Writing policies and procedures statements can be difficult.  Nobody likes to research best practices, determine what to say and then write the actual policy or procedure.  So wouldn’t it be nice to have access to a library of policies and procedures?

A comprehensive library that contains hundreds of policies and procedures, along with hundreds of supporting reports, forms, and job descriptions – Over 1,000 documents in all.  A library where all of the procedures have the same format.  A library of editable MS Word templates that you could easily change if you wanted to change them. (more…)

A policy or procedure can be written down on paper but frankly, that is the old paradigm from the days of three-ring binders and manual paper-based systems. I know that many companies are still using such systems today but with the advent of Internet based procedure management software and mobile applications, the paradigm is shifting. (more…)

Working with document version control software for your policies and procedures documents does not have to be difficult.  Bizmanualz has created a new document library software product that greatly simplifies the day-to-day management of all of your policies and procedures.

The New OnPolicy Procedures Library incorporates 960 business documents into a single toolbox of helpful “how-to” procedures for the day to day management of any business.  These best practices for the efficient management of any business or company will help your business improve productivity, build operational consistency, and prepare for compliance.

Every department is covered with a brief introduction into how the department function works, a department management manual, and detailed department policies, procedures, and forms.  (more…)

Are your off-shore facilitates really less expensive? It all depends on how you are calculating your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Your TCO calculation should include all the hidden costs your new strategy will experience over the life of the project. These could include:

1. Extra inventory needed while you wait for your restocking order that is in transit from your chosen low-wage manufacturer. Remember, it is travelling slowly over the ocean a long distance away. (more…)

What does it take to be an effective business leader?  Many people have written about the qualities of great leaders.  Coming up with a top ten list is not easy because there are so many more traits than 10.  Here are my top ten.

1. Visionary.  Leaders are able to create a vision of a positive future, which begins the process of getting buy-in from the team.  A leader without a vision is not a leader all, they are called a manager.
2. Strategic.  A good leader understands how to capitalize on the assets of the organization in order to create a successful vision. (more…)

ISO 9000 refers to a set of three Quality Management System (QMS) documents: ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004, produced by the International Organization for Standardization.

• ISO 9000 contains the definitions and terminology used by the ISO 9001 standard.
• ISO 9001 contains the actual QMS requirements used for certification or registration audits.
• ISO 9004 is a set of guidelines that can be used to develop a quality management systems.

Although,  the three documents make up the ISO 9000 set, the main one that everyone concerns themselves with is the ISO 9001 standard itself.  About every seven years a new ISO 9000 set is released.  The release date is then added to each set to complete the naming convention.  So, ISO 9001:2008 is the full name of the standard and the current release used for ISO registration.

What is the difference between ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003?

We no longer use ISO 9002 or ISO 9003.  These names were used in the older ISO 9000:1994 standard that was obsoleted by the ISO 9000:2000 version, which in turn, was obsoleted by the latest ISO 9001:2008 version.  This may sound confusing but ISO rules require the standards to be reviewed and updated periodically to stay current with technological and market developments.  We don’t expect the next update until ISO 9001:2015.

Many people think ISO is an acronym that stands for the developer and publisher of International Standards — the International Standards Organization.  But that ISO organization is actually called International Organization for Standardization or IOS.

Since the IOS is an international organization, it would have a different acronym in different languages.  Hence, the ‘ISO’ in English versus the ‘IOS’ in Swiss or the ‘OIN’ in French (Organisation internationale de normalisation).

The ISO standards are not named after an acronym.  ISO comes from the Greek word ‘isos’ for equal.  All ISO standards use the name ISO to mean ‘isos’ and not to mean an acronym.  So now, no matter the country or language that ISO is used in, the ISO standards are always pronounced the same.  It is not an I.S.O. standard as many people think.  It is an ISO standard. ISO is one word.  No pauses.

Blogs are a great interactive communication vehicle.  We first started writing to answer many questions about policies and procedures, quality, and management systems. We now have three blogs.  One focused on longer quality articles.  One focused on shorter comments (this blog).  And one focused on the OnPolicy document revision control software.

The blog content comes from our training classes, consulting practice, and the policies and procedures manuals themselves.  Over the years we have written about a wide range of topics.  People still ask questions and we are still answering them every month.

Below are some of the top questions regarding quality management systems.

1. What’s the Difference Between Policies and Procedures?
2. Are Procedures the Same as Work Instructions?
3. What’s the Difference between Corrective Action and Preventive Action?
4. What’s the Difference Between Verification and Validation?
5. What is a Lean ISO 9001 Quality Management System?
6. What Procedures Should You Write?
7. What is Continuous Improvement?
8. What is a Process Map?
9. How Are PDCA Cycles Used Inside ISO 9001?
10. Why Policies and Procedures Don’t Work.

If you have any questions about ISO 9000, quality, lean six sigma, or management systems design, ask them below and I will be happy to answer them in an upcoming blog post.

Writing policies and procedures can be a struggle sometimes.  Often times you just need an example policy or procedure to get you started.  The question is – where do you go?  Well now you can pick from hundreds of sample policies and procedures from a wide range of departments including accounting, finance, human resources, computer and network, sales and marketing, and ISO standards like ISO 9000, AS9100, or ISO 22000.

PoliciesProcedures.com, our companion website provides hundreds of example policy and procedure templates to choose from.  Launched in July, 2008, the site offers procedure templates in easily editable Microsoft Word format. You can instantly download the the right procedure(s) and immediately start editing in Microsoft Word. Each policy procedure documents is taken from the Bizmanualz Policies and Procedures Library.

Writing policy and procedure documents can be a whole lot easier with a sample in front of you.  So give it a try and make your life easier with downloadable procedure samples.

Policies and procedures are all around us all the time. Formal company policy is developed by management and documented in a company policy manual.  Informal policy evolves from an organization’s culture and is undocumented, which makes them harder to learn and change.

What’s A Policy?

A policy communicates an organization’s principles.  Companies have many different types of policies.  In marketing there is a pricing policy on how customers will be charged for their products.  Accounting will have an accounting policy on how reimbursement is issued, depreciation is booked, or purchase decisions are made.  Your policy on quality (a quality policy) is a required element of an ISO 9001 quality management system.

Company policy is used to influence decisions that employees must make.  We use company policy as a guide to company decision making.  Unfortunately, company policy is also used to make rules (think about an employee policy from your Employee Handbook) like a no smoking policy, policy against drinking, or policies for how to dress on the job. Employee policy is focused on office rules that are used to support your management principles.

Procedure Policy

But a company policy can also be seen as a mission statement, as part of a business procedure (think an accounting policy and procedure manual).  A policy in a procedure acts as a mini-mission statement containing the customer of the policy, it’s purpose, and a key performance indicator (KPI) to communicate how users know the procedure is working.

An example Accounts Receivable Procedure Policy:

Accounts Receivable personnel shall ensure that all outstanding customer invoices are paid in a timely manner.

In the Accounts Receivable policy you see the customer is the Accounts Receivable personnel. The purpose is to ensure outstanding customer invoices are paid and the KPI is a timely manner. The procedure needs to define what timely manner means.  A timely manner could be 30 days today (net 30) and 20 days next quarter (net 20), which provides a process improvement objective of 33%.

What’s A Procedure?

Company procedures assist companies in building consistency between each and every employee.  Procedures define a series of steps, actions, or methods to be followed as a consistent and repetitive approach to accomplish an end result.  Company procedure answers the “how” questions as in “how do you collect receivables.”

An example Accounts Receivable Procedure:

1. Send the first notice-invoice immediately (same day) as the sale.
2. Produce a receivables aging report.
3. Send a second notice to all invoices outstanding for 30 days.
4. Call all invoices outstanding for 45 days.
5. Send a third notice to all invoices outstanding for 60 days.
6. Call all invoices outstanding for 75 days.
7. Send all invoices outstanding for 90 days to collections.

A procedure could be something as simple as a checklist.  The goal of a procedure is to provide consistency.  Using simple checklists is the easiest way to begin to get consistency in your business.

The Difference between Policy and Procedure

A policy communicates an organization’s principles.  A company procedure assists companies in building consistency.  The main difference between a policy and procedure is that the policy communicates a direction whereas a procedure communicates the steps you take in the direction.  Company policy answers the “what” and your company procedure answers the “how” question.

You can view a free sample procedure at our samples section.