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Our newsletters provide guidance on ISO 9001,
AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO/TS 16949, TL 9000, ISO
14001,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22000, and related ISO
standards, as well as, Six Sigma.
If you have any questions about the articles
appearing in this issue, or you want to suggest
topics for future issues, please let us
know.
Quality Objectives
Are you having a difficult time identifying
quality objectives for your organization?
You're not alone.
According to ISO 9000:2005, 3.2.5, a quality
objective is something sought or aimed for,
related to quality. ISO 9001:2000, 5.4.1,
states your quality objectives must be
measurable and consistent with the quality
policy.
Clause 5.3 of ISO 9001:2000 says your quality
policy is a framework for establishing
quality objectives. It also says that the
policy must include a commitment to 1) comply
with requirements and 2) continually improve
the effectiveness of the quality management
system.
So, using the quality policy as a framework,
you would have a quality objective to measure
the degree to which requirements are being
met, as well as, a quality objective that
measures the results of the quality
management system.
If your quality policy identifies other
important areas, for example, product
reliability, you would be expected to have
another measurable target for product
reliability. ISO 9001:2000, clause 8.2.1,
says a required performance measure is for
customer satisfaction.
Even with this guidance, some organizations
still struggle on how to express meaningful
quality objectives.
Remember, goals are conditions to be achieved
in the future. They should be defined
consistent with your vision and mission.
Goals are established to guide your decisions
and actions. However, they usually do not
involve measurable results, and therefore, do
not change as often as objectives.
Objectives are focused on critical issues and
milestones. They describe the activities and
targets to achieve your goals. They even
identify the dates for completing the
activities. They are measurable in terms of
being achieved, or not. For example, a
general goal might be to reduce waste. The
related, specific objective might be to
reduce waste from 4% to 3% by the end of
2008.
Depending on your industry, you might
consider quality objectives such as:
Requirements Traceability = Traceable to
Design / Total Requirements
Design Stability = Change Requests / Product
Releases
Test Rate = Tests Passed / Tests Planned
Scrap Rate = Product Rejects / Products
Produced
Problem Rate = Problem Reports / Total
Customers
Fix Response Rate = Fixes Closed on Time /
Fixes Due
Return Rate = Products Returned / Products
Shipped
Repair Failure Rate = Nonconforming Units /
Repaired Units
Complaint Rate = Received Complaints /Total
Customers
Customer Satisfaction Index = (Questions x
Ratings) /Surveys Returned
On-time Delivery = Deliveries by Due Date /
Deliveries Scheduled
Service Quality = Defective Transactions /
Total Transactions
Milestone Delay = (Phase Duration - Planned
Duration) / Planned Duration
Defect Removal = Defects Removed / Defects
Reported in Test Cycle
Action Effectiveness = (Actions
Taken - Repeated Nonconformities) / Actions
Taken
Some of these quality metrics would be
expressed over a period of time, e.g.,
complaints per customer per year. And, some
values may be multiplied by 100 to give a
percentage. Also, the objectives don't have
to be variable measures. You could include
installation of a new document management
system by the end of 2008 as a quality
objective.
Make sure you establish SMART objectives:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
and Timed.
Specific: Identify the expected result. Be
precise on the desired outcome. All the
concerned persons should know what is
required.
Measurable: Quantify the result and ensure
you have a reliable system for measuring it.
You should know when you have achieved the
objective.
Achievable: The objective should be
realistic
given the target and date. Resources must be
available to deliver the result with
reasonable effort.
Relevant: Links to business success
should be
clear so people are motivated to meet the
objective. Ensure people can influence the
outcome.
Timed: Establish a timeframe for
reaching the
objective. Monitor progress against interim
targets on the way to achieving the stated
objective.
Please be careful how you set these quality
objectives and how you communicate them. You
might find people actually manipulating
processes to achieve the desired results,
especially if the numbers are used to
evaluate employee performance.
When handled poorly, performance targets can
result in internal competition and a lack of
cooperation. In fact, a specific process
objective can be optimized at the expense of
overall system performance.
If a target is perceived as arbitrary, and
set beyond the capability of the process, it
may lead to employee frustration, reduced
morale, and even lower performance.
Individuals must feel they have some control
over the outcome for an objective to actually
promote improvement. The objectives should
help monitor and control the processes, not
the people.
Quality objectives should be based on
comprehensive strategic planning. You should
define measures to help identify needed
process improvements, not as evidence for
employee appraisals.
ISO 26702:2007 for Systems Engineering
ISO 26702:2007 defines the interdisciplinary
tasks which are required throughout a
system's life cycle to transform customer
needs, requirements, and constraints into a
system solution. The standard also specifies
the requirements for the systems engineering
process and its application throughout the
product life cycle.
ISO 26702:2007 focuses on engineering
activities necessary to guide product
development, while ensuring that the product
is properly designed to make it affordable to
produce, own, operate, maintain, and
eventually dispose of without undue risk to
health or the environment.
ISO 26702:2007, Systems Engineering -
Application and Management of the Systems
Engineering Process, was based on IEEE
1220-2005. It can be ordered at the ANSI or
IEEE web sites.
Small Business Disaster Guide
The Small Business Administration
(www.sba.gov) and Nationwide Mutual Insurance
Company have teamed up to launch a disaster
planning guide for small business
owners.
The 10-page brochure provides information
that business owners need to develop an
effective plan to protect customers and
employees in the event of a disaster. The
guide provides key disaster preparedness
strategies to help small businesses identify
potential hazards, create plans to remain in
operation if the office is unusable, and
understand the limitations of their insurance
coverage.
The most successful recovery efforts are
always preceded by good planning. The more
preparation that businesses complete before a
disaster, the better able they are to rebuild
and reopen quickly after a disaster.
Disasters can have a devastating impact on
small businesses. How quickly those
businesses can get up and running after a
disaster can have a significant impact on a
community's ability to recovery.
Understanding this, the SBA and Nationwide
created this guide to help business owners
get their arms around the disaster planning
process, and convince them to mitigate their
risk. An electronic version of the guide is
available at this SBA
Web Page.
BS 25999 for Business Continuity
Continuing operations in the event of a
disruption, whether due to a major disaster
or a minor incident, is a fundamental
requirement for any organization. The new BS
25999 standard for business continuity
management (BCM) was developed to help
minimize the risk of such disruptions.
By helping to put the fundamentals of a BCM
system in place, the standard is designed to
keep your business going during the most
challenging and unexpected circumstances -
protecting your staff, preserving your
reputation, and providing the ability to
continue operations.
BS 25999 was developed by practitioners
throughout the global community, drawing upon
their considerable academic, technical, and
practical experiences to establish the
process, principles, and terminology of
Business Continuity Management.
It provides a basis for understanding,
developing, and implementing business
continuity within your organization and gives
you confidence in business-to-business and
business-to customer dealings. It also
contains a comprehensive set of requirements
based on BCM best practice and covers the
whole BCM lifecycle.
BS 25999 has two parts:
BS 25999-1:2006, Code of Practice for
Business Continuity Management, is a guide
that establishes the principles, terminology,
and process of business continuity
management. It covers the activities and
deliverables applicable in establishing a
continuity management process, as well as,
providing recommended good practice
steps.
BS 25999-2:2007, Specification for
Business
Continuity Management, is intended for use by
internal and external parties (including
certification bodies) to assess the
organization's ability to meet customer and
regulatory requirements. It specifies
requirements for establishing, implementing,
operating, monitoring, reviewing, exercising,
maintaining, and improving a documented BCM
System within the context of managing an
organization's overall business risks.
The
design and implementation of a BCM System to
meet the requirements of this standard will
be influenced by regulatory, customer and
business requirements, the products and
services, the processes employed, and the
size and structure of the organization.
BS 25999 is suitable for any organization,
large or small, from any sector. It is
particularly relevant for organizations that
operate in high risk environments, such as,
finance, telecommunications, transport, and
the public sector, where the ability to
continue operating is paramount for the
organization and its customers.
The U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to
ISO/TC 207 has issued two new Clarifications
of Intent for ISO 14001:2004:
07-08.A1
Question:
Is it a nonconformance if an organization
establishes Objectives, Targets, and Programs
but, at the time of the audit, none relate to
an identified significant aspect?
Answer:
No. Clause 4.3.3 requires that significant
environmental aspects be taken into account
when establishing and reviewing objectives
and targets, but it does not explicitly
require that there be an objective and target
related to a significant aspect at all times.
It is the intent of the standard that the
organization be able to demonstrate that it
has taken significant aspects into account in
setting objectives. Over time, however,
given the required commitment to continual
improvement, it would be expected that there
would be one or more objectives related to
one or more significant aspects to
demonstrate conformance to ISO 14001.
07-08.A2
Question:
Under the third paragraph, second sentence of
4.3.3, how strong is the wording for "shall
take into account"?
Answer:
The 2004 revision of ISO 14001 replaced
"consider" with the phrase "take into
account". This change was intended to
strengthen the requirement, so that an
organization would not take lightly the need
to consider significant environmental aspects
but rather, would evaluate whether and to
what extent objectives should be set to meet
the overall requirement to manage these
aspects in keeping with the commitment to
continual improvement.
To see all the clarifications of intent for
ISO 14001:2004, go
to the ASQ
Standards Group web site.
Whittington & Associates provides training, consulting and auditing services for
quality systems based on
ISO 9001, ISO/TS16949, TL9000, AS9100, ISO 13485,
as well as, ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22000, and ISO 14001.
