ISO 9001 Quality Management

Ever since its initial publication, ISO 9001 has been the most recognized and widely used management system standard. A QMS based on ISO 9001 enables organizations to ensure success in the long term. In addition, a certified QMS provides additional assurance to customers and business associates, which further improves the business of an organization. Even though ISO 9001 sets the minimum requirements that must be met, it still allows organizations to tailor the QMS to their needs. Thus, organizations should determine their overall context in order to identify issues, constraints, and opportunities that are specific to their context. In addition, they should set objectives and establish processes which contribute to the achievement of those objectives. A distinct feature of a QMS based on ISO 9001 is that it puts customers first. “Meeting customers’ needs and exceeding their expectations” is engraved in the quality management principles, and is implied continuously on the requirements stated in clauses 4 to 10 of the standard. As such, organizations that implement and establish a QMS based on ISO 9001 will maintain the focus on their customers by continuously identifying their needs and requirements, obtaining feedback from them, and continually improving their products and services to fulfill their needs. This focus on customer satisfaction is one of the key factors that have allowed ISO 9001 to achieve landmark status. Like most of the management system standards, ISO 9001 is structured according to the High-Level Structure (HLS) and shares the common terms and core definitions. This alignment enables an easier integration with other management systems based on standards such as ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22301, etc. Apart from ensuring consistency and reducing costs, integrating several management systems can improve the organization’s ability to successfully address other organizational commitments.