ISO: Generic Management Systems

We offer consultancy support to ultimate accreditation in ISO standard systems in two areas

ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management Systems
ISO 27001 Information Security

Some definitions:

ISO - is the international organisation for standardisation. The organisation promotes proprietary industrial and commercial standards. Its ability to set standards that often become law makes it more powerful than most non governmental organisations. ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments.

Generic - meaning that the same standard can be applied to any organization, large or small, whatever its product or service, in any sector of activity, and whether it is a business enterprise, a public administration, or a government department.

Management system - refers to what the organization does to manage its processes, or activities, so that its products or services meet the objectives it has set itself, such as:

•  satisfying the customer's quality requirements,
•  complying with regulations, or
•  meeting environmental objectives.

Management system standards provide a model to follow in setting up and operating a management system. This model incorporates the features on which experts in the field have reached a consensus as being the international state of the art.

Benefits of ISO Systems:

In a very small organization, there may be no "system", just "our way of doing things", and "our way" is probably not written down, but all in the head of the manager or owner.

The larger the organisation, and the more people involved, the more the likelihood that there are written procedures, instructions, forms or records. These help ensure that everyone is not just "doing his or her own thing", and that the organization goes about its business in an orderly and structured way. This means that time, money and other resources are utilised efficiently.

To be really efficient and effective, the organization can manage its way of doing things by systemising it. This ensures that nothing important is left out and that everyone is clear about who is responsible for doing what, when, how, why and where.

Large organisations, or ones with complicated processes, could not function well without management systems. Companies in such fields as aerospace, automobiles, defence, or health care devices have been operating management systems for years.

ISO's management system standards make this good management practice available to organisations of all sizes, in all sectors, everywhere in the world.