And a "timely" report from Novi Sad
http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livel...69636/Activities.html?nodeid=3554104&vernum=0
http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livel...69636/Activities.html?nodeid=3554104&vernum=0
ISO/TC 176/SC2 held its 33rd plenary meeting in Novi Sad, Serbia, between 19 and 23 May 2008.
ISO/DIS 9001 had been circulated for ballot before the meeting, and had been approved by the ISO member bodies.
Task Group 1.19 from SC2/WG18 reviewed the more than 700 comments received against the DIS, along with the results of a very successful validation exercise conducted by TG 1.21 on the DIS, and prepared the text of the FDIS. This is now expected to be circulated for ballot by ISO in August, allowing for publication of the amended standard in late October/early November.
As the work on ISO 9001 has been limited to an amendment, there have been a number of comments submitted during its development giving ideas that had to be put to one side, as being outside of the scope of the project. TG 1.19 will now produce an archive of such comments, so that they may be taken forward for consideration in the next revision of the standard.
In fact, SC2 agreed to establish a new Task Group to examine concepts and ideas for a future revision to ISO 9001. This will start work at the next SC2 meeting.
A further aspect of the activities of TG 1.19 is that during the development of the amendment, they have sought to address the sanctioned "interpretations" that have been issued against ISO 9001, since the publication of the 2000 edition. TG 1.19 will now advise the ISO/TC 176/WG Interpretations of its recommendations, so that these may be considered when the WG Interpretations reviews the need to maintain the individual interpretations, and makes its own recommendations on them to ISO/TC 176.
Also relating to the amendment to ISO 9001 is the need to update the ISO Handbook: ISO 9001:2000 for Small Businesses, to ensure that it will remain aligned to ISO 9001:2008. SC 2 requested ISO/TC 176 to commence such an update, and also offered to undertake this work on behalf of the TC, in co-operation with ISO/TC 176/SC 1 and ISO/TC 176/SC 3. This was agreed at the ISO/TC 176 closing plenary.
The situation concerning ISO 9004 has been much less straightforward. In late 2007, just prior to the launch of CD3, the ISO/TMB/TF Sustainability advised that it considered that the scope of the draft standard appeared to exceed the scope of ISO/TC 176, in the way in which it addressed issues concerning the concept of "sustainable success" and related "societal" issues. Consequently the SC2 Secretary and the WG18/TG 1.20 Task Group Leader undertook some severe editing of the draft, in order to comply with the ISO/TMB/TF's recommendations. The edited CD3 was then released for ballot in January 2008 and was approved in April; however, a significant number of member bodies submitted comments along with their ballot responses which expressed the view that the Secretary and TG 1.20 Task Group leader had gone too far in their editing, and that there was a less severe position that could be adopted for the draft standard, that would allow the re-introduction of references to "sustainable success" while maintaining full compliance with the recommendations of the ISO/TMB/TF Sustainability. This led to a critical debate at the SC2 opening plenary meeting, which saw a vote in favour of re-introducing this concept won by a large majority.
ISO/TMB will need to be consulted over whether this re-introduction is acceptable.
TG 1.20 then proceeded to review the 850 comments received with the CD3 and to prepare the DIS of 9004. In reviewing at the issue of "sustainable success" the TG decided to use the phrase "sustained success" instead, as being closer to the concept they wish the standard to describe. The DIS is now expected to be circulated in August by ISO Central Secretariat, providing ISO/TMB acceptance is first given.
A number of other ideas had also been presented in the CD3 comments concerning ISO 9004, such as for the retention of ISO 9004:2000 and giving the CD3 a new number; for making ISO 9004 an implementation annex to ISO 9001; or for merging ISO 9004 as the "fundamentals" section to ISO 9000. Following debate in the SC2 opening plenary, it was decided that there was insufficient support for any one of these individual recommendations and so none of them were accepted.
In the expectation that SC2 would approve the elevation of CD3 9004 to the DIS stage, WG18/TG 1.21 made plans for a validation exercise to be conducted on the DIS, as well as in verifying the current drafts of 9001 and 9004 against their individual "design specifications". The verification identified that there had been one significant change during the development of 9004, in that the original design specification had proposed that the standard would be written in two major sections, one for Top management and the other for Operational management; as the development had progressed, it had been found preferable to merge the two back into a single text. This required TG 1.21 to prepare a small amendment to the design specification of 9004, which was approved by resolution at the SC2 closing plenary meeting.
In support of the development activity on the standards, WG18/TG 1.22 produced an initial draft of an implementation matrix to help users of the amended ISO 9001 identify the changes in the standard compared to the 2000 edition; this will be finalized once the FDIS text of ISO 9001 is available. Additionally, it reviewed all of the SC2 web based supporting guidance notes and FAQs, to ensure that they are up to date and aligned to ISO 9001:2008; this resulted in recommendations that some of them will need revision. Given its focus on ISO 9001 developments, the TG did not have sufficient time to progress the development of a brochure on quality management for Top managers, or on its Management Learning Grid, consequently the TG will be holding an interim meeting to revise the relevant guidance notes, and to progress these items.
In conclusion, SC2 had some key decisions to make and a lot of work to progress. Its success in achieving these objectives was down to the dedication of the conveners, task group leaders and experts who worked diligently during the week. Additionally, this was greatly aided by the excellent facilities provided at the Congress Centre Master, Novi Sad, the support given by our hosts, the Institute for Standardization of Serbia (ISS), and the excellent hospitality provided by the meeting sponsor Carlsberg Srbija d.o.o.. A special thanks to Miss Milena Matijevic from Carlsberg, andMrs. Biljana Lekovic Milojkovic from ISS, for all their personal efforts in supporting the meeting.
Finally, SC 2 owes a large debt of gratitude to Dr Isaac Sheps, C.E.O. Carlsberg South East Europe, for first inviting us to meet in Serbia, and for then making all the necessary arrangements to ensure such a successful meeting.
ISO/DIS 9001 had been circulated for ballot before the meeting, and had been approved by the ISO member bodies.
Task Group 1.19 from SC2/WG18 reviewed the more than 700 comments received against the DIS, along with the results of a very successful validation exercise conducted by TG 1.21 on the DIS, and prepared the text of the FDIS. This is now expected to be circulated for ballot by ISO in August, allowing for publication of the amended standard in late October/early November.
As the work on ISO 9001 has been limited to an amendment, there have been a number of comments submitted during its development giving ideas that had to be put to one side, as being outside of the scope of the project. TG 1.19 will now produce an archive of such comments, so that they may be taken forward for consideration in the next revision of the standard.
In fact, SC2 agreed to establish a new Task Group to examine concepts and ideas for a future revision to ISO 9001. This will start work at the next SC2 meeting.
A further aspect of the activities of TG 1.19 is that during the development of the amendment, they have sought to address the sanctioned "interpretations" that have been issued against ISO 9001, since the publication of the 2000 edition. TG 1.19 will now advise the ISO/TC 176/WG Interpretations of its recommendations, so that these may be considered when the WG Interpretations reviews the need to maintain the individual interpretations, and makes its own recommendations on them to ISO/TC 176.
Also relating to the amendment to ISO 9001 is the need to update the ISO Handbook: ISO 9001:2000 for Small Businesses, to ensure that it will remain aligned to ISO 9001:2008. SC 2 requested ISO/TC 176 to commence such an update, and also offered to undertake this work on behalf of the TC, in co-operation with ISO/TC 176/SC 1 and ISO/TC 176/SC 3. This was agreed at the ISO/TC 176 closing plenary.
The situation concerning ISO 9004 has been much less straightforward. In late 2007, just prior to the launch of CD3, the ISO/TMB/TF Sustainability advised that it considered that the scope of the draft standard appeared to exceed the scope of ISO/TC 176, in the way in which it addressed issues concerning the concept of "sustainable success" and related "societal" issues. Consequently the SC2 Secretary and the WG18/TG 1.20 Task Group Leader undertook some severe editing of the draft, in order to comply with the ISO/TMB/TF's recommendations. The edited CD3 was then released for ballot in January 2008 and was approved in April; however, a significant number of member bodies submitted comments along with their ballot responses which expressed the view that the Secretary and TG 1.20 Task Group leader had gone too far in their editing, and that there was a less severe position that could be adopted for the draft standard, that would allow the re-introduction of references to "sustainable success" while maintaining full compliance with the recommendations of the ISO/TMB/TF Sustainability. This led to a critical debate at the SC2 opening plenary meeting, which saw a vote in favour of re-introducing this concept won by a large majority.
ISO/TMB will need to be consulted over whether this re-introduction is acceptable.
TG 1.20 then proceeded to review the 850 comments received with the CD3 and to prepare the DIS of 9004. In reviewing at the issue of "sustainable success" the TG decided to use the phrase "sustained success" instead, as being closer to the concept they wish the standard to describe. The DIS is now expected to be circulated in August by ISO Central Secretariat, providing ISO/TMB acceptance is first given.
A number of other ideas had also been presented in the CD3 comments concerning ISO 9004, such as for the retention of ISO 9004:2000 and giving the CD3 a new number; for making ISO 9004 an implementation annex to ISO 9001; or for merging ISO 9004 as the "fundamentals" section to ISO 9000. Following debate in the SC2 opening plenary, it was decided that there was insufficient support for any one of these individual recommendations and so none of them were accepted.
In the expectation that SC2 would approve the elevation of CD3 9004 to the DIS stage, WG18/TG 1.21 made plans for a validation exercise to be conducted on the DIS, as well as in verifying the current drafts of 9001 and 9004 against their individual "design specifications". The verification identified that there had been one significant change during the development of 9004, in that the original design specification had proposed that the standard would be written in two major sections, one for Top management and the other for Operational management; as the development had progressed, it had been found preferable to merge the two back into a single text. This required TG 1.21 to prepare a small amendment to the design specification of 9004, which was approved by resolution at the SC2 closing plenary meeting.
In support of the development activity on the standards, WG18/TG 1.22 produced an initial draft of an implementation matrix to help users of the amended ISO 9001 identify the changes in the standard compared to the 2000 edition; this will be finalized once the FDIS text of ISO 9001 is available. Additionally, it reviewed all of the SC2 web based supporting guidance notes and FAQs, to ensure that they are up to date and aligned to ISO 9001:2008; this resulted in recommendations that some of them will need revision. Given its focus on ISO 9001 developments, the TG did not have sufficient time to progress the development of a brochure on quality management for Top managers, or on its Management Learning Grid, consequently the TG will be holding an interim meeting to revise the relevant guidance notes, and to progress these items.
In conclusion, SC2 had some key decisions to make and a lot of work to progress. Its success in achieving these objectives was down to the dedication of the conveners, task group leaders and experts who worked diligently during the week. Additionally, this was greatly aided by the excellent facilities provided at the Congress Centre Master, Novi Sad, the support given by our hosts, the Institute for Standardization of Serbia (ISS), and the excellent hospitality provided by the meeting sponsor Carlsberg Srbija d.o.o.. A special thanks to Miss Milena Matijevic from Carlsberg, andMrs. Biljana Lekovic Milojkovic from ISS, for all their personal efforts in supporting the meeting.
Finally, SC 2 owes a large debt of gratitude to Dr Isaac Sheps, C.E.O. Carlsberg South East Europe, for first inviting us to meet in Serbia, and for then making all the necessary arrangements to ensure such a successful meeting.
:mybad:
