Uncategorized, ISO 9001, Quality Management, Quality Management System, SHEQ, SHEQ Software

Context of the Organisation: Context Provides Clarity

Context of the Organisation | SRMC

ISO 9001:2015 Clause 4 – Context of the Organisation

QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISO 9001:2015 CLAUSE 4

Defining the context of the Organization as required by ISO 9001:2015, provides the clarity you will need to develop and implement the Quality Management System.

When it comes to implementing clauses 4.1 to 4.4 of ISO 9001:2015, here is something you need to know. It is easier to start with clause 4.2, then move on to clauses 4.1 and 4.4. Lastly, attempt clause 4.3.

However, this approach will need input from Top Management.

Firstly, you need to decide who will be involved in this approach, where it will happen and what data is needed.

At this time it is best to dedicate a full day to meet the conditions of clauses 4.1 and 4.2. So as not to be interrupted, work away from the office and forbid the use of phones.

CLAUSE 4.1 CONTEXT OF THE ORGANISATION

Starting with your interested parties, talk about the “context of the organisation”.

For example at Safety Risk Management, we incorporate our vision, mission and values into our Quality Management System. These are as follows:

  • SRM fundamental promises
  • Values
  • Business model
  • The advantages of using Mango
  • What client awareness we have
  • What is SRM’s target market
  • How we conduct business

Define your Organizational context:

In circumstances where there is doubt in a company decision, look at your vision, mission and values again. Decide if it supports your business goal.

Additionally, hash this out further with a SWOT analysis.  For those unfamiliar with this term, it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Consequently, this enables you to do some risk-based thinking.

Using SWOT will enable you to know your business environment. Thus it will lead you to pinpoint internal and external factors, positive and negative. Undoubtedly, these could affect your company. You will get a perfect understanding of your business and essential awareness of the big picture.

Examine the methods and procedures that you used in the past. For this reason, you will recognise that you already have a considerable part of these clauses in place. However, there is a shortage of structure. ISO 9001:2015 will give you this.

Link to Organizational Strategy:

Once you record these procedures, you can extract the information and input it into your key business strategies. They take into account all the qualities of your company’s context. The strategies concentrate on meeting customer requirements and continuous improvement.

To guarantee that you achieve your business strategies, you must produce significant objectives and targets for each department in the company that are “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based” (SMART).

“This context of the organisation process should never be seen as an annual document and forget its requirement. This process should be viewed as a pot of gold.”

It will give your company a large quantity of information and help to find areas of improvement.  This is a method that can help in altering the planned route and the general success of your company. It is highly effective and, for this reason, must be constantly checked and revised by Top Management. Do not neglect it by leaving it in a forgotten file.

At SRM, we ensure that we always check and revise our processes. Therefore, we are obliged to identify where we can improve.  We include it in our monthly management meetings programme. To prove that this is taking place, we record the monthly review meetings in the minutes.

 

CLAUSE 4.2 INTERESTED PARTIES

You can identify Interested Parties by how they impact your operations and those whom they influence. As you can expect, there are many, for instance, customers, employees, partners, suppliers, contractors, government, registrar and the public.

Decide how each party affects or may affect your Quality Management System, your product or service and the ability to meet your customer requirements. Record their requirements and expectations on a spreadsheet.

 

CLAUSE 4.3 SCOPE

Once you have implemented clauses 4.1, 4.2 and 4.4, you are able to decide on the scope of your QMS.

Your initial scope should be “the provision of quality, health, safety and environmental software. Review and perfect it during the following months.

 

USE SHEQ SOFTWARE

SRM and many of our clients use Mango Compliance Software – www.mangolive.com. Mango makes it easier to get ISO 9001:2015 certification.

 

CLAUSE 4.4 QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In addition, you need to decide what your QMS will look like and how you will record it.

ISO 9001:2015 does not need to be a documented system. However, the advantages of an established system are enormous, so you need to make the effort of documenting your QMS. It has a lot of vision and data that are well-deserved and extremely valuable to the business. You want to conserve it.

Now, concentrate on the fundamental business procedures. Place the following on a whiteboard as the start of the operations that make your company successful:

  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Customer Setup
  • Implementation
  • Design and Development
  • Support
  • Finance
  • Governance

 

IN SUMMARY

The path towards implementing clauses 4.1 to 4.4 of ISO 9001:2015 are:

  • Identify the needs and expectations of your Interested Parties (4.2)
  • Examine your vision, mission and values regarding your Interested Parties (4.1)
  • Carry out a SWOT analysis (4.1)
  • Establish your Key Business Strategies (4.1)
  • Plan out your Quality Management System and record it as you move forward (4.4)
  • Decide the scope of your QMS (4.3)

SRM is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certified. Contact our consultants today. Let us know if we can help you with the development and implementation of your Quality Management System.

 

Associated Links:

https://srmc.co.za/iso-9001/

https://srmc.co.za/iso-90012015-is-all-about-managing-relationships/

https://srmc.co.za/improvement/

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Links to our services:

https://srmc.co.za/services/consulting/

https://srmc.co.za/iso-certifications/