Organisations of any size and industry can benefit from Management System Certification. Here’s how to get certified with minimal effort.
Today’s industries and processes are becoming increasingly interconnected. Because of that, an efficient management system is a fundamental component of any long-term business plan.
Organisations gain credibility with their clientele, vendors, staff, and outside contractors when their management systems have been independently audited and certified. The value of the certification increases in proportion to the credibility of the organisation that issued it.
What is a Management System?
A management system specifies the processes, outputs, and controls necessary to guarantee those outcomes. A management system certification is more than just a piece of paper on the wall. It’s a vital resource for ensuring compliance with all sorts of rules and regulations, satisfying customers, keeping your brand safe, keeping your operations streamlined, lowering your overhead, and more.
Management systems are organisational structures and procedures because they define how businesses are structured and run to facilitate systematic action, reliable methods, and predictable outcomes. Current management systems commonly use The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle of planning, carrying out, analysing, and bettering.
An efficient management system relies on and controls well-defined and continually improved procedures. As a result, the organisation’s structure, functions, and processes are all established for systematic and continuous improvement.
Where you implement a management system depends on the nature of the business and the objectives it seeks to fulfil. Transportation and logistics, the auto industry, and the healthcare sector are just a few examples.
What is management system certification?
Organisations of any size and industry can benefit from Management System Certification. All certificates have a three-year shelf life. Following certification, an organisation must get audited regularly to ensure it complies with the baseline requirement. Every three years, there must be a comprehensive examination of the system to maintain accreditation.
ISO-compliant management systems all use the same logic—the so-called High-Level Structure —but focus on different things. The ISO 9001 standard for quality management is the most well-known and frequently adopted.
Every aspect of your business, from operations to customer service, should benefit from your certified management system’s commitment to continuous development.
At one end of the scale, you could choose to “DIY” and set up your policies and procedures; at the other end, you could get a consultant to do a large chunk of the work.
One approach’s benefits depend on the organisation’s finances, the available internal resources, the required knowledge and not to mention the time necessary to get your system set up and implemented.
FocusIMS provides an alternative that is the best of both worlds. (DIY with the best tools and advice to deliver a great result). Guided support in setting up your system will have you up and running in as little as a week, and real tech support is just a message, call or email away without the cost of a consultant.
How do you implement a management system?
Professional management systems and their certification are now essential for staying ahead of the competition and providing the best products and services. There is a comprehensive list of mandatory requirements in many norms and standards that you must implement. The path to implementation is not, however, set in stone.
You must tailor your organisation’s management structure to its unique circumstances and objectives. Hence, keep in mind the specifics of your business, and tailor the typical prerequisites and implementation procedures to your firm’s needs. One way to achieve this goal is by extensive dialogue between all parties involved.
What are the Benefits of Management System Certification?
1. More dependable leadership
An audit is no longer adequate to satisfy the standards of an organisation’s ISO systems. Before each annual certification audit, quality or environmental managers used to double-check that the company complies with the standards.
Over time, however, the management system and the ISO criteria have expanded to become critical components of effective business operations. Your audit findings are now too important to be kept inside the quality team. You must share them with upper management.
Leaders in today’s organisations must realise the value of information gleaned from both internal and external audits of their management systems. Managers responsible for quality and upper management can further their organisation’s efficiency, quality, safety, and sustainability goals by acting on research findings.
The management system must be dynamic, with ever-evolving processes that enhance daily operations. It shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of quality managers alone, nor should preparations be put off until the certification audit in the following year.
Internal and external audit reports should provide your leadership team with feedback tailored to their specific language and needs to win over upper management. When you don’t fulfil goals and business objectives, the audit report should guide the developing and monitoring of action plans and initiating corrective action.
2. Potential for increased efficiency
Evaluate the feasibility of your management system in light of not only ISO standards but also the present and future difficulties. It will help upper-level management identify areas of saturation and make appropriate changes in light of the business’s current and future requirements.
Specifically, think of doing the following:
- Compare process measurements to corporate goals and the economy at large.
- Instead of maintaining compliance, you may focus on improving your processes by conducting an internal process assessment.
- The management system should adopt improvement strategies like Six Sigma and lean manufacturing.
- Create a unified approach to quality assurance, environmental protection, and occupational health and safety.
- Your newfound knowledge can benefit the entire supply chain and your company partners.
3. Reduce the potential for adverse business outcomes.
Highlight the implications of your results on business risk while doing internal and external system assessments. Be sure that your evaluation of the management system considers all processes, including those related to health and safety, legal compliance, finances, environmental programs, sustainability, etc.
The more perspectives you have on where potential dangers lay across all operations, and the more prepared you are to adopt changes to minimise those discoveries, the better. You can do just that by including each of the primary risk areas in the business.
The purpose of risk management is not only to recognise potential threats but also to lessen them to an acceptable level for the company. To better understand the potential for harm, it is helpful to define a risk assessment formula or procedure and then assign risk levels based on the severity or frequency with which the risk or hazard may occur. The process of risk management includes setting an acceptable threshold of risk. You can maximise the benefits of an internal audit program by providing training in risk management fundamentals to the audit teams.
4. Meeting and exceeding consumer expectations
Make sure that all consumer needs are met by including your management system. With a PDCA cycle and other problem-solving strategies, you may better understand and address your customers’ wants, needs, and perspectives, not simply their gripes. Give your clients the benefit of your expertise and ask that they do the same.
5. Increase the value of internal and external audits by measuring and enhancing their ROI.
As businesses shift from compliance audits to risk-based auditing, they can “do more with less” by concentrating their efforts where they will have the most significant impact on the company’s bottom line and its relationship with its customers.
Get to the bottom of the problem more quickly by first identifying the needs of the internal customer and the process owner. In addition to evaluating available resources, you must present the findings of internal and external audits in the form of quantitative improvements and concrete recommendations.
FocusIMS provides several management systems certification options, including ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, that may help you evaluate the efficiency with which your business’s operations help it meet its aims and reduce potential dangers. To be a strong business partner and solution supplier, we go above and beyond essential compliance with our high technical competence and unmatched attention to client satisfaction.
Your company may minimise waste, boost effectiveness and sustainability, and raise profitability with the help of management system certification.
Why build your management system using FocusIMS?
1. You will pay much less for so much more!
A consultant will charge you for their time, usually $30 per person per month. Whereas with FocusIMS, you’ll pay a simple low subscription per user.
Consultants also often hand you an off-the-shelf manual with generic templates that are not industry or business-specific. The information is frequently overcomplicated and inconsistent with your business’s needs. You will likely receive many templates to follow, often not acknowledging that you already have some processes in place, leaving you with gaps or overlapping processes you’ll have to work through.
You may still wish to get a consultant to help you initially with your internal audit and management review functions where they can add value to your system if you’re not confident to “go it alone.”
With FocusIMS, you get an entire user-friendly system that covers all your business processes, from project management, asset management, and personnel management to supplier management, document management, and much more.
2. No need for duplication!
While a client often advises creating a register/index for a list of completed forms, you duplicate information in the form and the register. FocusIMS automatically creates the record based on the form completed that is easily accessible for anyone needing access. In addition to this, in many areas, reports/summaries are automatically created. That means you can focus on driving improvements from the data rather than duplicating data.
3. Automatic Compliance Alerts!
Consultant manuals never include a method for automated compliance alerts.
The FocusIMS alerts page efficiently manages your records, alerting you about overdue documents for expiring training, vehicle registrations, contractor certificates of insurance, and review of legislation, policies, and procedures.
Don’t waste time and money on a consultant to get you started. Start your FREE FocusIMS two-week trial today!
