The Process list includes a list of generic processes such as sales, procurement, delivery of products, design changes and job completion. The process list is designed to help you enhance customer satisfaction by identifying the controls required to meet customer expectations consistently.

The guidance includes listing auditable steps and related clauses and lookup columns that enable you to select from Controls, Interested Parties, and Roles and Responsibilities to demonstrate effective process performance.

PROCEDURES

Management Systems can comprise more detailed instructions, either in ‘Written Procedure’ or ‘Flow Chart’ form.  The purpose of these procedures is to reflect how things are done and ensure that the organisation's critical processes are operated appropriately and consistently by all persons involved.

This level includes steps detailed as mandatory by the BS/ISO standards and required to control the organisation’s processes suitably. These steps have been written to ensure that risks & opportunities, statutory & regulatory requirements and resources are considered throughout the entire operational process. 

The procedures shall be made available to individuals as appropriate to the activity being undertaken and must be adhered to to ensure compliance with the organisation’s processes.  If a procedural improvement, or change, is identified, this is to be discussed with the Management Systems Representative, who will make amendments as necessary. The latest Policy Manual and Procedures are maintained on a Master List.

ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

The Organisation adopts Organisational Knowledge from internal and external sources to ensure the effective operation of its processes and to achieve conformity of products and services.

This knowledge shall be maintained and made available to the extent necessary; when factoring change within their business, the organisation shall determine the need to acquire or access additional knowledge and required updates.

Risks of not managing knowledge include:

• Knowledge not appropriately captured and safeguarded;
• Knowledge lost through staff turnover or people moving to other roles;
• Knowledge not effectively shared among the staff that need to use it.

Sources of internal knowledge;

• Knowledge gained from experience;
• Lessons learned from failures and successful projects (capturing and sharing undocumented knowledge and experience because of improvements over time)

Sources of external knowledge;

• Standards and other technical publications;
• Consultants;
• Academia;
• Conferences, tradeshows, and other events;
• Customers and suppliers;
• Competition;
• Internet.

Knowledge is dispersed through the organisation through processes including:

• Staff training (formal and on-the-job);
• Procedures
• Meetings and teamwork;
• Software;
• Notice boards;
• Management Review.