ISO 9001:2015 Is a Project Evaluation form necessary?

[Jansen L]

Upon completion of a project or service (Design and Development of Products and Services (8.3), our company requires a project evaluation form to be completed by the account director. This form asks generic questions, including: 1) lessons learned and 2) opportunities for improvement and 3) what method will be used to obtain customer feedback. Our company uses a customer satisfaction survey to collect feedback from our clients. To me, it seems like this project evaluation form is outdated and probably a relic of a past ISO 9001 revision. Does this form have any intrinsic value or fulfill any of the 8.3 requirements?

 

[John C. Abnet]

Upon completion of a project or service (Design and Development of Products and Services (8.3), our company requires a project evaluation form to be completed by the account director. This form asks generic questions, including: 1) lessons learned and 2) opportunities for improvement and 3) what method will be used to obtain customer feedback. Our company uses a customer satisfaction survey to collect feedback from our clients. To me, it seems like this project evaluation form is outdated and probably a relic of a past ISO 9001 revision. Does this form have any intrinsic value or fulfill any of the 8.3 requirements?

The results that are captured on your form are a record. The question then is really for your internal organization?
Where are these records stored? If digitally, can you see who/when in regard to the last time these records were accessed? Have you asked those who WOULD likely use these records if/when they have ever looked at them? Better yet, have you asked those who WOULD likely use these records if they know where/how they would access these records? (you may find that no one beyond the originator even knows where these records are stored )

Food for thought.

Hope this helps.
Be well.

 

[Jansen L]

The results that are captured on your form are a record. The question then is really for your internal organization?
Where are these records stored? If digitally, can you see who/when in regard to the last time these records were accessed? Have you asked those who WOULD likely use these records if/when they have ever looked at them? Better yet, have you asked those who WOULD likely use these records if they know where/how they would access these records? (you may find that no one beyond the originator even knows where these records are stored )

Food for thought.

Hope this helps.
Be well.

Yes, I understand that these would be records. Upon completion of these forms, they are filed digitally in cloud-based storage. They are accessible, but I can guarantee they are not looked at after the initial population of the forms. IMHO, it seems that the questions are ambiguous, and may need more specificity ( e.g. did the company stay within budget, did the project have sufficient human resources, etc.). I forgot to add that one of the questions is if the company "exceeded customer expectations?" It's difficult to self-evaluate and come to a non-bias answer, so why not leave this kind of a question out and let the customer answer this.

My original question was more or less if anyone else uses a similar kind of form to capture information at the completion of a service/product/project?

 

[John C. Abnet]

Yes, I understand that these would be records. Upon completion of these forms, they are filed digitally in cloud-based storage. They are accessible, but I can guarantee they are not looked at after the initial population of the forms. IMHO, it seems that the questions are ambiguous, and may need more specificity ( e.g. did the company stay within budget, did the project have sufficient human resources, etc.). I forgot to add that one of the questions is if the company "exceeded customer expectations?" It's difficult to self-evaluate and come to a non-bias answer, so why not leave this kind of a question out and let the customer answer this.

My original question was more or less if anyone else uses a similar kind of form to capture information at the completion of a service/product/project?

Thanks for the feedback.
I would simply council that instead of trying to "make" the form work (i.e. adding specificity), simply consider your original question...
i.e. 'does this form add any...value"

To the second part of your question...."does this form...fulfill any of the 8.3 requirements? "

Obviously ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.3 has some specific "shall" requirements. I can only wonder if the form you are referring to was simply created by someone to help "check the box" that these requirements (or others) have been addressed...
*'verification/validation activities
* Information derived from previous...
* Reviews are conducted
* ...involvement of customer..

...but possibly not in a way that actually benefits your organization and/or your customer.

Yes, ISO 9001 registered organizations need to conform with the requirements of the standard. I would council, however, that organizations should be extremely selfish to ensure ALL is done for benefit the organization and its customers (simply ensuring that it meets the requirements of the standard in the process).

Hope this helps.
Be well.

 

[Tagin]

Upon completion of a project or service (Design and Development of Products and Services (8.3), our company requires a project evaluation form to be completed by the account director. This form asks generic questions, including: 1) lessons learned and 2) opportunities for improvement and 3) what method will be used to obtain customer feedback. Our company uses a customer satisfaction survey to collect feedback from our clients. To me, it seems like this project evaluation form is outdated and probably a relic of a past ISO 9001 revision. Does this form have any intrinsic value or fulfill any of the 8.3 requirements?

I don't see the form as being applicable to any 8.3 requirements. Instead, it is post-activity feedback which most aptly would be used for 9.1.3 Analysis and evaluation, 9.3.2 Mgmt Review inputs, 10.3 Continual improvement.

It is also relevant to 7.1.6 Organizational knowledge. Specifically, see NOTE 2a of 7.1.6:

NOTE 2 Organizational knowledge can be based on: a) internal sources (e.g. intellectual property; knowledge gained from experience; lessons learned from failures and successful projects; capturing and sharing undocumented knowledge and experience; the results of improvements in processes, products and services);

If the form is being filled out and simply filed away, with no one ever analyzing or acting upon them, then it would be pointless to fill out the form. But before scrapping the form, it would seem a better idea to examine the potential value to the company and to 9.1.3/9.3.2/10.3/7.1.6 of that information.

 

[Big Jim]

The form in question is not a requirement of the standard. Depending on how the information is used, it could be a best practice to use it though.

Like someone else asked, is it adding value to your organization? If not, determine if it is desirable or not. If it is desirable, figure out how to get it to be appreciated. If not desirable, drop it.