ISO 9001/2000

The new ISO 9001/2000 standard has several benefits over the older ones. This new standard has done a lot to make the model more suitable as an aid to continuous improvement in software quality.

The standard has streamlined the administration of the QMS (Quality Management Systems) and also reduced the amount of bureaucracy involved. It has greatly aided understanding by introducing diagrammatic process models rather than the older text based descriptions of procedures. The quality system now makes it easier to perform the measurement and analysis on a regular basis thus allowing adopters to continually improve their software quality. Finally the standard has a much more focused approach to the customer making it an integral part of the quality system.

Services that SMS provides include:

Gap Analysis

An analysis of existing processes and any quality systems to identify what needs to be added or changed to comply with the new standard

Auditing

Pre-assessment audits to confirm readiness prior to a certification body's official audit. Two types of audit can be offered:

Documentation Audit

This audit covers the final versions, ensuring that as a system the documentation is complete and fully meets the requirements of the standard. This can be done on or off-site

Compliance Audit

This is giving the staff the opportunity to be audited prior to the certification bodies' official audit. This will identify if people are correctly using the new system and give the company time to make any necessary changes. This type of audit also gives your staff an invaluable insight into the audit process, which will stand them in good stead for the official audit .