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| Primary purpose Summary Potential benefits Who can use the tool? What resources are needed? Development, ownership and support Social enterprise examples Further sources of information Footnotes ISO 9000 Series ISO 9001:2000 (is the best known of the ISO 9000 family of International Standards for quality management. It gives the requirements for a quality management system and is one of more than 15,000 voluntary International Standards published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).1 ISO’s purpose is to facilitate international trade by providing harmonised requirements for products and services that people everywhere can recognise and respect. ISO 9001:2000 does not give requirements for specific products or services; rather, it provides a set of generic requirements relating to the processes of development and production, and how they will be managed, reviewed and improved in order achieve customer satisfaction. The requirements call for the processes to be comprehensively documented as procedures to which staff are expected to consistently conform. This is with the aim of meeting the needs and expectations of the ‘customer’ and helping organisations to comply with applicable regulations. Implementation involves making production procedures explicit (‘say what you do’), documenting them, ensuring they are followed and checking they are effective. A quality management system can be audited by an independent certification body as conforming to the Standard (leading to an ISO 9001:2000 certificate), although this is not compulsory unless it is a market or regulatory requirement. Assessments for certification are carried out against the ISO 9001:2000 standard, which is the only certification standard in the ISO 9000 family. To comply with ISO 9001:2000 an organisation needs to review its processes in accordance with the standard’s requirements in order to meet the needs and expectations of the ‘customer base’. The ISO requirements cover a wide range of topics:
The organisation compiles a Quality Manual, outlining the implementation of quality management procedures and how the ISO 9001:2000 requirements are being met. When the quality system and requirements are in place and established, organisations like the British Standards Institution (BSI) recommend a pre-assessment by a third party to identify areas where an organisation may not be operating according to the Standard’s requirements and to help make effective change towards that goal. Organisations then seek an independent auditing by a certification body to check conformity with the requirements of the Standard and to ensure that they are working in practice. However, an organisation can implement ISO 9001:2000 without having its management system audited and certified. ISO does not itself certify organisations. Most countries have formed accreditation bodies that in turn approve individuals and organisations to audit and certify organisations applying for ISO 9001:2000 compliance certification. In the UK such accreditation is conducted by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the only UK accreditation body recognised by the Government. Organisations that seek certification to ISO 9001:2000 are encouraged by the Government to use the services of those individual organisations that UKAS has authorised in order to receive the National Accreditation Mark. An ISO 9001:2000 certificate is temporary and must be renewed at regular intervals recommended by the certification body – usually between one and three years.
Potential limitations
ISO 9000 standards are implemented by some 634 000 organisations in 152 countries. Whilst they were first used in the private sector, they can also be implemented in organisations of any size, for those that produce goods or provide services. Leadership Senior individuals in an organisation will need to be fully committed. Proficiencies or skills Training in understanding the Standards may be required. Actions taken to meet implementation of the requirements are left to the organisation itself. The organisation then needs to address the issues to comply with the Standards. Staff time Whilst this may vary depending upon the size of the organisation and the level of change that has to be implemented, estimates from organisations, the Charities Evaluation Services and the Scottish Executive, indicate that it can take from between 6 and18 months to implement. Courses, support, and information The ISO website contains information on all aspects of the ISO 9000 family as well as a “Magical Demystifying Tour of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000” and the ISO magazine, ISO Management Systems, and other publications.2 ISO publications include the handbook, ISO 9001 for Small Businesses, which includes the full text of ISO 9001:2000 and explains each clause. Development, ownership and support The ISO is responsible for developing, maintaining and publishing the ISO 9000 family. The ISO is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) network of the national standards institutes of 150 countries with one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that co-ordinates the system. It was created in 1947 and has a strategic partnership with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).3 The ISO does not itself audit or assess the management systems of organisations. The Scottish Executive estimates that a typical organisation of between 60 and 70 people would expect to pay £2,000–£3,000 for the initial assessment and £1,000–£1,600 each year for the audits, in addition to the cost of publications. Social enterprises that have used ISO 9000:
Examples from other sectors There are thousands of companies throughout the world that have implemented ISO standards. Articles giving examples can be found on the ISO website. Further sources of information www.praxiom.com Paton, R. (2003) ‘Do ‘Kitemarks’ Improve and Demonstrate Performance’. Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises, (London: Sage) pp.99-118. 1 For ISO, ‘Management system’ refers to the organisation’s structure for managing its processes – or activities – that transform inputs of resources into a product or service which meet the organisation’s objectives, such as satisfying the customer’s quality requirements, complying to regulations, or meeting environmental objectives. 2 The British Standards Institution website also features training information in the UK: British Standards Institution, Tel: 020 8996 9001 www.bsi-global.com 3 When ISO began to develop a set of generic quality management standards for worldwide application, it drew upon existing national standards and military quality assurance specifications. The ISO 9000 ‘core series’ was first published in 1987 and revised, improved editions published in 1994 and 2000. |
