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Visit and bookmark our web site today: http://www.WhittingtonAssociates.com This e-Newsletter is in HTML
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The Ethics Officer Association (EOA) is a professional association for managers of ethics, compliance, and business conduct programs. It was founded in 1992 by a dozen ethics officers and today has over 800 members, including ethics officers from more than half of the Fortune 100. In addition, EOA membership includes non-profits, municipalities, and other organizations, including: the American Cancer Society, the Australia Department of Defense, the City of New York, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Securities Industry Association. The EOA has been exploring the feasibility of developing a global business conduct management system standard through the ISO process. ANSI has approved the EOA proposal for the development of a guidelines standard along the lines of ISO 9004 and ISO 14004. The business conduct management system standard would be a single set of voluntary, internationally recognized guidelines and tools to manage organizational ethics, compliance, and business conduct programs. The guidelines document would standardize the management of organizational ethics, compliance, and business conduct programs by providing guidance on the design and use of a business conduct management system within an organization. It also would provide guidance on a wide range of objectives of a business conduct management system with the goal of contributing to continual improvement of an organization's overall performance and the effectiveness of its business conduct program. The standard would define business conduct and would include the means to measure and credibly demonstrate compliance with the standard. The ISO management system standard could be a tool for any organization to use as a benchmark in measuring and demonstrating the effectiveness of its business conduct program and/or as a standard for business partners to meet. The standard would allow for self-declaration and would not be intended for use as a specification standard for certification, registration, or contractual purposes, or for the establishment of any other business conduct management system conformance requirements. EOA points out that ISO Guide 72, Guidelines for the Justification and Development of Management System Standards, sets forth the following themes and elements that are common to all ISO Management System Standards: 1. Policy (demonstration of commitment and principles
for action) According to the EOA, existing effective business conduct programs typically have the following elements, which are included in the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Federal Organizational Sentencing Guidelines and would be a reasonable starting point for the BCMS:
As I teach, consult, and audit, I find that some organizations have a difficult time understanding a few of the new ISO 9001:2000 requirements. They either don’t know how to interpret a requirement, or they don’t know the practices to implement for a conforming system. The toughest new ISO 9001:2000 requirements seem to be: 4.1 General Requirements (and 0.2 Process Approach)
I'll cover 4.1 General Requirements (and clause 0.2, Process Approach) in this article. I will address the other requirements in later newsletters. 0.2 Process Approach Without reading clause 0.2, Process Approach, organizations are overlooking an important concept that is at the heart of the new standard. ISO 9001:2000, through its structure and requirements, promotes the adoption of a process approach. To function effectively, an organization has to identify and manage numerous linked activities. When an activity uses resources to transform inputs into outputs, this activity can be considered a “process”. The output of one process often forms the direct input to another process. Identifying the system of related processes, along with their interaction and management, can be viewed as the “process approach”. The standard doesn’t force a system on your organization. Adopting the process approach merely helps your organization describe its system, understand the interacting processes, and control the linked activities. A process model diagram is included at clause 0.2 to highlight the main processes of the standard. It can be used as a starting place to develop a model of your own system. The process model points out the importance of customers by showing they submit requirements into the system, accept products, and share feedback on their level of satisfaction with how well their requirements were met. Customer requirements are used in product planning, which is part of the Product Realization process. In addition, this process covers transforming requirements into a design, purchasing the needed resources, producing the product under controlled conditions, and using calibrated equipment. Data on customer satisfaction flows into the Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement process. This information, along with other measurements and evaluations, provides vital feedback on the performance of the system. Management must act on this feedback to provide or adjust resources to maintain and improve the system. Therefore, the performance data flows into the process box for Management Responsibility. Management must demonstrate their commitment, focus on meeting requirements, ensure the adequacy of the quality policy and objectives, and review the system at planned intervals to ensure its effectiveness. Management decisions and actions flow into the Resource Management box. Resources are needed to assure product quality and include items such as workspace, equipment, materials, and people. The iterative nature of the model, along with its data analysis activities, may identify system improvements as shown by the Continual Improvement box. If justified, the necessary steps should be taken to put these recommendations into practice. 4.1 General Requirements The process approach has been explained, but how does ISO 9001 promote its adoption? Look closely at clause 4.1, General Requirements. Processes must be identified for your system, along with their sequence and interaction. In addition, the criteria and methods for operating and controlling these processes must be determined. The resources and information needed to operate and monitor these processes must also be available. Your organization must then monitor, measure, and analyze the processes, as well as, implement the actions necessary to achieve planned results and continually improve the processes. Even outsourced processes are included. Clause 4.2.2, also promotes adoption of the process approach by requiring the quality manual to describe the process interaction of the system. And, throughout the standard, references are made to process requirements. An organization can satisfy the process interaction requirement of the quality manual by including flow charts, process maps, cross-reference tables, and/or written text. An advantage of looking at your system as a linked set
of activities is the ongoing control it provides over the linkage and interaction
of individual processes. Although the process approach might seem an abstract
concept, it will become common sense when you begin to look at how your organization
actually operates.
Easy reading is damned hard writing. To prepare an effective document, you must follow a good writing process. The process starts before the document is written and continues after it is completed. The process also involves more than just the writer. 1. Plan: What is being written? Why are we writing it?
Communications is really a simple process. It requires
a sender, a receiver, and a medium for carrying the message. To be successful, the receiver has to clearly understand the information being conveyed by the sender. Begin by considering what message is to be communicated to the readers. The document needs to spell out what the user must do to ensure the process is carried out well. Give them the information necessary to perform their jobs in a quality manner. The medium should be selected to clearly communicate your message. To convey the message in the right way, you need to understand the intended audience for the document. You may want to send your document writers to our Quality System Documentation course. We have classes scheduled for: December 5-6, 2002 in San Jose, CA Although I developed the course, I will only be teaching it in Atlanta, GA. Other well qualified instructors will be teaching the course in the other locations. You can see the course description and enroll online at: http://www.whittingtonassociates.com/v2/training/courses/iso_qsd.shtml
The US TAG to ISO/Technical Committee 176 implemented a Product Support Initiative (PSI) as a means of seeking input on the new standards. The specific goals of PSI are to help enhance the value of the ISO 9000:2000 family, help organizations conform to ISO 9001:2000, and provide inputs on their implementation experiences. The online PSI survey of these quality management systems
indicates that internal and external audits are most frequently identifying
these findings:
These same respondents found conformity to ISO 9001:2000
has led to these improvements:
To take the online survey for your organization, go to
<http://www.asq.org/mr/psisurvey.html>.
Return on Investment (ROI) is used to quantify the financial return of an investment. In more technical terms, ROI is the value developed by comparing program costs to benefits, measuring the magnitude of benefits relative to costs, the net benefit after expending some level of resources, or profit computed by dividing net income by assets used. A basic model to estimate ROI for software process improvement (SPI) methods, as well as, a complete process to apply these simple equations, are described in an online article by David Rico at: <http://www.tickit.org/ti4q02.pdf>. The ROI model consists of two basic equations: 1. Benefit/Cost Ratio (B/CR): B/CR is a simple process
of dividing the benefits of SPI by the costs. The referenced article shows software managers and engineers how to estimate ROI early, quickly, and accurately by applying practical top-down methods for rapidly producing authoritative estimates of ROI for popular approaches to software process improvement (SPI). The methods in the article include: Inspection: The software inspection process is a highly-structured and facilitated group meeting to objectively identify the maximum number of software defects, with the purpose of improving software quality. PSP: The Personal Software Process (PSP) is a training curriculum to teach simple, but powerful techniques, in software project management and quality management. TSP: The Team Software Process (TSP) is an extension of PSP, which introduces group software project management techniques versus the individual focus taught by PSP. SW-CMM: The Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) is basically a supplier selection model to evaluate and select software contractors that practice minimum software project management techniques. ISO 9001: ISO 9001, like the SW-CMM, is a supplier selection model created to evaluate, identify and select suppliers that practice minimum quality management techniques. CMMI: The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), the newest version of SW-CMM, is also a supplier selection model to evaluate and select systems engineering contractors that practice minimum systems engineering management techniques. Based on industry data, Rico calculated these impressive
return on investment and benefit/cost ratios:
Is your organization using state funding for your ISO 9000 training? Some states, like Georgia, provide a retraining tax credit to foster the profitability and competitiveness of its industry by encouraging workforce development. In Georgia, up to $500 per retraining program per employee is eligible for the state income tax credit. Eligible costs include instructor fees, materials, equipment, and employee wages. Check with your state to see if a similar credit is available to offset your ISO 9000 training costs. A quick Internet search using Google identified tax credits
in Ohio, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Connecticut, Nebraska,
New York, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Virginia. Search for credits offered
by your state. The state of Georgia offers a state income tax credit based on the Georgia Business Expansion Support Act. Eligible retraining programs are those that provide job skills for employees otherwise unable to function effectively on the job due to skill deficiencies, or who would otherwise be displaced, because such skill deficiencies would inhibit their utilization of new technology. The Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education defines new technology as including implementation of new equipment and/or new operating systems, such as, workplace reengineering, total quality management, ISO 9000 standards, and employee involvement programs. Executive training, management development training, career development, and/or personal enrichment training are not included. Eligible companies in Georgia may be granted tax credits equal to one half of the direct cost of retraining up to $500 per full-time employee per approved training program for each employee who has successfully completed an approved retraining program. Any tax credit claimed under the Georgia Code for any taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 1998, but not used for any such taxable year, may be carried forward for ten years from the close of the taxable year in which the tax credit was granted. The tax credit granted to any employer pursuant to this Code shall not exceed 50 percent of the amount of the taxpayer's income tax liability for the taxable year as computed without regard to the Code. Approved Retraining means retraining programs which are approved in advance of implementation by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education. Local technical colleges in Georgia provide information regarding approval of retraining programs. Retraining programs may be either employer-provided or employer-sponsored. Cost of retraining includes direct instructional costs, such as, instructor salaries, materials, supplies, textbooks, manuals, video tapes or other instructional media and training equipment purchased or rented for and utilized solely for the employee retraining. Costs for renting or otherwise securing space for retraining are excluded. Employee wages are an allowable retraining cost. This cost is prorated to reflect wages paid only for time devoted exclusively to retraining during paid working hours, as long as, the training does not occur while the employee is producing a product or providing a service. A eligible employee is any worker who resides in the State
of Georgia, who is employed for a minimum of 25 hours per week, and who has
been continuously employed by the employer for at least 16 consecutive weeks.
For purposes of the retraining tax credit, employee means workers involved
in direct labor and their immediate supervisors. For more details on the Georgia Retraining Tax Credit, see <http://www.dtae.org/econdev/retrain.html>.
To enroll in any of these public classes, go to the Class Schedule at our web site, or call us at 800-404-7585. The classes taught by Larry Whittington are shown in gold. ISO 9001:2000 Lead Auditor (ANSI/RAB-NAP Accredited) - CEEM, Inc.
ISO 9001:2000 Internal Auditor (ANSI/RAB-NAP Accredited) - CEEM, Inc.
ISO 9001:2000 Auditor Transition (RAB-Approved)
Implementing ISO 9001:2000 (for New Systems)
Understanding ISO 9001:2000 Requirements
ISO 9001:2000 Conversion (for Existing Systems)
Quality System Documentation (Revised for ISO 9001:2000)
To arrange an economical on-site
class, please call us at 800-404-7585.
ASQ's 3rd Six Sigma Conference
ASQ Quality Audit Division
Conference Association for Quality
and Participation - 25th Annual Conference ASQ's Business Excellence and Customer Satisfaction Conference
ASQ's 10th Annual ISO 9000 Conference ASQ Quality Management
Division Conference 25th International Conference
on Software Engineering 57th Annual ASQ Quality
Congress
© 2000-2002 Whittington & Associates, LLC. All rights reserved. You may copy this e-Newsletter provided you copy it completely, do not change it, and include this copyright notice. |
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