From the ISO listServe I snipped this. Just some thoughts...
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Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 18:52:50 -0500
Subject: Re: Counts for ISO standards (variation on Universities) ..Holtz/Naish
From: P
John wrote:
<<
"At 408,000+ registrations, the world is up 16% over the
previous year on 9000 and up 38% on 14000. The US is
up 8% (and increasing at a decreasing rate) on 9000 and up
4.5% on 14000. Do we know something in the US that the
rest of the world doesn't "get"? Or is it the other way around?"
>>
I come back to an earlier question on this. Does the number of registrations that we now have mean that more companies believe in the value of certification or are they driven simply by customer demand?
>From a statistical or sound data standpoint, I also have to ask how that data is collected and how it is evaluated for overall value. For example, does the number come from a total of registrations in existence at the same time? Or does the number come from registrars or registration boards who indicate they had X number last year and added Y number this year thus giving us Z number listed above? Also does it evaluate whether new companies have been added or simply new divisions or branches or the same company that may have been under one certificate before? And does Z actually equal companies?
I went to one panel discussion by several representatives from several registrars. One of the registrars introduced themselves with the number of certificates they had issued and the number of new companies they had added in the last year. When questioned about the total companies versus certificates there was a major discrepancy. This is because they consider one certificate for each address they certified regardless of whether they were all under one certificate and one system or not. If there were four buildings on the same block all under one certificate they counted them as three since there were three buildings. nice inflation of numbers.
On the issue of added companies they were questioned about whether the companies had ever been registered before. This one they could not quantify but admitted that some number (unknown amount) they had "taken away" from other registrars. So with that came the question of how many they had lost to other registrars. They did not know that one at all. But they thought they may have lost a couple (good PR at ay rate).
So did they still count the ones they no longer had current registrations for? Yes. What if a company went from 9002 to 9001 did they get counted once or twice? Twice. What if the company was registered to the 1987 version and upgraded to the 1994 version did they get counted twice also?
The bottom line to the numbers for this company was that every time they issued a piece of paper (every three years) they counted it as a certificate issued. And they counted it times each building it applied to.
Another registrar said they only count the current number of registration numbers that are still current. (Hope they took a lesson in inflating their number so they could compete in the oranges to oranges on the tree versus oranges to grapes on the vine).
Interestingly enough I found the same thing with a consultant. When he was advertising how many audits he had done. He implied that he had done X audits of companies. In fact he counted each piece of paper (one per person audited) in each company he did. For one audit he would normally fill out 50 to 100 pieces of paper. Fast way to 1000 audits with only 100 to 200 companies. If choosing a consultant understand their data like someone pointed out for this thread.
Phyllis
------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 18:52:50 -0500
Subject: Re: Counts for ISO standards (variation on Universities) ..Holtz/Naish
From: P
John wrote:
<<
"At 408,000+ registrations, the world is up 16% over the
previous year on 9000 and up 38% on 14000. The US is
up 8% (and increasing at a decreasing rate) on 9000 and up
4.5% on 14000. Do we know something in the US that the
rest of the world doesn't "get"? Or is it the other way around?"
>>
I come back to an earlier question on this. Does the number of registrations that we now have mean that more companies believe in the value of certification or are they driven simply by customer demand?
>From a statistical or sound data standpoint, I also have to ask how that data is collected and how it is evaluated for overall value. For example, does the number come from a total of registrations in existence at the same time? Or does the number come from registrars or registration boards who indicate they had X number last year and added Y number this year thus giving us Z number listed above? Also does it evaluate whether new companies have been added or simply new divisions or branches or the same company that may have been under one certificate before? And does Z actually equal companies?
I went to one panel discussion by several representatives from several registrars. One of the registrars introduced themselves with the number of certificates they had issued and the number of new companies they had added in the last year. When questioned about the total companies versus certificates there was a major discrepancy. This is because they consider one certificate for each address they certified regardless of whether they were all under one certificate and one system or not. If there were four buildings on the same block all under one certificate they counted them as three since there were three buildings. nice inflation of numbers.
On the issue of added companies they were questioned about whether the companies had ever been registered before. This one they could not quantify but admitted that some number (unknown amount) they had "taken away" from other registrars. So with that came the question of how many they had lost to other registrars. They did not know that one at all. But they thought they may have lost a couple (good PR at ay rate).
So did they still count the ones they no longer had current registrations for? Yes. What if a company went from 9002 to 9001 did they get counted once or twice? Twice. What if the company was registered to the 1987 version and upgraded to the 1994 version did they get counted twice also?
The bottom line to the numbers for this company was that every time they issued a piece of paper (every three years) they counted it as a certificate issued. And they counted it times each building it applied to.
Another registrar said they only count the current number of registration numbers that are still current. (Hope they took a lesson in inflating their number so they could compete in the oranges to oranges on the tree versus oranges to grapes on the vine).
Interestingly enough I found the same thing with a consultant. When he was advertising how many audits he had done. He implied that he had done X audits of companies. In fact he counted each piece of paper (one per person audited) in each company he did. For one audit he would normally fill out 50 to 100 pieces of paper. Fast way to 1000 audits with only 100 to 200 companies. If choosing a consultant understand their data like someone pointed out for this thread.
Phyllis