The international standard for a QMS or quality management system is ISO 9001. A business or organisation can be certified to ISO 9001 when an independent third party certification organisation has assessed it to comply with criteria detailed in the standard.

Organisations and businesses alike utilise the standard in their operations to provide consistent high quality services and products. Then work continuously to further improve their stakeholder offering. ISO 9001 has ten clauses which organisations’ operations are mandated to comply with to qualify for certification.

The first three clauses i.e.: Scope, Terms and References list the requirements of the standard, explains the terminology used and identifies other standards that are supported by ISO 9001. The next three clauses are Leadership, Context and Scope. They cover leadership responsibility for communication of quality procedures, determining the objectives of the QMS, identifying the resources needed for its implementation and for ensuring that all members of the organisation understand what the QMS is and their role in it.

The final four include Planning, Evaluation, Operations and Continuous Improvement. Planning involves identifying opportunities, assessing risks, setting objectives for the QMS and detail the changes required to meet ISO 9001.

Evaluation is all about using the new QMS to change processes and monitor their effectiveness in line with operational processes. Operations covers planning, implementation and control procedures and continuous improvement as the names suggests relates to the ongoing process of enhancing the QMS to further improve the quality system.