Quality Manual and Procedures Manual for Small Service Business

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comedyjester

I am writing a Quality Manual and Procedures Manual for a small service company.

We provide consultancy and workshops for the Hospitality and Leisure Industry and we have under ten staff.

Most of the manuals I have seen seem to be for larger companies and production companies.

Can anyone point me in the direction of examples for small service businesses?

Ideally I would like to have a look at the contents pages.

Thanks

Richard
 
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achorste

Morning Richard,

There are a few mandatory items in quality manuals (assuming you're looking at ISO 9001 style manuals) such as quality policy, contract review, corrective action etc but the most important thing is for it to describe your processes and how you perform each function in enough detail that the people working with the procedures understand everything they have to do.

I wouldn't start off looking at other peoples manuals - their manual isn't for your business afterall.

Try mapping the process out from the first point you receive an enquiry (or even earlier with marketing) through to the point where you receive the money and perform the function (or later with soliciting feedback for continual improvement). Through this you can identify your key business functions - each of those should be represented in your manual.

Will you be seeking certification to any particular standard e.g. ISO9001?
 
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comedyjester

We will be looking for ISO 2001.

I just didnt want to start a quality manual only to have to change it drastically later.

I also dont want to put too much in so was therefore looking for a standard contents for a small service company.

I will try what you suggest but the combinations and permutations could be enormous and it would be good to havce some suggested groupings. e.g. Purchasing. The procedure to buy a computer is completely different to buying a pen and I could write procedures for each. (We do actually have a Procurement strategy so i will use that but the example is still valid to show my problem with other procedures).
 
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achorste

We will be looking for ISO 2001.

Not one I'm familiar with, google's no help either - the requirements may be different on this one to other ISO management systems.

I just didnt want to start a quality manual only to have to change it drastically later.

How much will your business be changing in the next year? Will there be any processes changing?

I will try what you suggest but the combinations and permutations could be enormous and it would be good to havce some suggested groupings. e.g. Purchasing. The procedure to buy a computer is completely different to buying a pen and I could write procedures for each. (We do actually have a Procurement strategy so i will use that but the example is still valid to show my problem with other procedures).

You may not need to go into that much detail. Genreally I would kep this "top level", e.g. "Customer Enquiry", "Purchase consumables" etc

As an example contents I would probably expect the following:

Scope
Document Control
Quality Policy
Management responsibility, planning & review
Employee training
Customer enquiries
Product realisation
Purchasing - consumables
Purchasing - capital expenditure / equipment
Measurement Analysis & Improvement
Customer complaints / feedback
Corrective / Preventive actions
Internal audit

I may be completely off the mark however - I do not know your business but generally those headings should give you a start. Don't be afraid of rewording titles or breaking procedures down - it's your manual and it shouldn't be a copy of the standard word for word.
 
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comedyjester

Thanks for that.

What is expect with "Product realisation" for a service company? Could this be "Service Realisation?"
 

Randy

Super Moderator
Look at the upper left hand corner of this page and you'll see a Green button marked "Post Attachments" ...there are probably 50 examples of manuals at your disposal for free including one that is on a single sheet of paper.
 

harry

Trusted Information Resource
Scroll down to the "Similar Discussion Threads" box below. There are at least 3 similar threads with some good advice therein.
 

AndyN

Moved On
Richard:

I'm a bit confused when you say that the manuals appear to be for larger companies - how can you tell? In truth, many people do too much documentation! They are locked in this 'time warp' of having documents which follow a horrible, turgid, bureaucratic format which is less than user friendly - but apparently gets auditors excited! Maybe that give the impression of 'corporate size'!

I wouldn't advocate a huge manual designed around the requirement of any 'ISO'. (BTW - what is ISO 2001?) No business uses that terminology, or organizes their processes around the standard! I recently reviewed a 'QMS on a Disc' at a clients - only 3 people. They paid over $1,000 and it's horrible - the problem is that the producers of these 'get a qms quick' solutions (they don't solve anything, actually) are preying on the fact that folks don't know any better!

Randy is correct in pointing you towards the attachments here. I think I ut a one page manual here, if not I'll post it again!

I'd suggest that, as consultants, you see the value in bringing in external help - so why not do the same? Call my friends at Excel Partnership in Hemel Hempstead, talk to Geoff Doole. He'll give excellent guidance!
 
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comedyjester

Thanks for your advice.

Its a shame there isnt some sort of template but I will go with what I have read.

I have found information with the three tiers that looks useful.
 
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