Re: ISO Interpretation
It's common to break down documentation into those terms, but the ISO has nothing to do with it.
Most frequently Level 1 or Tier 1 will be your policy and Quality manual
Level 2 or Tier 2 will be your highest level of procedures, SOP's or whatever you call them (it doesn't really matter as long as you know what they are and what they are for)
Level 3 or Tier 3 would be lower level instructional documents commonly called work instructions or whatever as well.
Level 4 or Tier 4 are records, databases, reports and that kind of stuff.
You don't have to use any of the above terms or levels, it's up to you.
You can also do what many organizatuions do and that's to combine the 2 & 3 levels into a single level.
Don't allow anyone to dictate what you call things or how to arrange them, in the end all you need to do is to be able to control your documents and records as required by the standard.
Just for giggles I'd like to see some brave soul call their documents "The words we do stuff by" and their records "The proof we did stuff according to the words we do stuff by"
Also with your client or anyone else, they only need to look at the stuff that is relevant to them and according to whatever agreements you make.