ISO 9001/2000

ISO is the International Standards Organisation. ISO 9001/2000 is a set of criteria which define a Quality Management System (QMS). An ISO 9001/2000 compliant QMS sees an organisation as a set of interrelated processes (this is very similar to CMM^®, CMMI^® and SPICE).

Each process must be planned, that is:

• it must have defined goals
• it must have a defined set of interrelationships with other processes
• the process must be continually measured, under continuous review and improvement.

ISO 9001/2000 is the latest version of the standard and is generally acknowledged to be an improvement on the earlier versions. The Standard covers the whole process of developing a QMS including how to plan processes, implement, measure and improve them.

Business benefits of achieving an ISO 9001/2000 compliant QMS are:

• Reduced Cost resulting from reduced scrap and rework
• Reduced employee turnover as their satisfaction improves
• Increased productivity as less work is wasted
• Increased market by operating an internationally recognised QMS (many organisations will only deal with ISO compliant organisations)
• Increased customer satisfaction resulting from higher quality products and services
• Increased profits resulting from reduced costs, increased market share and better customer retention