Prove that nonconforming materials are not mixed in with satisfactory materials. 4) Prove that that shipments comply with the customer requirements. 5) Prove that incoming materials comply with purchase specifications. 6) Prove that operators are provided with the information required to produce products that conform to customer requirements. 7) Demonstrate how materials with shelf life are managed.

ASA - ISO Ambient Light Rule

2008-01-11T00:45:00.001-08:00

If you have been taking photographs for years or just now starting there is one quick rule of thumb that is key to understanding how cameras work. I call it the Ambient Light Rule. There are two standard agencies that regulate camera speeds; in the old days film used ASA (American Standards Association) now film cameras and digital cameras use ISO (International Standards Organization) with both the higher the ASA or ISO number the faster the film or computer chip will accept light therefore allowing the camera to manipulate shutter speed and aperture opening.

Ambient Light Rule is quickly this, the faster the shutter speed (stop motion) the lower the aperture opening (depth of field). This can be changed by using a higher or lower ASA or ISO. This all depends on what kind of picture you want to take. Automatic cameras make it easy to take pictures they will adjust the shutter speed and aperture without you needing to know the Ambient Light Rule.

However sometimes it is necessary to go off automatic mode for the shot you want to take. For example, say you go to a Nascar race and you want a picture of your favorite Nascar Driver going over 200 miles per hour. In this case you may want to take your film or digital camera off auto and go with shutter preferred and choose a fast stutter speed probably at least 1/500th of a second. The faster the better, but this setting does effect how clear the items are in the foreground and background.

Another situation is when you want to take a close up and want as clear of shot that is possible. Here you may want to go with aperture preferred. In this case the higher the aperture (means the smaller the light source kind of like squinting your eyes to see better) means that you will get a sharper photograph. But the higher the aperture the slower the shutter speed. You either need more light or you may want to use a tripod.

Today with all the advancements in computers photography has been made quite a bit simpler. Adobe Photoshop CS2 is a photographer’s dream program. It has made darkroom manipulations obsolete. You can now lighten, darken, sharpen, unsharpen, as well as erase or add to your photos with easy. If you are serious about photography I would definitely suggest purchasing Adobe Photoshop. Plus I would recommend that you take courses on the program. Two that I have used in the past are from Lynda.com and Total Training both are excellent!

For more information www.bestdigicamsite.com

Bob has been a photograher since the 1960's from a Kodak Instamatic to Minolta, Canon, Nikon, and now a Fuji Digital Camera.

Seven Layers of ISO OSI Model

2008-01-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

The ISO OSI model are explained below. The seven layers of the OSI model are:

Application
Presentation
Session
Transport
Network
Antiqua">Data Link
Physical

1 Application layer:
This layer provides a means for the user to access information on the network through an application. Many user applications that need to communicate over the network interact with the Application layer protocol directly. The user applications are not part of OSI Application layer, use the networking services offered by the networking protocol suite. Application layer functions typically include identifying communication partners, and determining availability of required resources. Some examples of application layer implementations include Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

2 Presentation layer:
Presentation layer converts local host computer data representations into a standard network format for transmission on the network. On the receiving side, it changes the network format into the appropriate host computer's format so that data can be utilized independent of the host computer. ASCII and EBCDIC conversions, cryptography, and the like are handled here. Examples of Presentation layer coding and conversion schemes include common data representation formats, conversion of character representation formats, common data compression schemes, and common data encryption schemes.

Presentation layer implementations are not typically associated with a particular protocol stack. Some well-known standards for video include QuickTime and Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG). QuickTime is an Apple Computer specification for video and audio, and MPEG is a standard for video compression and coding.

3. Session layer:
The session layer establishes, manages, and terminates communication sessions. Communication sessions consist of service requests and service responses that occur between applications located in different network devices. These requests and responses are coordinated by protocols implemented at the session layer. Some examples of session-layer implementations include AppleTalk's Zone Information Protocol (ZIP), and Decent Phase Session Control Protocol (SCP).

4.Transport layer:
Transport layer is responsible for providing reliable service between the hosts. Upper layer datagrams are broken down into manageable datagrams and then appropriate header information (such as sequence number, port number, etc.) is added to the datagram before passing it on to the Network layer. Two frequently used transport protocols are the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and the UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

Important features of Transport layer:

Transport layer ensures reliable service.
Breaks the message (from sessions layer) into smaller datagrams, and appends appropriate unit header information.
Responsible for communicating with the Session layer

Important features of TCP/UDP:

TCP/IP widely used protocol for Transport/Network layers
TCP: (Transport Control Protocol) TCP ensures that a packet has reached its intended destination by using an acknowledgement. If not, it retransmits the lost messages. Hence, TCP is called a connection oriented protocol.
UDP (Universal Data gram Protocol): UDP simply transmits packets over the internet. It does not wait for an acknowledgement. It is the responsibility of upper layer protocols to ensure that the information had reached the intended partner(s). Hence, UDP is often called connectionless protocol.
Application programs that do not need connection-oriented protocol generally use UDP.

5. Network layer:
Network layer is responsible for the routing of packets through the entire network. The layer uses logical addressing for this purpose. Note that the physical address (like MAC address) keeps changing from hop to hop when a packet travels from source to destination. As a result, an address that doesn't change is required to ensure continuity between hops. This is nothing but logical address. For IP networks, IP address is the logical address; and for Novell network, IPX address is the logical address, and so on. This layer also provides for congestion control, and accounting information for the network. IP (Internet Protocol) is an example of a network layer protocol.

6. Data link layer:
Data link layer provides delivery of information frames between communicating partners. This layer is responsible for flow regulation, error detection and correction, and framing of bits for transmission. The network data frame is made up of checksum, source address, destination address, and the data itself. The largest frame size that can be sent is known as the maximum transmission Unit (MTU).

Important features of Data link layer:

Assembles bits into frames, making them ready for transmission over the network.
Provides error detection, and correction to transmitted frames. If the checksum is not correct, it asks for retransmission. (Send a control message).
Consists of two sub layers:
1. Logical Link Control (LLC): Defines how data is transferred over the cable and provides data link service to the higher layers.
2. Medium Access Control (MAC): Controls media access by regulating the communicating nodes using pre-defined set of rules. (i.e. Token passing, Ethernet [CSMA/CD] all have MAC sub-layer protocol).

Different Data link layer protocols define different network and protocol characteristics, including physical addressing, network topology, error notification, sequencing of frames, and flow control. Physical addressing (as opposed to logical addressing) defines how devices are addressed at the data link layer. The protocols used in Data link layer are SLIP, PPP, and CSLP.

7. Physical layer:
This is the bottom-most layer of the OSI model. The Physical layer handles the bit-level communications across the physical medium. The physical medium could be made up of wired electrical signals, or light, or radio (wireless) signals. Physical layer specifications define characteristics such as media, data rates, maximum transmission distances, and physical connectors.
Some of the important standards that deal with physical layer specifications are:
RS-232(for serial communication lines), X.21, EIA 232, and G730.
Physical layer and Data link layer implementations can be categorized as either LAN or WAN specifications.

Vijayanand has done his post graduation (M.E.) in Communication Systems. He has several years of experience in electronic assembly and design, rf testing, and networking. He is a Cisco Certified Networking Professional, and an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). He is a director of Anand Software and Training Pvt. Ltd. Complete tutorial on Networking is available at SimulationExams.com

Digital Photography and ISO Ratings - What You Should Know!

2008-01-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

p>Before Digital Cameras ever came to be, most of you probably owned a standard 35mm camera with an attachable flash, like my old Nikon F1, which I foolishly sold on Ebay. If you did own one of those, and you were very adept in photography, you'll recall thatlittle nob at the bottom of the camera with a series of numbers from B1...to 4000 ASA/ISO.Simply put, when you bought film which was rated 400 ASA, as an example, you would adjust the nob to reflect an ASA reading of 400 in the small window pane aligned with a small, usually, red arrow.

The point of all this is the following; when you bring your knew digital camera to any large event, it is totally pointless to be using the built-in flash, although you see it all the time by the 100s of flickering lights. The built-in flash is much to small to have any effect when you're 100s of feet from your subject.

Since cameras list the effectiveness of a flash measured in distance or range (3' - 9' etc.), you really have to be very close to the subject for the flash to be fullyeffective.

The ISO designation you should know, is a measure used for light sensitivity. For example, a film with a rating of ISO1000 (considered fast film) is much more sensitive to light than a film with a rating of ISO100, and therefore is better able to capture images in dark surrounding areas. Actually, if you were really good in the old days, we used this to our advantage in combination with the aperture opening of the lens for some really awesome effects. But we won't go there and stick with digital.

So to be understood, digital camera technology uses the same ISO system, but since no film is used, the variable light sensitivity is accomplished by amplifying the signal.Sound confusing! In electronics, as you amplify a signal, you amplify noise levels, such as in a radio which has a weak signal. So you turn it up only to hear more static in the background.

So it was, when you selected a digital camera with a high ISO rating,because the quality of the image was less than desirable. In the early days of digital cameras, this constituted a real problem.

Today, however, this so called noise has been so controlled, that you can buy a digital camera with a high ISO rating reducing the need for a flash...in other words the capability of taking pics from far distances without a flash. In addition, when you set your camera to 'auto', the camera will automatically set the ISO, the aperture opening of the lens, and shutter speed to create the best picture possible.

For more information on understanding how ISO works, make sure you read your manual or check with the manufacturer of your camera. If you don't yet own a digital camera, here's a tip; make sure you buy the highest megapixel possible. It cost much more but well worth the investment. You won't regret it!

Jon G. Michel is a successful webmaster and publisher of digitalkool.com. Are you looking for new information on digital photography? Need a new digital camera... get all the latest information

Jon G. Michel This article can be used as long as the article remains unchanged and the author's bio is included.

How Can ISO 9001:2000 be Applied to Healthcare?

2008-01-06T22:21:00.002-08:00

Definition of ISO:

ISO means “all sides being equal”. To date, more than ½ a million organizations in 149 countries have implemented the ISO Standards.
ISO 9001:2000 is a fundamental quality management system standard that requires an organization to identify, define, document, implement (follow), monitor/measure, and continually improve the effectiveness of its processes. It is a self-directed system that requires the organization to identify and address all imposed requirements; as well as improve its organizational performance by modifying systemic issues (e.g. those traditionally associated with the “hand-offs”).

Application of ISO in Healthcare:

Using the ISO Family of Standards, the organization can establish a comprehensive Quality / Business Management System which:

Provides a solid basis for compliance with all imposed requirements (e.g., JCAHO, AABB, Federal & State regulations). Makes all other certification & accreditation processes easier and less costly.
Facilitates improved understanding of roles & responsibilities among employees; and enhanced communication/coordination between departments.
Requires the establishment of measurable improvement objectives and accountability to those objectives through monitoring/measuring and reporting.
Results in improved systems, processes, and outcomes.

Structure of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard:

The ISO:9001 2000 Standard is comprised of 8 Clauses. The 1st 3 are introductory in nature. The subsequent 5 clauses include the requirements the organization must address. They are:

Clause 4 – Quality Management System
Clause 5 – Management Responsibility
Clause 6 – Resource Management
Clause 7 – Product / Service Realization
Clause 8 – Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement

Internal Audits, Customer/Patient Satisfaction, Monitoring/Measurement of Products/Services and Processes, Handling Nonconformances, Corrective & Preventive Action, Continual Improvement

Process / Methodology

While the standard does not prescribe the approach or methodology to be utilized by an organization, the following is recommended.

Obtain Management commitment to support, understanding, involvement, provision of resources

Educate Management & Staff about the ISO 9001:2000 Standard, Scope of Work, Organizational impact

Define Key Improvement Objectives

Identify and Map Organizational Processes, key as well as support. Address all imposed requirements.

Develop the organization’s Quality Policy and Quality Manual

Establish approach to document control and access.

Develop, review/revise, and incorporate all required support documentation (e.g. Department Policies/Procedures, forms).

Educate Staff on QMS documentation

Establish and implement monitoring/measurement for each process

Train internal auditors. Implement an Internal Audit Process.

Conduct a Management Review of the QMS.

Undergo a Pre-Assessment or “Mock Survey” to assess system implementation, readiness

Make required corrections

Submit Document Review to Registrar (Quality Manual, Processes)

Undergo the Certification Audit

Sample Key Improvement Objectives

Improve Patient Satisfaction
Improve Patient Safety

Sample Process Interaction Diagram
See =>http://www.iqsconsulting.net/applications-of-iso9001-to-healthcare.html

Sample Quality Policy

We will strive to be the leading provider of healthcare services in Southern Ohio. We will accomplish this through

Consistent compliance with all imposed requirements;
Our focus on Patient Safety and Satisfaction; and
Continual improvement of our products, services, and processes.
Innovative Quality Solutions Company is a full service training and consulting firm focused on total customer satisfaction, performance improvement and achievement of organizational objectives. Innovative Quality Solutions provides all aspects of support to organizations seeking certification and compliance to the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS 9100 and ISO/TS 16949 (TS 16949) Standards. Since 1995, the firm has lead more than 250 organizations to successful first time certification/registration.
Innovative Quality Solutions is located in Akron, Youngstown, Cleveland and Columbus. Renee Mallett, Vice President, Healthcare Division, may be contacted at 614-855-0008 or email: reneem@iqsconsulting.net

Which ISO Setting Should I Use?

2008-01-06T22:21:00.001-08:00

What ISO setting should you use for everyday photography?

There is no simple answer, but have a look at the following responses to decide what is best for you:

"I usually use ISO 100, but if I realise I can’t hold the camera still I increase the ISO or use a tripod"

"I most usually shoot at ISO 100, 200 and occasionally ISO 400. It annoys me that there is slight noise when I zoom on the PC. In reality you won't see it"

"I start at 100, and work up until I get a reasonable shutter speed that I feel I can cope with"

"I set the camera at 200 in good weather and 400 in bad"

"In bad light I don’t go below 400"

"Inside, I start at 400, then go to 800 or more when needed. Outside I start at 100"

"If I tend to get camera shake I increase the ISO till everything is OK"

"In fully automatic mode my camera does this itself"

"I find I use 100 rarely. I prefer to go for a higher ISO to get faster shutter speeds"

So, you can see that the ISO setting is dependent upon the conditions and upon personal preferences. Experiment to find the settings that work best for you.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com

Photography A - Z the Easy Way: I - ISO Setting

2008-01-03T00:48:00.000-08:00

Do you know what ISO is? Perhaps not. And, in fact, you don’t need to know what it is – just how to use it. In very simple terms, the ISO setting is a measure of how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. A low ISO (e.g. 100) will not be very sensitive to light whereas a high setting (e.g. 1600) will be very sensitive.

How does this affect you?

It’s simple, and don’t let others tell you otherwise. If you have plenty of light around – say on a sunny day or if it is bright but overcast, use ISO setting 100 or 200. In fact, keep it at that setting for most of your shots. Then just take your pictures as normal.

If however, you are in low light levels, you may wish to use flash (keep the same ISO setting) OR use a higher ISO without flash.

Here is an example of practical use:

You want to take a picture of your friend. Normally, on a normal bright day, you would use programme mode or a semi-automatic mode which will select an aperture of 5.6 and shutter speed of 1/250. No problem.

But if the light is fading and you don’t want to use flash, then the shutter speed for the same aperture might reduce to 1/30 or 1/15. At slow speeds like this you will find your shots are not as sharp due to camera shake. Here, you can switch to a higher ISO setting – for every doubling of the ISO you can halve the shutter speed. Therefore you will be able to use a faster shutter speed in low light conditions with a higher ISO.

That’s it really.

There are two drawbacks. First, you will get a “noisier” image at a higher ISO setting (more grainy – but this can often create a nice effect) and secondly you must remember to switch back to your usual ISO after the shots have been taken (so that your usual images have the optimum ISO setting).

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com.

The Orphan Child Called ISO

2007-12-30T22:49:00.001-08:00

ISO wasn't easy to change on early digital cameras.

First, here's a quick definition: ISO stands for the International Standards Organization. What it really indicates is a digital sensor's sensitivity to light.

A low ISO is less sensitive and a high ISO is very sensitive.

Further translated: a high ISO like 3200 means that the sensor can capture a clear photo, even in low-light conditions. A low ISO like 100 requires a lot of ambient light for clear shots.

So why is this setting so often ignored? It's harder to sell the benefits of ISO (which is pretty confusing to anyone who is not a camera junkie) versus something simpler like speed (2 photos per second or 5 photos per second...which one's faster?).

Well, I'm here today to try to illustrate the benefits of ISO. It is a prominent feature on all of the latest digital cameras, and is something that you should be aware of when you're trying to take photos in available light.

Benefit #1 - Clear hand-held photos

Here's the problem: you're taking photos indoors on an overcast day. The only way that you can get a proper exposure is to slow down the shutter speed to 1/30 of a second.

The camera's shutter needs to stay open 1/30 of a second to let in plenty of light. Unfortunately, the longer the shutter stays open, the more likely your photo will turn out blurry. The blur is caused by camera shake when you hold the camera in your hands.

While blur is sometimes desirable to illustrate motion, most ot the time it's not the effect you want.

You really want to get a clear photograph, but there isn't enough ambient light. You think you're stuck with two options: use a flash, or attach the camera to a tripod so it's stable.

But here comes ISO to offer up a third alternative: set your ISO to 800 or 1600.

This boosts the light sensitivity of the camera's sensor, so you're not forced to keep the shutter open so long. With a shutter speed of 1/125 or 1/250 you can now hold the camera in your hands and get perfectly clear available-light photographs.

Benefit #2 - Atmosphere

As you increase the ISO on your digital camera, you also increase the noise in the photograph. "Noise" is the appearance of dots and specks, typically in shadow areas of the image.

Digital camera manufacturers have gone to great lengths to minimize noise, even at high ISO settings. This is due to benefit #1 above.

But sometimes you might want that noise in your photograph. Let's say you're taking shots on a foggy day, and the mood of the scene could really use some noise, to give the photo an old-time look.

Boost the ISO as high as it will go (usually 3200) and that noise will appear in your photo. In black and white, it really adds to the atmosphere and the quality of the image.

Benefit #3 - Fast shutter speeds

One of the best uses of a really fast shutter speed is to freeze motion.

If you take a lot of photos of sporting events, you need to be using shutter speeds around 1/1000 of a second or faster. There are not many days where there is enough ambient light to use these super-fast shutter speeds.

The only way that you will be able to catch all the action is if you increase your ISO. If you don't want noise in the photo, just increase the ISO enough to get the shutter speed you want. If ISO 400 will get the job done, then use that.

Summary

I hope that this brief introduction has opened your eyes to the usefulness of ISO settings on digital cameras.

I think that the ability to change ISO on the fly is one of the biggest advantages that digital cameras have over film.

With film you'd have to shoot an entire roll at one ISO setting before you could switch to another (or you had to have 2 cameras with different ISO films).

With digital you can change the ISO anytime, anywhere. It gives you complete flexibility and control over the photos that you take.

Changing the ISO setting does take some getting used to, and it's still not easy to do on some digital camera models.

I am sure though that once you start using it, you'll find yourself saying "Please, sir, may I have some more?"

Chris Roberts purchased his first digital SLR camera 3 years ago, and hasn't looked back. He continues to learn and write about new and emerging digital SLRs to this day on his web sites, the Digital SLR Guide and the Digital SLR Guide Weblog

What is ISO 9000?

2007-12-27T23:29:00.001-08:00

ISO 9000 refers to a group of international standards developed by professionals from around the world. These standards allow companies to create in-house quality standard systems and to monitor their existing quality systems. The standards were developed and are maintained by the International Organization for Standardization and are implemented in over 90 countries worldwide. The standards set within ISO 9000 are considered to be generic because they can apply to any business, product or service regardless of the industry.

The International Organization for Standardization first developed standards for quality control in 1987 and has updated it twice since then. According to the organization, the standards were developed to enhance the growing global marketplace. With a set of standards that has met widespread acceptance, and people of all nations can recognize and understand their value.

ISO 9000 has quickly become the leading set of standards for companies throughout the globe. Quality management saves time, money and ensures customers are satisfied. Because many managers ask the question, “What is ISO 9000?” many resources for information have become available.

“9000” refers to five standards that are not specific to any particular company or industry. These standards do not reflect the quality of goods or service, but rather refer to the manner in which a company ensures its quality level. Registration and certification as compliant with ISO 9000 means that the company adheres to the rigorous set of standards as determined by an independent auditor. Employee relations, record keeping, product testing, and response to issues are among a few of the areas that are covered in ISO certification.

Whether large or small, ISO 9000 standards have been widely accepted in nearly every developed country. Having a set of quality standards has shaped the new millennium’s global marketplace and provides for enhanced customer service and employee relations. A company that has undergone ISO 9000 certification basically guarantees that they are true to their word. This gives customers and clients a sense of satisfaction and peace of mind.

ISO 9000 Info provides detailed information about ISO 9000 standards, software, consulting, help, and solutions. ISO 9000 Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

ISO 4217 in Forex Trading

2007-12-26T22:34:00.001-08:00

ISO 4217 is an international standard describing three letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The first two letters of the code are the two letters of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (which are similar to those used for national top-level domains on the internet) and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself. So Japan's currency code becomes JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the names dollar, franc and pound being used in dozens of different countries, all with wildly differing values.

The standard also defines the relationship between the major currency unit and any minor currency unit. Often, the minor currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but 1/10 or 1/1000 are also common. Some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums, and Madagascar has 1 ariary = 5 iraimbilanja.

ISO 4217 includes codes for not only currencies, but also codes for precious metals (gold, silver, palladium and platinum; normally measured in troy ounces) and certain other entities used in international finance, e.g. Special Drawing Rights. There are also special codes allocated for testing purposes (XTS), and to indicate no currency transactions (XXX). These codes all begin with the letter "X". ISO 3166 never assigns country codes beginning with "X", so ISO 4217 can use "X" codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes.

Supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO are normally also represented by codes beginning with an "X". However, the Euro is represented by the code EUR; although EU is not an ISO 3166-1 country code, it was used anyway, and in order to do so EU was added to the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list to represent the European Union. The predecessor to the Euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU.

More detail about ISO 4217 can be found on wikipedia.org

The author blog: Marketiva Forex

ISO 9000 Certification and Consulting

2007-12-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

The process of becoming ISO 9000 certified can be intimidating. The manuals regarding standards and certification are written in such a way that most of us can barely comprehend what they are saying. Fortunately, several specialists are available to assist in the process. These specialists are experts in providing ISO 9000 consulting.

ISO 9000 consultants can help you to understand and effectively manage new and existing standards. By enlisting the help of a qualified professional, you can be assured that you are correctly implementing the processes. Consultants can also help you to utilize your ISO 9000 software program to document and implement your new program.

Even if you have been ISO 9000 certified for many years, a consultant can help keep you abreast the new issues and standards. An ISO 9000 consultant can help your company to achieve maximum performance and benefits from your quality control standards.

Many ISO 9000 consulting firms offer individual and comprehensive packages. The comprehensive packages include training for the implementation of ISO 9000 standards, training for internal auditors, training for documentation and training for lead auditors. When implementing these standards it is important to know that your management team is on board with the changes and fully understand the importance and implications.

Other ISO 9000 consultants offer training for individual areas. Your company can choose between on-site training or attending an overview class. For those considering taking the ISO 9000 plunge, an overview class on standards, regulations and certifications is an excellent place to start. You can gain a vast amount of knowledge by attending the courses and get a good idea of what the process entails.

When choosing a consulting firm you should begin by identifying your company’s particular needs. Some firms specialize in creating individual training programs specific to your company. They can get an idea of what you need and develop a comprehensive plan to meet those goals. Other firms only offer generic or pre-packaged training and advice. For some industries, pre-packaged training programs may be suitable and for others it may not. Perhaps a company should begin by asking for references from the consultants and find out exactly what they can do to help your company in the ISO 9000 process.

ISO 9000 Info provides detailed information about ISO 9000 standards, software, consulting, help, and solutions. ISO 9000 Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

The ISO Network Management Model

2007-12-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

The rumor on how Disney uses Network Management. When the temperature rises on the park grounds at Disneyland all the prices of the beverage vending machines automatically goes up by 10% to fully capitalize on consumer demand. I believe that is an old Information Technology rumor to explain how network management works... at least I hope it is a rumor.

Why Network Management is important.
More and more organizations depend on their networks. Business’ the depend heavily on the status of their networks must have network management tools as they grow. If a network dependent business such as ebay, Google, Yahoo and many others go down for even a few minutes, they can loose literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales and even a small piece of their customer’s confidence which could in turn affect the value of their stock. When every second of network time counts the system must be monitored continuously. The most cost effective way to do this is to use an automated network management tool.

Network Management Standards
The International Organization for Standards (ISO) addresses the five major functional area of the Network Management Model as performance management, accounting management, configuration management, fault management and security management.

Performance Management
Performance management is monitoring, assessing, and adjusting the available bandwidth and network resource usage in order make a network run more efficiently. Performance management is a very important part of the network management model particularly to the business and/or organization that wants to streamline their network's performance. SolarWinds is a great tool for performance management.

Accounting Management
Accounting management monitors and assesses the usage of data and/or resources for the purpose of billing. This aspect of the network management is by Internet Service Providers to bill customers for the resources they use.

Configuration Management
The configuration side of network management is for tracking the hardware and software versions on the network to identify their effects on the network's operation. An example of this is Microsoft’s System Management Server (SMS) which has the capability to monitor, manage and track every piece of software and hardware on a given network.

Fault Management
Fault Management is what most people think of when they think of network management. The purpose of this area of network management is to detect, log and alert the system administrators of problems that might effect the systems operations.

Security Management
Security Management deals with controlling access to resources and even alerting the proper authorities when certain resources are accessed. In the same way that a network manager can be paged or emailed when a resource goes down, network management systems can be used to send messages when certain files, servers or routers is accesses. Intrusion detection systems such as Symantec’s Intruder Alert have this security management capability.

There are many products that support some or even all of these areas of network management. What most network management systems have in common is their use of protocols such as Simple Network Management Protocols (SNMP), SNMPv3, and Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP). There are a variety of Network Management tools ranging from Intuit's Network Management Software to IBM's Tivoli, Fidelia's Helix to AdventNet. Maybe your network management solution does not include a system that increases vending machine prices as the heat rises, but you can definitely find what you need among these and other excellent tools on the market.

References:

Cisco. Network Management Basics. Cisco.com. Feb 2002
http://www.cisco.com/

RFC 1157. Simple Network Management Protocol.
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1157.html

Wikipedia. Network Management. Wikipedia.org.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_management

ITPRC. Network Management. Itprc.com
http://www.itprc.com/nms.htm

Robert Elam is a System Security Engineer who works for the U.S. government.

You can find a more detailed version of this and other articles at his blog, http://elamb.org.

ISO 9001, What Next?

2007-12-18T22:11:00.001-08:00

The overriding goal of ISO-14000. (History 1995)

As ISO-9000 becomes a way of life for the global business community, ISO-14000 is almost ready to debut with its own set of standards for voluntary environmental compliance.

Much has been heard recently about the antiregulation sentiment sweeping across the country. Lawmakers in Washington have responded with talk of "regulatory reform" and programs aimed at "re-inventing government."

One of the targets of this regulatory backlash has been the ever-burgeoning flood of environmental laws and regulations continuing to impose burdens on corporate America. A common thread running throughout this rhetoric has been a perception that government is too big and that corporate self-policing and self-management can achieve far greater benefits at far less cost.

It is unlikely that meaningful relief from environmental regulations will come any time soon. However, a major step in the direction of voluntary corporate initiatives in this area is on the horizon.

Getting Ready for 14000

The Geneva-based International Standards Organization, with the assistance of representatives from over 40 countries, is in the final stages of developing ISO-14000, a set of voluntary international environmental quality standards designed to promote sound corporate management of environmental compliance matters.

When fully adopted in early 1996, the standards will allow companies to obtain ISO-14000 certification of their operations in recognition of the development of these comprehensive environmental quality standards.

ISO-14000 is the second major undertaking of the International Standards Organization in developing international quality management systems for business enterprises. In the mid-1980s the Organization adopted its ISO-9000 series of standards for corporate quality management. The ISO-9000 program provided a formal mechanism for certifying that a company had developed and integrated certain quality management principles into its business operations.

While initially slow to gain acceptance in the business community, ISO-9000 certification is fast becoming a necessary part of standard business practices, both in the US and abroad. It is estimated that by 1996, 12,000 US companies will be ISO-9000-certified, up from only 100 in 1990. Internationally, more than 50,000 companies have received ISO-9000 certification.

The idea behind extending the ISO quality management principles into the environmental arena arose out of the historic United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Joe Cascio, IBM program director/environmental, health and safety standardization, and chairman of one of the ISO technical advisor groups, reports that the Rio conference discussions produced "a proliferation of national and regional environmental management, labeling and audit schemes that could have impacted international trade in a very severe way." The need to bring some standardization to these conflicting programs ultimately provided the impetus for the formation of ISO-14000.

What IS0-14000 is - and isn't - About

What, then, is ISO-14000 all about? The overriding goal of ISO-14000 is to develop a comprehensive system of universally accepted corporate standards to ensure that companies will be in a position to successfully manage their environmental compliance matters.

ISO-14000 is not about developing regulations to attain certain pollution standards. Instead, the focus is on the management of environmental issues or the development of internal corporate management programs ultimately leading to responsible and verifiable operating strategies that will result in the efficient use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

ISO-14000 calls for the development of corporate Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) to guide not only the environmental performance of a company's industrial operations but also the potential environmental impact of the goods or services produced.

As envisioned by ISO-14000, an effective corporate EMS requires that a company review the environmental issues and challenges confronting the organization and ultimately develop policies, objectives, target strategies and production processes to meet and properly manage these challenges.

ISO-14000 spells out in detail the guiding principles for the development of effective EMS programs:

First and foremost, ISO-14000 acknowledges that environmental management must be among the highest corporate priorities. ISO-14000 also acknowledges that a company and its highest levels of management must demonstrate their commitment to the EMS process.

Additionally, for effective implementation of EMS programs, ISO-14000 recognizes the importance of adequate resources, including proper employee training, to the success of any EMS.

Finally, ISO-14000 recognizes that standardized and comprehensive procedures must be in place in order to correctly assess the effectiveness of these EMS programs and ensure the accountability of responsible corporate managers for the success or failure of these endeavors.

Moving beyond philosophical principles, ISO-14000 also details the critical elements of an effective EMS. It requires companies to perform an "Initial Environmental Review" of their operations. This review will include an identification of all regulatory obligations and potentially significant environmental impacts of a company's operations. This initial review must also include an honest assessment of the company's compliance status and the extent to which the company is meeting its regulatory obligations.

Once this review is completed and a company understands the status of its environmental compliance efforts, it can then move on to the EMS planning process. ISO-14000 states as one of its guiding principles that "an organization should focus on what needs to be done - it should have a purpose and a plan."

For the implementation of an EMS, the purpose and plan includes the development of overriding environmental policies, the establishment of environmental objectives and targets to meet these policy goals, and the preparation of a strategic plan and management program aimed at implementing these identified policies and objectives through scheduled action items.

The remaining critical component of an effective EMS, as recognized in ISO-14000, is the development of procedures to measure and monitor a company's success in carrying out its EMS and achieving its environmental policy and performance goals.

Critical components of ISO-14000 are the development of standardized performance evaluation and auditing procedures. Once completed, these procedures will be used as benchmarks to assess the true effectiveness of any EMS.

The EMS program outlined in ISO-14000 is by no means revolutionary. In fact, critics of ISO-14000 argue the program is nothing more than a paperwork exercise with few benefits and many burdens. Proponents offer that evaluating existing compliance, documenting findings and actively attempting to manage the environmental impact of one's operation is a challenge for even the most e nvironmentally responsible of corporate citizens.

The corresponding benefits to be gained from this process, say these proponents, include the fostering of good public relations and community and consumer support, the simplification of the compliance challenge through an understandable and orderly EMS implementation process, and the opportunity for cost savings and increased profits resulting from proactive management of environmental liabilities and the thoughtful development of pollution prevention and resource conservation strategies.

What Will the Impact Be?

At this early stage in the ISO-14000 development process, it is hard to predict the exact impact these new standards will have on the industrial community, including the converting industry. Many observers are predicting the impact to be significant and pervasive. In part, this view is bolstered by the dramatic integration of the ISO-9000 standards into the industrial community.

It is expected that companies with substantial international operations will be obligated to pursue ISO-14000 certification as this program continues to gain momentum abroad.

For US operations the impact is a little less certain. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a "wait and see" attitude on ISO-14000. To date, the Agency has resisted programs that have strayed too far from traditional "command and control" regulatory schemes. Recently, though, with its Common Sense Initiatives and Environmental Leadership Program, EPA appears to be moving in the direction of affirming, if not promoting, ISO-14000-styled programs.

In order for ISO-14000 to truly catch on in the US, however, EPA must move beyond merely a tacit recognition of the program and provide tangible benefits to the regulated community for achieving ISO-14000 recognition.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 Okay Now You Have It How Do You Market It?

2007-12-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

Marketing ISO 9001 2000.

Lately we've been seeing a lot of press releases from wineries and suppliers touting their ISO certifications. "We've obtained ISO 9001: 2000," they trumpet. Great! But what exactly does that mean?

In simple terms, ISO certification verifies a company's compliance to a set of globally accepted s tandards for quality management and operational systems. The name ISO refers to both the Greek word for equal, and the International Organization for Standardization, a worldwide federation established in 1947 with a mission to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services. More than 90 countries use the ISO standard.

According to Anke Varcin, head of public relations for ISO, the organization's function is to develop the standards that auditors use to evaluate companies seeking certification. "ISO ... does not audit organizations and does not issue certificates attesting to the fact that they conform to ISO standards," Varcin explained. "Certification is carried out independently of ISO by some 750 certification bodies around the world. ISO does not control their activities."

How does ISO determine its standards? "What happens is that the need for a standard is felt by an industry or business sector which communicates the requirement to one of ISO's national members," Varcin said. "The latter then proposes the new work item to ISO as a whole. If accepted, the work item is assigned to an existing technical committee. Proposals may also be made to set up technical committees to cover new scopes of technological activity. In order to use resources most efficiently, ISO only launches the development of new standards for which there is clearly a market requirement."

There are many different types of certification, depending on the company's function and the year in which certification was issued. "Previously, 'ISO 9000-certified' organizations were actually certified to one of the three standards in the 1994 version of the ISO 9000 series: ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003," Varcin said. "The scope of these standards differed, but they were of equal rank." (For more information about the various certifications, visit the ISO Web site: iso.org.)

In 2000, the revised and improved ISO 9001:2000 standard was introduced to replace the 1994 versions. Organizations certified to the 1994 versions were given until Dec. 15, 2003, to upgrade to ISO 9001:2000. Both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 concern the way a company goes about its work--but not directly the result of this work. However, the way in which a company manages its processes will obviously affect its final product.

So why seek ISO certification? "Deciding to have an independent audit of a management system ... is a decision to be taken on business grounds," Varcin said. Companies may decide to seek ISO certification for any number of reasons, including market requirements, customer preferences or staff motivation. Companies that adhere to ISO standards may benefit from increased demand for their products, more positive customer feedback and a reduction in costs.

On the subject of cost, there is no set price for certification. According to Varcin, it varies depending on such factors as the company's current quality management system, the size and complexity of the organization and the attitude and commitment of the top management.

Setting An Example

If anyone knows how the ISO certification process works, it's Lisa Farrell, director of communications for New York's Canandaigua Wine Company. Two of Canandaigua's wineries--Mission Bell, in Madera, Calif., and New York's Widmer's Wine Cellars--have obtained ISO 9001:2000, and several more of the company's California, New York and Washington wineries are scheduled to follow.

"Canandaigua Wine is making a concerted effort toward standardizing its processes throughout the production environment to gain discipline and sustainability," Farrell explained. "The ISO certification provides us with standard operating procedures, which include valuable communication and system feedback loops among Canandaigua Wine and its customers, employees and managers. It helps us document and control our manufacturing processes to help exceed customer expectations and ensure quality processes within our production environment."

To get the process rolling, Canandaigua worked with Dr. Judy Luchsinger, who consulted with Fetzer during its ISO certification in 1994. With Luchsinger's help, Mission Bell and Widmer's completed the following steps leading to their ISO 9001:2000 certifications.

Applied to approved ISO-certifying bodies and selected Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance for auditing toward certification

Formation of ISO leadership teams at both wineries

Kick-off meetings held with employees at both wineries

Quality manuals created at both wineries

Employee training at both wineries

Audit and certification process, including all areas of production, bottling and distribution, including internal and external audits conducted by an assessor representing Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance.

"After the external audit, the assessor then makes a recommendation for or against certification, which is reviewed by the management team of (the certifying body)," Farrell said. Both Mission Bell and Widmer's were approved after about a year.

"The (certification) standards are challenging to meet," Farrell said. "To pursue them, you must follow standard operating procedures as outlined in your quality manual and have the discipline and focus needed to follow these consistently and in a highly efficient manner. This process demands strong leadership from senior management and a sense of commitment and teamwork among employees at all levels."

Is Getting Certified Worth The Effort?

To get the inside scoop, we asked wine industry suppliers (listed in the W & V Buyer's Guide/Directory) to tell us why their companies took the plunge, and whether or not they're happy with the results. This partial list represents a random sampling.

Supreme Corq, Inc. Kent, Wash.

According to marketing manager Joyce Steers-Greget, Supreme Corq decided to pursue ISO certification "to ensure a consistent, quality product ... to ensure continuing customer satisfaction and effective process controls ... and to receive a globally recognized quality process certification." The company earned ISO 9001:2000 in July of 2002. "Our customers are pleased that we have taken this proactive step ... Some larger wineries or grocers require compliance to quality and food standards to be an approved supplier. As the wine industry becomes more global, ISO certification will likely be necessary to compete in this international arena."

M.A. Silva Corks, USA Santa Rosa, Calif.

"Our supplier in Portugal felt that the market was looking for companies that had that certification, that (it would give them) some sort of competitive advantage. They also felt that it would greatly improve the company's performance and (help it to) operate at a better standard," said company representative Neil Foster. After meeting the requirements for ISO 9001, Foster said, the company's product improved and business increased. "And also new markets opened up for us...and we noticed that we saw increasing business from (existing) customers. It's a positive thing, without a doubt."

Novembal San Francisco, Calif.

Though Novembal itself is not ISO certified, its supplier--TetraPak Plastics in Mexico--obtained ISO 9001:2000 in Nov., 2002. "We (felt) that is was important for our company to adopt a quality system like ISO, because this system permits us to integrate all of the company's processes--human resources, maintenance and management," said TetraPak ISO coordinator Adriana Flores. Since adopting ISO standards, Flores said, her company's clients feel more secure and the company's processes run more smoothly. "The most important improvement is the process standardization."

Scott Laboratories, Inc. Petaluma, Calif.

"In order for our growing company to continually improve we needed a good documented quality management system," said ISO lead auditor Mary Ann Changnon. "Also some of our customers were requiring ISO certification from their vendors." The company's cork and laboratory sectors were awarded ISO 9000:1994 in July of 1999, and all company sectors obtained ISO 9001:2000 in August of 2001. "We use ISO certification as a sales tool. We open our quality system to our customers so they can see our commitment to continually improve both our products and services. We have noticed improvements in many of our products due to improved processes as a result of customer input."

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 and Total Quality Management

2007-12-12T23:11:00.001-08:00

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management, or TQM, has become one of the most frequently discussed topics in current business literature. Because of the competitive pressures created by Japanese companies, quality became a competitive weapon in the 1980s in most industries. Its role in economic life seems to be attaining a new level in the 1990s; in some industries, such as the automotive industry, quality no longer seems to be a competitive weapon, but rather a prerequisite to survival.

Competitive pressures of the 1980s and 1990s have been felt most strongly in the major industries that are dominated by very large firms. Large U.S. corporations were the first to feel the impact of international competition and suffer its devastating effects. Thus, it is natural that almost all discussions of quality and related issues have focused on large corporations. Small firms seem all but forgotten. This article attempts to attract attention to this neglect and propose a conceptual framework for implementing TQM in the small business environment. Specifically, its emphasis is on small firms in the United States.

The main assumption is that quality is as important for small businesses as it is for large corporations. One reason is that some small companies have been competing directly with foreign firms for a long time; some have suffered the same consequences as large companies, while others have prospered in the competition. A second reason is that many large firms rely on a number of small companies for parts and services they use in producing their products. Quality-conscious corporations are demanding continuously higher quality in the goods and services they buy from small businesses; at the same time, they are reducing considerably the number of vendors. Criteria used in deciding which company to keep as a vendor are based almost entirely on cost and quality. Third, competition in the American economy seems to be intensifying, and new conditions emerge to which small firms have to adapt. Quality and productivity seem to be the indispensable main ingredients in a small firm's struggle for survival in these new conditions.

SMALL BUSINESS DEFINED

A challenging issue one must deal with when writing about small business--an issue that has not yet been settled in a generally accepted manner--is to define what small business is and distinguish it from big business. Most of the attempts at defining small business have to rely on some quantifiable characteristic, such as the number of employees, sales volume, or worth of assets. One classification scheme defines a small business as a firm with fewer than 500 employees. A more detailed classification divides this range further into subcategories: very small (1-19); small (20-99); and medium (100-499). Any company with more than 500 employees is considered to be a big business.

But there are other, qualitative approaches that offer valuable insight into understanding small business. According to The Small Business Act of 1953, a small business is independently owned and operated and not dominant in its field of operation. The Committee for Economic Development, as reported in Broom and Longenecker (1993), proposed identifying a small business as a firm that is characterized by at least two of the following:

Management is independent; usually the manager is also the owner.

Capital is supplied and ownership is held by an individual or a small group.

The area of operations is mainly local; workers and owners tend to be in one home community, although the markets need not be.

The business is small compared to the biggest units in its field.

Clearly, these are all useful definitions of small business, with some more appropriate for certain purposes than others. The classification that divides small businesses into three sub-categories (very small, small, and medium) with respect to the number of employees will be used in the rest of the discussion in this paper--not as rigid groups that are clearly distinguishable from others, but as reference points along a continuum of small businesses of different sizes.

The main reason for this approach is that the number of people a firm employs is usually proportional to the magnitude of its financial and human resources. Consequently, the number of employees is a proxy for the resources a firm may possess. The resources at the disposal of a company play an important role in the implementation of TQM. Therefore, the position of small firms along the size continuum (from 1 to 499 employees) will indicate the level of resources they possess.

THE NATURE OF SMALL BUSINESS

Many believe that a small business is more than just a "scaled-down" version of a big business. What makes it different may be discussed in four categories: (a) ownership, management, and organizational structure; (b) capital and resources; (c) objectives; and (d) markets and customers. In the following paragraphs, characteristics in each category will be described briefly. Later they will be referred to as they relate to applying TQM in the small business environment.

Ownership, Management, and Organizational Structure

Almost all small businesses start small and stay that way. Usually they are started by an entrepreneur who has a bright idea about a service or has developed a new product that fills a niche. A majority of small firms are privately owned; only about 40,000 of them are publicly traded. In most cases the business is owned by the entrepreneur, or jointly by close family members. The management is independent; usually the owner is the manager and reports to no one, or to other members of the family if they are also owners. Absentee ownership is very rare.

Although owners/entrepreneurs are generally experts in the product or service they produce, they usually have neither the education nor the skills required to manage a business. Many small business owners, who do not understand the intricacies of running a business and being proud craftsmen, may think those duties are beneath them. Yet they end up making most of the decisions--at least all the critical ones. Often they do not know how to delegate authority and responsibility, or the organization lacks qualified people to assume some of the authority and responsibility. Consequently, an owner has to make decisions in areas such as inventory or finance that are usually the responsibility of expert professionals in large firms.

Organization structure in a small firm is usually very simple, with few layers. Sometimes management positions are filled by family members, making it a truly family business. Employees usually perform a variety of tasks, often giving the business greater flexibility than larger businesses have. In general, organizational complexity and the number of levels increase as one moves from companies with a few employees to the higher end of the size continuum.

Capital and Resources

Because of the nature of ownership, typical small business firms often suffer from a shortage of capital. Originally, capital is supplied by the owner or the owner's family. Additional capital for growth, or Short-term credit for weathering bad times, is very difficult to raise. The main reason for the difficulty in obtaining long-term financing is that a large proportion of a typical small firm's assets includes short-lived equipment and fixtures, leaving insufficient long-term assets to qualify for long-term loans. Many small businesses do not even have sufficient record keeping to provide the necessary documents for bank loans. Insufficient capital is usually the main reason why most small businesses are service companies.

In addition to sparse. physical resources, small businesses are also severely limited in human resources, and so cannot attract highly qualified and experienced managers or professionals. Again, this weakness disappears as the firm grows in size and sales. Many small companies, however, provide some employees with a rich learning experience because of their focus on craftsmanship and the multitude of tasks required of them.

Objectives

Many small businesses are established as a means of self-employment. As long as the owner receives a satisfactory income, there may be no desire to expand the business. In some cases, the motive for profit may take a back seat to other motives, such as pride and craftsmanship. Some may become small business owners because they prefer a more relaxed and less competitive environment. Some have the objective of maintaining ownership and control of the business. Thus, growth is not an objective for many owners. According to Solomon (1986), most small firms fall into this category.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 What Records Does My Business Need To Keep?

2007-12-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

Which documents must I keep for ISO 9001?

In addition to the legislative requirement for your business to keep certain records ISO 9001 2000 requires your business to retain other records to demonstrate compliance with its various clauses.

From an ISO 9001 2000 viewpoint records are documents generated whilst operating your Quality Management System. Typical examples are records of management reviews, purchase orders, sales orders, test results and internal quality system audits.

An ISO 9001 2000 consultant can be very helpful to your business in deciding which records are required and those that are not.

The standard is not specific about how long your business must retain each record but in order not to fall foul of your own Quality Management System, or the law, you might like to consider the following.

If your business offers a period of (x) years guarantee with its product you must keep associated records for at least (x) years.

If your business sells products that have legislative requirements for product testing you must keep associated records for the life of the product and sometimes longer.

Any legislative requirement for you to keep records associated with your product or service.

Records can be in many formats including computer generated records such as those maintained by the Easy ISO 9001 2000® software package.

It would be wise to remember when keeping computer based records for long periods (say 10 - 30 years) the medium upon which the data is stored will deteriorate and therefore you must periodically validate its integrity. Another factor to consider with long term data storage is will a device still be available in 30 years time to read the media upon which the data is stored? I still have computer programs on punch tape but I no longer have a punch tape reader! If you do not know what I am talking about here take it as validation of this advice. (Punch tape was a medium for storing computer programs and data in the 1960's and 1970's)

The following table identifies the specific records required by ISO 9001 2000. The list does not include records that your business might choose to retain voluntarily or those required by legislative requirements for your product or service.

Clause Document to retain, (Record)

5.6.1 Minutes from your Quality Management Review meetings, including any actions raised.

6.2.2 Education, training, skills and experience.(Sub clause-e)

7.1 Evidence that the realization processes and resulting product fulfill requirements. (Sub clause-d)

7.2.2 Results of the review of the requirements relating to the product and actions arising from the review.

7.3.2 Design and development inputs.

7.3.4 Results of design and development reviews and any necessary action.

7.3.5 Results of design and development verification and any necessary action.

7.3.6 Results of design and development validation and any necessary action.

7.3.7 Results of the review of design and development changes and any necessary action.

7.4.1 Results of supplier evaluations and actions arising from evaluations.

7.5.2 As required by the organization to demonstrate the validation of processes where the resulting output cannot be verified by subsequent monitoring and measurement. (Sub clause-d)

7.5.3 The unique identification of the product, where traceability is a requirement.

7.5.4 Customer property that is lost, damaged or otherwise found to be unsuitable for use.

7.6 Standards used for calibration or verification of measuring equipment where no international or national measurement standards exist. (Sub clause-a)

7.6 Validity of previous results when measuring equipment is found not to conform with its requirements.

7.6 Results of calibration or verification of measuring equipment.

8.2.2 Internal audit results.

8.2.4 Evidence of product conformity with the acceptance criteria and indication of the authority responsible for the release of the product.

8.3 Nature of the product non-conformities and any subsequent actions taken, including concessions obtained.

8.5.2 Results of corrective actions.

8.5.3 Results of preventive actions.

Driso provide ISO 9001 2000 consultancy, auditing, software, and training Services. They also supply Easy ISO 9001 2000® software for initially setting up an ISO 9001 2000 compliant Quality Management System or improving upon an existing one. To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

Is ISO 9001 2000 Right For My Business?

2007-12-05T22:41:00.001-08:00

Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO 9001 2000 registration for your business.

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?

Preventable errors reoccur again and again?

It is not possible to state exactly what benefits your organization will gain by having a formal quality system, primarily because each organisation is different. However, I think it is fair to say that most organisations will benefit from having a formalised 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 organisation 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 organisation 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 organisation 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 organisation including the articles on this web site.

You may like to begin your ISO 9001 2000 education by reading the various articles on this web site. You will find they cover a broad spectrum of businesses, There is also an excellent Q&A sectionthat will answer the majority of commonly asked questions about ISO 9001 2000 registration and related topics.

Alternatively you could take an ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management training course, there are many available and they cater for beginners right through to ISO 9001 2000 experts.

To determine the amount of input required by your organisation 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, a consultant will be able to identify exactly what your organisation needs to do in order to achieve the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard.

Many organisations opt to carry out a gap analysis audit using a member of staff. However, the initial gap analysis audit is arguably the most important stage in the ISO 9001 2000 registration process. If the initial gap analysis is incorrect then both financial and human resources will be wasted. For this reason alone it is well worth seeking professional help from a consultant to carry out the gap analysis for you.

Many organisations who opt to jump straight into the Gap Analysis 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 organisation 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 has:

A documented Quality policy.

Been setting and using documented Quality objectives.

Customer and consumer complaints fall dramatically.

Documented Top management reviews of your Quality Management System.

A 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 and compliant Quality Management System Audits.

Formal Customer complaint process with effective corrective and preventive action methods.

If however, you have reached this stage and are concerned if you have missed something important you can hire a consultant to carry out a [Pre-Assessment]. A pre-assessment is a gap-analysis survey carried out by a professional who compares what processes your organisation has in place compared to those required by the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard.

The consultant will report any deficiencies in your organisations 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 the consultant.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 2000, Getting Started on The Route To Registration

2007-12-05T22:40:00.001-08:00

ISO 9001 2000, Getting started

Before starting the ISO 9001 2000 route to registration you will need to have the top management on board. This can be achieved by highlighting to top management the cost benefits to the business of ISO 9001 2000 registration.

If you feel unable to sell the benefits of ISO 9001 registration to your business or that you are unqualified to do this then it will be worth you contacting a consultant to assist you with this process. The consultant will have all the necessary tools and examples to hand.

Next you will need to consider what your business is trying to achieve, most businesses want to make money but as with all things there are many ways of achieving the same goal. Some businesses are very good at what they do but I have never yet encountered the perfect business.

If you feel there is no room for improvement in you business you may need to see your doctor about delusional thoughts.

(If you genuinely think you have the perfect business, be it ISO 9001 2000 related or otherwise please contact me at [admindriso.co.uk] and invite me to audit your business. Yes I do charge, albeit the normal daily rate.)

Okay, so you now know what your business is trying to achieve. I'm sure it will be something like:

"We aim to provide our customers with the best value (Widgets or service) on time, every time etc.

Well done, you have just written your companies Quality Management System Policy.

Next we have to look at how your business is going to work towards and then achieve its new Policy. A good starting point is to identify the objectives each department need to set in order to meet the requirements of your policy. Some typical examples for a Sales order process might be:

Reply to customer enquiries within 1 hours of receipt.

Update sales database with customer details before order acknowledgment.

After sales database entry send order acknowledgement on the same day as order received.

Send product catalogue to new customer on day of order receipt.

Run credit check on new customers before loading order to production schedule.

The process objectives can be documented in text format or as flow simple flow diagram. Many businesses now opt for a simple flow diagram because it dictates pictorially how a process works.

Great, you have now documented your first process. Next we need to consider what records to keep so that you can demonstrate the process objectives have been met. In the above example all the necessary records are kept on the sales database. The database automatically records the time between order entry, reply to customer, completion of customer details, acknowledgment sent, product catalogue sent, completion of credit check and loading of order to production schedule. The database will only allow things to be completed in a certain order; for example it will not allow the order to be loaded to the production schedule prior to an acceptable credit check being received. To ensure that only authorised people access the sales database it is password protected and it records the computer users ID against each sales database entry.

At the end of each week the sales manager runs an exception report to identify which targets have or have not been met, this gives him the opportunity to implement corrective action if the process is not being operated as planned. The corrective action may simply involve the re-allocation resources or additional employee training. You can of course run this process without a computer system by using a check-sheet where the process checkpoints are recorded. Using a paper-based system relies heavily on your business not entering into a blame culture, otherwise your employees may decide to falsify results rather than report a process failure. A business that operates a blame culture will never be successful, as there is no incentive for employees to report process errors and more importantly the business does not know where its processes are breaking down.

Excellent, you have documented a Quality Management System policy for your business, set departmental objectives needed to meet that policy and generated records which can be used for business process improvement.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 the Process Approach to Quality Assurance

2007-12-03T01:31:00.001-08:00

What is the Process Approach to Quality?

The ISO 9001 2000 standard is designed to manage and improve organizations processes. There is a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the meaning of the process approach to Quality.

If you have at all been involved with quality assurance I am sure that you will at least heard of the "process approach" to Quality Assurance even if you are not fully aware of its meaning. The process approach to Quality Assurance is based on the idea that an organization is a system of interlinked processes.

If an organization does not define how its individual activities work together and the order in which the activities are performed it cannot deliver a quality product to its customers.

The process approach to quality involves analysing and then documenting the actual activities and links between those activities within an organization using simple process flowcharts. This technique is typically used by an auditor when conducting a gap analysis on a business. If you are unsure about your ability to identify your processes then you can employ a consultant to assist you.

Once the process and their interactions have been identified a framework of procedures and work instructions can be built around them.

It can often be the case that the output from one process in an organization is the input for another process within the same organization. As can be seen in the diagram below where the output for activity one is the input for activity two and similarly the output of activity two is the input for activity three.

When analysing the processes within your organization it should be remembered that processes may link to processes outside of your organization. A typical example of this might be the product design interface between you and your customer.

Your organization sends a design concept to the customer (the Process input).

The customer approves the design (the Process activity).

You receive back the approved concept design (Process output)

In many organizations it may be possible to break down each process still further into their individual sub-process components, (please forgive the simplistic example).

For example: The posting of a letter might be broken down into.

Process 1: Selection of the envelope type. E.g. Padded, anti static, brown, white, anti-static.

Process 2: Selection of postal method. E.g. Courier, air-freight, secure, insecure.

Process 3: Selection of first or second class postage, same day, seven day.

Each of these processes can then be broken down into sub-processes. E.g. The closure of the envelope. Should it be the type you lick, self adhesive, secured with sticky tape, security fastener or wax seal?

One always has to look at the common sense approach as to how far you should break each process down into sub-processes. For example: If the customer does not specify the method of envelope seal to be used then any type of seal may be used as long as it is fit for purpose. However, if the customer specifies a particular type of seal for certain products the process becomes more important to both you and your customer and therefore the process is worthy of documentation.

If you have difficulty documenting your processes, especially regarding the amount of detail required then it may be worth employing a consultant to guide you through the process. If your procedures are too prescriptive you will end up with unmanageable documents which serve no real purpose. A consultant will be able to minimise your documentation while ensuring compliance with ISO 9001 2000.

Many organizations already have documented instructions in the form of standard operating procedures (SOP's) and work instructions (WI's) that define how individual activities are performed. However, it is often the case that the interfaces between these instructions are misaligned. In some cases the interfaces are not even considered let alone documented. Misaligned process interfaces within an organisaton often leads to process fragmentation and eventually to break down of the organizations processes.

The ISO 9001 2000 standard has adopted the process approach to Quality management systems which is designed to improve an organizations processes.

The following rules may be used to implement a process approach to your Organizations Quality Management System.

Identify your Organizations key processes.

Define Quality Assurance levels for those processes.

Decide how process quality will be measured.

Document your approach to achieving the desired quality.

Evaluate your quality level and continuously improve it.

The following example will help guide you through the methology of identifying process inputs, activities and outputs.

As an example, let us consider the Purchasing Process:

1. The Input to the Purchasing process is a requirement to purchase materials, components or services.

2. The Purchasing Activity involves selecting a supplier from our approved supplier list and preparing a purchase order. We will interact with - The supplier: to place the order. - Receiving: to notify them of the material ordered. We may interact with - Engineering: if Purchasing specifications are needed. - Quality Assurance: if Receiving inspection is needed and to disposition the product if it is non-conforming when received.

3. The Output of the purchasing process is an approved purchase order released to the supplier.

A typical manufacturing company will have the following product realization processes:

Customer Enquiry.

Review and Quote.

Receive Order

Prepare Process Control Documentation

Purchase Materials

Receive Materials

Production

Pack

Label and Ship

In addition, we have the following support processes:

Management Review

Training

Document Control

Internal Auditing

Corrective and Preventive Action

Summary: As you develop your quality system, you must define the sequence and interaction of your processes in your quality manual as required in Section 4.2.2 of the new standard.

As you define your processes and prepare the accompanying documentation, be sure that the inputs, activities, interactions and outputs are fully defined so your quality system is effective.

Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration

2007-12-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

The steps need to be taken to prepare an organization for ISO 9001 2000 registration:

Whilst the following text is not exhaustive in its content it should give you a reasonable idea of what’s involved in setting up an ISO 9001 2000 registration within an organization.

First and most importantly you should either purchase a copy of the ISO 9001 2000 standard or read a copy at your local library.

At first glance many of the terms referred to in the standard sound quite confusing but if you study the content of this web site you will soon become familiar with the terminology used.

Now that you are a little more familiar with the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard and its terminology you should start to analyze the current practices of your organization to those documented within the ISO 9001 2000 standard,This process is known as a gap analysis audit. You can either carry this process out yourselves or employ the skills of an ISO 9001 2000 consultant to carry out the task for you.

It is very important to get this audit right as the results will be used to set the direction of your organization on its route to full ISO 9001 2000 registration. In short if this audit is wrong or incomplete your organization will happily steam along in the wrong direction, wasting resources as it goes, until someone tells you otherwise. If I were to give one piece of advice here it would be to recommend using a professional, a small amount of money spent at this stage could save you unnecessary expenditure if you were to get it wrong.

As the gap analysis audit on your organization progresses you will be able to identify the processes which are already documented, and those that are not. It will be useful to your organization to compile a list of documents that you will need for the Quality Management System as you complete the gap analysis audit, there is no sense in doing the same job twice.

It is important to remember that just because a process is documented does not necessarily mean it is compliant with the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard. Almost certainly your organization will have to tweak existing processes and or instigate new ones in order to comply with the documented requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard.

For this purpose you may decide to bring together a team of employees and have them review the processes and suggest improvements which will make the process compliant with ISO 9001 2000. Alternatively you may wish to employ an ISO 9001 2000 consultant to carry out this task for you. Whilst a consultant may initially seem expensive he or she will have the experience to complete the task expediently and cost effectively.

Now that the organizations processes and any short falls against the ISO 9001 2000 standard have been identified they have to be documented in a within a controlled document control system. Whilst there is not a definitive, prescribed method to document an ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management System there are, as with most things, easy and hard ways of doing this. If you are unsure how to do this there is an example procedure here or once again you can employ a consultant to complete this task expediently.

Design and implement the Quality Management System to comply with the requirements of ISO 9001 2000.

This will typically require:

Establishing a quality policy and measurable quality objectives.

Documenting a quality manual, describing your Quality Management System.

Documenting procedures which describe the processes in your organization.

Creating a document issue, withdrawal and re-issue of documents system.

Documenting test and inspection methods.

Documenting a corrective and preventive action process.

Identification of training needs and necessary job skills.

Calibrating and controlling measuring and test equipment.

Measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction.

Measuring process, and product conformity.

Training employees on the operation of the quality management system.

Planning, conducting and following up internal Quality Management System audits.

Continual improvement of the Quality Management System.

As each process in your organization is revised, documented and implemented you need to ensure that your employees are trained accordingly in the operation of the revised process and that their documented training records are updated. All employees must have had at least basic ISO 9001 2000 training so that they can demonstrate that they understand what is required of them. You can either attempt this training your self or employ a consultant trainer to do this task for you.

You must generate and keep documented records of employee training in accordance with your new processes procedures which, of course must be compliant with ISO 9001 2000.

These records will be used as evidence to prove to your ISO assessor that you are operating your Quality Management System in accordance with your documented procedures and ISO 9001 2000. Driso's Easy ISO 9001 2000® software will record, control all of your organisations training records in an ISO 9001 2000 compliant format.

As your processes evolve you must start internal quality management system audits so as to satisfy your organization that it is in fact operating its processes in accordance with its own documented procedures and the requirements of ISO 9001 2000.

Your ISO 9001 2000 auditor will look at the records generated by your internal audits. ISO 9001 2000 relies on Quality Management System audits to provide assurance that the organization is meeting the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard.

An audit includes an inspection of the documents and records that make up your quality system. Most importantly it is an inspection of the way the people in the organization work and the knowledge they have about the operation of the quality management system. management reviews must be carried out by the top management in your organization to ensure that your Quality Management System is working effectively and that it is geared to produce continual improvement of your products or service.

Registration requirements vary slightly between the various certification bodies but it is usual to have a Pre-Assessment. A pre-assessment is a mock audit similar in duration to a full registration audit which your organization neither passes nor fails. The important feature of a pre-assessment is that it will provide a full list of any short falls between the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard and your Quality Management System.

As a senior lead auditor I would always advise an organization to opt for a pre-assessment.

You now need to select a registration agency.

There are many registration agencies to choose from and in theory they are similar inthe services they provide, chiefly because they all have to abide by the same to EN standards, EN45011 and EN45012. In practice they offer different service levels, response times and re-assessment periods. So my advice would be to choose your registration body very carefully.

Finally the day has arrived for your registration rudit. This is where an auditor from the chosen certification body visits your organization and carries out a comprehensive audit of your organization.

When the auditor identifies a discrepancy or non-conformance between the work that is being performed and the requirements of ISO 9001 and how you say you operate your processes the discrepancy or non-conformance will be written up. There is no specific number of non-conformances that have to be raised for your organization to either pass or fail. It depends on how serious each point raised is or if a number of minor issues are all raised against one clause of ISO 9001 2000, say for example design.

For example: If only a few minor non-conformances are found during the registration audit, the registration body will issue a certificate of registration to ISO 9001 2000 stating that your organization complies with the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. If however a major non-conformance is raised this results in your organisation being told that you must correct the non-conformance(s) and re-apply for another registration audit. This is why I would always recommend that you have a consultant carry out a Pre-Assessment audit on your business, re-applying for a complete re-assessment from a registration body can be a very expensive business.

Once a certificate of registration is issued it typically expires after three years, however some registration bodies certificates never expire. All registration bodies typically require Quality Management System surveillance audits of your organization at six months intervals to maintain the validity of the certificate.

At this point, you deserve to celebrate your accomplishments! However, once the certificate is issued you need to continue to monitor your own Quality Management System to ensure you continue to comply with the requirements of ISO 9001 2000.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

Is ISO 9001 Registration For My Organization?

2007-11-28T22:31:00.000-08:00

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.

You may like to begin your ISO 9001 2000 education by reading the various articles and resources to be found on this web site. I would thoroughly recommend reading the Questions and Answers (Q&A) section of this web site as it will answer many of the initial questions that you might have about the ISO 9001 2000 registration process.

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 which will teach you about the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard and the registration process.

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, carry out internal quality audits to check 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 your quality management system is compliant with the requirements of ISO 9001 2000. If you fail the certification body initial assessment audit the cost of a full re-audit by a registration body can be prohibitively expensive.

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.

ISO 9001 Registration - 8 Steps for Success

2007-11-28T22:30:00.002-08:00

You’ve made the plans, built the quality system and conducted the audit. So how do you register your company as ISO 9001 conformant? And how can you be sure you’re getting the most value for your investment? Here’s how the process works.

Certifying Your Company and Quality System

After your company's ISO 9001 audit, you will want to register your company's quality system to show that you've met the requirements. And to do this effectively, you will need to follow eight essential steps.

1. Finding a Registrar

You’ll need to begin searching for an ISO registrar during the 2 to 3 months your company is still building its quality system. You can search the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB) at http://www.rabnet.com to select the registrar right for you.

2. Selecting a Registrar

Select a registrar that has experience within the scope category of your specific industry, which you can also find on the RAB site. Keep in mind accreditation, scheduling issues, fees and comfort level when selecting the registrar right for you.

3. Creating an Application

A company and a registrar will agree on the application, contract. This defines the rights and obligations of both parties, and includes liability issues, confidentiality and access rights.

4. Conducting a Document Review

The registrar will require a copy of your quality manual and procedures to verify that all the requirements of the standard are addressed. Allow 2-4 weeks in advance for the registrar to fully review all of the necessary documents.

5. Determining Preassessment

Though optional, this 2-4 week initial review of the system identifies any significant omissions or weaknesses. It saves time and allows the registrar to assess any issues and resolve logistics before the actual assessment audit.

6. Issuing an Assessment

During the audit, or physical onsite inspection of procedures in action, the auditors will issue findings if they assess anything that doesn’t meet requirements, or nonconformities. The length of this step will depend on the scope of the audit and the size your organization.

7. Completing ISO Registration

After all of the findings are put into the audit report and nonconformities are addressed, your company has the option to register as ISO 9001 conformant. You will receive a certificate and can also be listed in a register, which the company can use to publicize its registration and use in advertising.

8. Checking with Surveillances

To ensure that the system is maintained and that changes don’t result in deficiencies in the system, registrars perform regular surveillances of the system. Over the three-year period of your certificate, auditors will perform one full and two partial checks of your system.

Considerations in Planning

The Document Review and Preassessment typically require 2-4 weeks each. However, the number of registrars and the number of days for each stage of the registration audit depends on the size and complexity of your organization. So set target dates accordingly to allow both you and the registrar time to fully prepare.

Strong Return on Your Internal Audit Investment

Always keep in mind, registration should provide you with valuable feedback to improve your system. So make sure to seek the appropriate registrar, and take full advantage of the entire audit process. After all, it’s your company, it’s your registration, and so make sure you get a strong return on YOUR investment.

Chris Anderson has over 18 years of sales, marketing and business management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc. Visit: Bizmanualz, Inc.

Steps to Build ISO 9001 Compliant Program

2007-11-28T22:30:00.001-08:00

Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality. And this could make sure your business gets the desired results.

Shift Policy and Procedures Focus to Performance

Developing, implementing and maintaining your ISO 9001 program can be crucial to the core issues of a business. The focus is designed to help:

• Satisfy customer requirements for compliance

• Increase profits with more contracts

• Save money through efficiency

But to do this you need to put a framework in place that spotlights performance and performance improvement.

Get Management System Support

To effectively build a program and meet the requirements, your organization should carry out a strong process:

• Management Decision and Commitment

• Adequate Training and Evaluation

• Compliance with Appropriate Standards

• Audit and Registration

Once you’ve identified your company’s need for compliance, it is essential for top management to get on board. Management can ensure that quality is documented, demonstrable, effective and maintained.

Quality Systems and Procedures

The appropriate personnel should then review the standards for their industry and work to meet those requirements with organized documentation. Personnel can then develop, implement and maintain a set of quality systems and procedures to satisfy the ISO 9001 requirements.

Operations Training and Well-defined Processes

To build a program and meet the requirements, your organization should begin with effective training for how to create well-defined processes. You will first want to learn how to identify the objectives necessary to deliver top results. And then you will be ready to put those processes to work.

Internal Auditor Training

After you’ve implemented the ISO program, you should monitor and measure the processes against your own objectives. You can build an effective management system that objectively shows what you’re doing right and wrong. To learn how, you can take advantage of an Internal Auditor skills class and learn how to bridge the gap and move toward continual performance improvement.

Improve Business Process Performance

With ISO 9001 compliance you can improve the overall process performance of your business. And this can save money while satisfying your customers and increasing profit.

Chris Anderson is currently the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance. To learn how to increase your business performance, visit: Bizmanualz, Inc.

How to Meet Quality Standards with ISO 9001

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In today’s hectic business environment, it is vital that we are all on the same page, right? But how do we know if we meet those standards? Business owners and executives can avoid the uncertainty, and that’s where ISO 9001 certification comes in.

Standardizing Quality Systems

The ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was established in 1947 to develop international standards for everything from electronics to management systems. Having over 13,000 standards currently in place, ISO has created the auditing and certification process known as ISO 9001. This began the drive toward quality standards.

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Companies choose to implement ISO 9001 and get certified because many customers and industries require it. By keeping customers happy, they can increase sales and profitability for their business. And if an area of the company’s program appears to be too bureaucratic and non-value-adding, then it might also be an area for continuous improvement efforts.

Enhancing Company Policy and Performance

Both customers and industries alike use ISO certification as a way to evaluate and audit their suppliers and products. Through an independent verification process, customers can gain assurance of their suppliers’ products. And as a supplier becomes certified, the testing requirement is waved, which saves the company both time and money.

Developing a Best Practices Process

Employed as a “Best Practices” model, ISO 9001 utilizes the philosophy of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” continuous improvement cycle to achieve requirements. This process approach centers around eight quality management principles used by management as a guide toward improving performance and identifying the main elements needed in a good quality system:

1. Customer Focus

2. Leadership

3. Involvement of People

4. Process Approach

5. Systems Approach to Management

6. Continuous improvement

7. Factual Approach to Decision-Making

8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship

Building Stable Processes

ISO 9001 policies, procedures and forms can provide employers, managers and employees with a systematic and consistent approach to implementing policies, plans, procedures and work routines. Instead of building their own policies and procedures from scratch, some companies prefer to hire professional writers that have already prepared a set of written policies and procedures to help on the way to certification.

Auditing a Company System

In the certification process, an independent registrar will perform an on-site audit of a company’s operations to verify that it complies with the ISO standard. If the business complies, then that company will be registered as ISO 9001 compliant.

Effective Policies and Procedures

On the way to certification, a business can meet its ISO needs by:

• Using well-defined processes and procedures to build stable processes

• Training in the audit and certification process

• Continuously improving with ISO 9001 standards

Quality Management System

With complete procedures manuals for ISO 9001 Quality Management System, required HR procedures, and an ISO training class, a template like an ISO 9001 Quality Manager Procedures Manual Series can help a business on its way to ISO 9001 certification. Sometimes the effort can be very great, but companies typically notice a remarkable difference in efficiency and effectiveness after the first year.

Quality Standards with ISO 9001

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Standardizing Quality Systems

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Enhancing Company Performance

Developing Best Practices

1. Customer Focus

2. Leadership

3. Involvement of People

4. Process Approach

5. Systems Approach to Management

6. Continuous improvement

7. Factual Approach to Decision-Making

8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship

Building Stable Processes

Auditing a Company System

Meeting Company and Customer Needs

On the way to certification, a business can meet its ISO needs by:

• Using well-defined processes and procedures to build stable processes

• Training in the audit and certification process

• Continuously improving with ISO 9001 standards

Noticing the Difference

Chris Anderson has over 18 years of management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering, consulting with companies large and small. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation of the information to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc.

Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com

How International Organization for Standardization Helps

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The International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, is a non-governmental organization that develops technical standards, contributing to making the development, manufacturing, and supply of both supplies and services, cleaner and safer. Providing government with standards regarding health and safety issues, they also promote fair trade between counties. We tend to take many things for granted; we always expect simple objects, like screws, to do the job that we intend them for. ISO ensures just that, and sets standards that make things better for all of our society, as a whole.

With a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, ISO is a network of standard institutes in 146 different countries. Dating back to 1947, ISO was created by 25 delegates who determined that a new international organization was needed "to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial standards". Due to the fact that “International Organization for Standardization” would have different initials in different languages, it was decided to use a word derived from the Greek word “isos”. For this reason, no matter what country you are in, the short form of the organization is always ISO, which means “equal”.

To date, ISO has created nearly 14,000 international standards, covering things like agriculture, mechanical engineering, construction, medical devices and information technology developments. While the majority of ISO standards are geared towards certain products, ISO 900 and 14000 deal with quality and environmental management, and are considered "generic management system standards”. By ’generic,’ this means that they are a list of standards which all products and workplaces must meet, regardless of whether they produce a product or service, and regardless of where they are located. By maintaining customer regulations, as well as doing what they can minimize harmful effects on the environment, ISO standards help ensure that our world is a much better place.

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at http://www.best-baby-strollers.info