Determining what are, and are not, Outsourced Processes

[Ajayqms]

Dear All,

I need a clarification on outsource process for one of my Government client having head office and various site offices.

One of the site offices (Site 1) is now going for ISO 9001 certification. There are two processes which were not carried out on that site, however one of the processes is being carried out by another site and one of the processes is being carried out at head office. Following are the details of these processes.

1. Contracts and Material Management ? This activity is being carried out at another Project site (Site 2), as the site (Site 1 ? under certification process) is small and material requirement is not much.

Present system ? Site 1, prepares technical specification, prepares indent, get it approved by competent authority and send it to Site 2 for tendering process. After the bids are received, the technical bid is being evaluated by Site 1 and the bidders who qualifies will be informed to Site 2. Now Site 2 opens the commercial bid and award the purchase order to the lowest. Depending upon the criticality of the product, Site 1 will inspect the product (e.g at in-process, final stage at supplier site and after the receipt of material at Site 1, the material will be inspected).

2. Design and Development ? This activity is being carried out at head office (Site 3), as the full fledged centralised design department works at head office.

Present system ? Site 3 sends the design output for Site 1, and in case there is any mismatch in drawing and physical position at site, the same will be communicated to Design department and the design output will be then modified accordingly. Once the design output matches with the physical condition the same will be implemented. But there is no formal verification system at Site 1.

Please clarify following.

1. Whether Contracts and Material Management and Design and Development is outsourced?
2. In case yes, then how the controls to be mentioned in Manual?
3. In case no, then how the address the implementation in Manual?

However control on Contracts and Material Management can be easily mentioned but there is no design and development activities.

Kindly help me to resolve the situation.


Regards


Ajay

 

[somashekar]

1. Contracts and Material Management – This activity is being carried out at another Project site (Site 2), as the site (Site 1 – under certification process) is small and material requirement is not much.

Present system – Site 1, prepares technical specification, prepares indent, get it approved by competent authority and send it to Site 2 for tendering process. After the bids are received, the technical bid is being evaluated by Site 1 and the bidders who qualifies will be informed to Site 2. Now Site 2 opens the commercial bid and award the purchase order to the lowest. Depending upon the criticality of the product, Site 1 will inspect the product (e.g at in-process, final stage at supplier site and after the receipt of material at Site 1, the material will be inspected).

Your control is there up in Bold. Make a mention of this in the manual.

2. Design and Development – This activity is being carried out at head office (Site 3), as the full fledged centralised design department works at head office.

Present system – Site 3 sends the design output for Site 1, and in case there is any mismatch in drawing and physical position at site, the same will be communicated to Design department and the design output will be then modified accordingly. Once the design output matches with the physical condition the same will be implemented. But there is no formal verification system at Site 1.

Your scope does not include design and development. The reason being that site 3 is responsible and your scope is to only abide by the given design output. Clearly state this in your manual.

 

[Big Jim]

This is a discussion you need to have with your registrar.

 

[AndyN]

It sounds to me as if the approach to registration is causing this problem. Registering a "site" rather than the organization (multiple sites which comprise the organization) is at the root of this conundrum. Maybe you should be looking at redefining the scope of this QMS to embrace all sites. Out-sourcing is really applicable when work goes outside the organization.

 

[Pancho]

Your scope does not include design and development. The reason being that site 3 is responsible and your scope is to only abide by the given design output. Clearly state this in your manual.

The scope is usually defined in the contract. If the design work is to fulfill a contractual commitment, then it is either an internal process or an outsourced process. Either way, it must be controlled.

 

[somashekar]

The scope is usually defined in the contract. If the design work is to fulfill a contractual commitment, then it is either an internal process or an outsourced process. Either way, it must be controlled.

I will take this if the OP Ajay clarifies that site 1 gives the design inputs to site 3.....

However control on Contracts and Material Management can be easily mentioned but there is no design and development activities.

This statement from OP seems more clear to me that site 1 is not into design and development.

 

[lamorenita_QA]

Re: Determining what are and are not Outsourced Process

I will take this if the OP Ajay clarifies that site 1 gives the design inputs to site 3.....


This statement from OP seems more clear to me that site 1 is not into design and development.

Hi, there is really good information in this post regarding outsource processes, I have another question, would external calibration be considered an outsource process? we perform in house calibration on some of our tools, but majority of our equipment is calibration externally, Please advise

 

[Stijloor]

Re: Determining what are and are not Outsourced Process

Hi, there is really good information in this post regarding outsource processes, I have another question, would external calibration be considered an outsource process? we perform in house calibration on some of our tools, but majority of our equipment is calibration externally, Please advise

Outsourced processes are typically related to the product/service that you sell to your customers.

 

[zancky]

Re: Determining what are and are not Outsourced Process

to me, site 2 and site 3 may be "remote location" or "site extension", not outsourced process, but I'm not an expert

 

[John Broomfield]

Re: Determining what are and are not Outsourced Process

<snip> I need a clarification on outsource process for one of my Government client having head office and various site offices. <snip>

Ajay,

If your product relies on the processes of another management system within your organization then you must include the outsourcing controls specified of this other part of your organization.

You may choose to refer to a service level agreement (SLA) or whatever internal trading device you use to specify requirements of your colleagues.

You name organizations but really you have outsourced three processes as I see it:

1. Forming contracts
2. Managing materials
3. Designing the product

Your product being right depends on all three of these processes. In the SLA or similar, specify your requirements of these processes and refer to the procedures already in place and in use for these processes.

John