Implementing ISO 9001 - One Department at a Time - Internal Provision Only

[Dubai_capi]

well, i know one entity that has over 13,000 staff and over 30 business units that operate in one place.. they obtained the certificate for each of the business unit rather than the whole entity.. am reading here that this is no t a good approach.. the entity am talking about is having 30 quality manaul for each business unit because their activities are huge in number and they have a great diversity.. but they serve one strategic goal at the end..any advice on this..

going back to the main question in this thread: i suggest as all the ppls have advised here: to certify all the units and treat it as a one system.. even if each unit has its own quality manual...

 

[Graeme]

We have around 250 employees spread across 20 business units, all of which work in their own silos. We need something to pull the business together and get us all thinking about how we operate, hence my suggestion of 9001.

The main opposition to us moving with whole org to 9001 is based on employees apparent lack of time.
C

It IS possible to implement ISO 9001 within one department, and gradually expand the system to others. In an earlier position, I was involved in successful implementation of ISO 9001 in a single department of a major company. The department was one of the smallest in the maintenance division of a major international airline. In the 10 years since, the number of departments covered has expanded so that nearly 1/3 of the maintenance operation is under ISO 9001. This is partly because of customer requirements and partly because some managers have seen the value in it. (The value comes from increased efficiency, allowing the throughput to nearly double while maintaining the same staffing level.)

I do have a couple of cautions.

First, you must explicitly define the scope of the ISO 9001 system. Since you mentioned silos, focus only on what happens inside a silo as the system. Everything else is inputs or support services. Later you can add additional silos and expand the scope of the ISO 9001 system. If the quality manual is well designed, the quality management system itself does not necessarily have to change. (Remember that the details of the work and how to do it belong in the QM; they are the realm of polices and procedures that may be referenced in the QM.)

Second, you have to be sure to define the rest of the company as a supplier and as a customer. For the rest of the company as a supplier, you must treat them as any other supplier – including being listed on an approved supplier list.

While implementing the system for the entire company may be preferred, doing it incrementally is also possible.

Resistance to change, whatever the stated seasons, will always be there. It is one of the things that top management has to address, preferably by example.

GCP

 

[chris02 - 2011]

Excellent! Then, work through the Director to get support from the peers. Help to educate the Director, to see that the other areas - especially at the interfaces - are where the problem opportunities lie. The disconnectedness of the various parts of the organization should be pretty obvious. Try to get some support to spend some money to see how far you are away from being in compliance - effectively that is - with the ISO requirements. A 'gap assessment' will show that life isn't as good as the other directors think and, you'll have facts to deal with instead of emotions...

I am trying to get him to encourage another Director to come on board, which would be good as they are one of the money making areas of the business. Ideally we can then link what they are doing on 27001 to 9001. Yep gap analysis is part of my plan.

Thanks

 

[chris02 - 2011]

Of course, because you're not dealing with a rational understanding of what's required (they don't know ISO) and how far you are away from complying with it!

You could be right and that will be down to my poor messaging. Due to present to Senior Mangers again in the next couple of weeks.

 

[chris02 - 2011]

well, i know one entity that has over 13,000 staff and over 30 business units that operate in one place.. they obtained the certificate for each of the business unit rather than the whole entity.. am reading here that this is no t a good approach.. the entity am talking about is having 30 quality manaul for each business unit because their activities are huge in number and they have a great diversity.. but they serve one strategic goal at the end..any advice on this..

going back to the main question in this thread: i suggest as all the ppls have advised here: to certify all the units and treat it as a one system.. even if each unit has its own quality manual...

Point taken even though we are lot smaller each of our business units operate in very different markets, but our vision across the organization remains the same. I'll give some thought to a single system with separate manuals.

Many thanks

 

[chris02 - 2011]

It IS possible to implement ISO 9001 within one department, and gradually expand the system to others. In an earlier position, I was involved in successful implementation of ISO 9001 in a single department of a major company. The department was one of the smallest in the maintenance division of a major international airline. In the 10 years since, the number of departments covered has expanded so that nearly 1/3 of the maintenance operation is under ISO 9001. This is partly because of customer requirements and partly because some managers have seen the value in it. (The value comes from increased efficiency, allowing the throughput to nearly double while maintaining the same staffing level.)

I do have a couple of cautions.

First, you must explicitly define the scope of the ISO 9001 system. Since you mentioned silos, focus only on what happens inside a silo as the system. Everything else is inputs or support services. Later you can add additional silos and expand the scope of the ISO 9001 system. If the quality manual is well designed, the quality management system itself does not necessarily have to change. (Remember that the details of the work and how to do it belong in the QM; they are the realm of polices and procedures that may be referenced in the QM.)

Second, you have to be sure to define the rest of the company as a supplier and as a customer. For the rest of the company as a supplier, you must treat them as any other supplier – including being listed on an approved supplier list.

While implementing the system for the entire company may be preferred, doing it incrementally is also possible.

Resistance to change, whatever the stated seasons, will always be there. It is one of the things that top management has to address, preferably by example.

GCP

Graeme many thanks for your reassuring comments. I will go for what actually happens within each of the silos as well as trying to expand to other areas based on the, hopefully, good experiences of those in the first pass.

Good point about listing the rest of the organization as a supplier and customer, not thought of that.

C

 

[AndyN]

It IS possible to implement ISO 9001 within one department,

I'm reminded of the aphorism "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should..."

 

[daraghofla]

2 things,
1>A main facet of ISO9001 is "management responsibility". It seems that you have managers who would like this ISO thingy but when push comes to shove, they will choose the path of least resistance EVERY time. Department heads will constantly fob you off stating "lack of time" in a hissed tone. The only way department heads will introduce requirements to their specific process is if their manager is holding a gun to their head. The only way this will happen is if the manager is more interested in a strong process as opposed to a specific product/service getting produced within the time-line.
2>implementing 1 dept. at a time will cause huge headaches. Your process model and much of your documentation will change drastically every time a dept. comes into line. How also do you intend to have departments co-existing with processes? ISO9001 will quickly present itself as an unwieldy sword, scorned by the staff

In short,
rather you than me.

 

[JaneB]

As my company seem to have little stomach, at this time, for putting the whole organization though 9001 I am going to suggest that we start with specific departments. The hope being that the good example set will encourage the rest of the organization to move forward at a later date.

My suggestion will be that we restrict the scope to just the internal facing departments, finance, human resources, facilities and IT.

Yes, implementing a system with a restricted scope can be done. I've done it a few times, for a particular team within a large financial institution, for example, and for only part of a service providing business.

Butlooking at the list that you have, I'm not sure why you would just choose the 'internal facing' departments? In a way, those you've listed are some of the hardest ones to do (for many reasons). Plus, if they have little to do with your real service (providing charitable services?), then do you not risk having your ISO effort seen as irrelevant to 'what we are really about?'

A department by department model is very, very far from ideal - apart from anything else, it's contrary to the process approach. If you chose a process or two - say the provision of one or more of your services(which would of course involve different departments in it) would that not be a better way to go?

The warning flag here is that you say your company doesn't want to do it for the whole company. One director is on board... how many others are not? Because pushing the proverbial uphill against senior management resistance or apathy is not a wonderful way to go.

 

[chris02 - 2011]

I'm reminded of the aphorism "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should..."

Apologies for delay in responding been poorly and away from work.

As I work in a organization that tends to stand still as opposed to moving forward, I think that having something to focus on, initially in the one Directorship, may well help others learn from our areas experience.

As a start I have called a meeting of the managers from HR, Finance, Legal and Facilities to allow me to put the case for 9001 with the key empathise being on continual improvement, one thing we certainly don' do at the moment.