One reason for this might be that your procedures are too long. If you have 35-page-long procedures — especially if that’s all text — it’s probably not fair to expect your employees to understand, let alone use, them. At that length, there’s the very real risk that your procedures are unclear, overly complicated, and just plain boring.

Another reason procedures may not be up to date is that they’re not followed.  If your people were using the procedures as written and taught, they’d be more likely to notice when things are out of date or out of sync with other company practices. Revisions are a healthy indicator of ongoing use and revisions help to create effective procedures.

Why Don’t My Employees Follow Procedures?

Perhaps your people can’t find your procedures, or possibly they’re unaware that you have a procedure for this or that activity. Maybe because it’s not right in front of them¹, they’re assuming you don’t have a formal procedure. Nonexistent or uncontrolled procedures imply that your quality management system is out of control.

There’s also the possibility that your procedures are too simple; that is, they’re too broad and general to suit a specific situation. If your procedures aren’t directly to the point and don’t offer information specific to the process your employees are working on, they won’t be used.

Poorly written procedures are as bad as generic procedures.  If your procedures are incorrect or confusing, your employees will not use them, either.

Sometimes, procedures are not designed for ease of use. Either they’re hard to navigate in themselves, or their formats are inconsistent. Formats that are inconsistent across departments and work areas are a frequent source of confusion.

It helps to think about who procedures are written for when designing your procedures. Procedures are primarily designed to be training aids: Frequent, experienced users don’t need procedures often, if at all. They should periodically review procedures to be sure they’re current but on a day-by-day basis, they’re not your target.

Occasional users need reminding, but it’s novice users who need procedures the most. They’ll need the guidance of a procedure until the process has become ingrained.

How to Make Your Procedures Work for You

To understand how to make your procedures work for your employees, you need to pay careful attention to the following:

1. Develop a system that keeps your procedures current using intranets, social media constructs (blogs, wikis, etc.), document management systems, software, or new knowledge management systems.
2. Keep your procedures concise, clear, and to the point — no tangents or extraneous material.
3. Use pictures, graphics, and examples to illustrate objectives.
4. Make your procedures available where they’re needed most.
5. Develop a system with easy access (see point #1, above), make them searchable online, or make them part of the job (see #4).
6. Revision control is required for ISO and must be part of the job (see #1 & 4).
7. Eliminate generic procedures entirely.
8. Keep procedures updated and useful (also see #1 & 4).
9. Create and maintain a common, easy-to-navigate format for your documents.
10. Instill the discipline to follow procedures in your organization by making the process “owners” part of the procedure development.

Now that you know the secret to writing effective (i.e., useful) policies and procedures, what are you waiting for?

NOTES

¹ISO 9001, for one, requires that you have documents available at the point of use.

• Your customers’ requirements (quality, safety, performance specs, quantity, price, prompt delivery, etc.);
• Industry or other standards and guidelines (ISO 9001, IFRS, etc.); and/or
• Regulations (e.g., 8th EU Directive, Food Safety Modernization Act)

in order to get or to keep business.

(Thanks to chicohomesearch.net)

And therein lies the problem: compliance is like healthy eating or exercise. We know we have to, but…gosh, it’s so darned hard!

Why is it that “have to” and “want to” always seem to be inversely proportional to one another?

How do you sell yourself and your employees on the notion that compliance is something you want — not something you merely put up with?

How do you turn “got to” into “want to”?

First, you have to…

1. Sell yourself on the idea. You’ll find in life — that is, if you haven’t already — that if you don’t have a deep and firmly held belief in your company, your product, or your people, you won’t sell your product or your service. If you lack enthusiasm, conviction, self-discipline, vision, perspective, and some of the other characteristics that define leadership, you won’t have many followers.
2. Your customers are your ultimate critics. If you don’t meet their requirements, you’re out of business. It won’t matter what other requirements you fail to meet if you fail to meet your customer’s. Have your priorities in order — listen to your customers first.
3. Include your staff in the development of policies and procedures that will ensure your company’s compliance, because: (a) you can’t do it all by yourself; (b) they know more of the day-to-day tasks, operations, and processes than you; and (c) you need to show that you value and trust their judgment if they’re to grow (i.e., micromanagers never win).
4. Give everyone in your firm the resources they need to do their jobs effectively.
5. Ensure that your employees are more than adequately trained and experienced. Make sure they know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
6. Keep the lines of communication open all the time. Communicate effectively and continually with all levels of your organization. Get out of your office! Regularly address your employees firsthand, directly and openly.
7. Listen, then turn what you’re hearing into something your employees — and your customers — want to act on.
8. Make a habit of meeting with suppliers, subcontractors, and everyone who has a hand in getting your product or service into the hands of your customers. You might not be able to do this often but you shouldn’t let a year go by without visiting with your valuable partners. Communication is key!
9. Look at failures as opportunities for improvement. Don’t go looking for the guilty party every time something doesn’t go according to plan! You want to keep failure to a minimum, yes, but keep things in perspective. Not every mistake requires Draconian countermeasures!
10. Share success. Compliance goes beyond merely observing standards or laws — compliance can help you win business! When it does, spread the wealth. Acknowledge the part everyone played in making your company a success, especially those who had a direct hand in your victory.

Sell yourself, then sell everyone else on the importance and value of compliance. Make them want it! Your customers do.

* * * * * *

Now I’d like your opinion. How do you make compliance desirable in your organization?

Some of you aren’t buying the “fear, uncertainty, and doubt“ story, though. You’re going about your business logically, methodically, and with a clear sense of direction and purpose. You’re making things happen now and you’ll be in the lead when 2011 rolls around.

For the rest of us, there are many things we could be doing to make great strides forward in the coming year. Among them are implementing or refining the following key procedures:

10. Vendor Evaluation – We’ve all outsourced many of our “non-core” functions, but how many of us are guilty of inattentive behavior with respect to our outsourcers? You get a little complacent and what happens? Deadlines start to slip, or substandard product starts to sneak in. Now is a good time to evaluate your product and service vendors to see if they’re measuring up to your standards.

9. Document Control – Do you know if your employees are following the same guidelines? If you had to ask an employee to take over another’s duties for the day because of an illness, would that first employee know where to go for information? Do they have access to the latest version of the procedure? It’s important that you keep your documentation, however critical it is, under control.  One easy way to do this is using policy management or document compliance management software.

8. Process Monitoring and Measurement – Companies that don’t monitor and measure their performance have no way of knowing for certain if they’re doing better than they were six months or a year ago, or in which direction they’re headed. We can’t improve what we don’t measure.

7. Control of Nonconforming Product – One of the worst things that can happen to your company…worse than finding an error on the production line, worse than finding a nonconformity during inspection…is having a customer find a nonconformity for you. Nothing hurts your company’s reputation worse than a customer finding a poor quality product, getting a late delivery, or finding a billing error in your favor.

6. Identification and Traceability – This is one of the biggest issues in food safety. As important as identifying unsafe product and removing it from the food supply chain is tracing the offending product to its source. ISO 22000 already had a clause addressing traceability when ISO developed a new standard, ISO 22005, to address the issue further. Whether you’re in the food business or another line of work, your customers will benefit from improved traceability of your components.

5. Competence, Awareness, and Training – Very few things improve your company’s performance — and reputation — more than a well-trained, capable work force. Ongoing training not only helps your employees gain self-confidence; it lets them know how important they are to your success.

4. Customer Satisfaction – Some refer to it as “customer loyalty”; others call it “the customer experience”. Whatever label you give it, your company wants to do more than retain customers. You want your customers telling all their contacts how great you are, how if every supplier was as customer-conscious as you, their business would be exceptional.

3. Control of Records – “Those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Santayana) Your quality records, your accounting records, your sales records — these are the foundation for your company’s success, now and in the future. Barring the invention of a foolproof “crystal ball” app for your smartphone, knowing where you are in relation to where you’ve been and acting on that knowledge to improve your processes are key to your growth. Without adequate recordkeeping, you are flying blind into the future.

2. Internal Auditing – The best way to ensure the effectiveness of your operations and the viability of your organizations is to have your systems — accounting/finance, operations, IT, quality, etc. — audited. You should have a third party, someone with knowledge, experience, and impartiality, periodically audit your systems. In between, you should self-audit your systems to ensure that they’re in compliance, are effectively implemented and maintained, and that they’re achieving the desired results.

And the most important procedure you can implement to improve your quality and performance in 2011?

1. Corrective and Preventive Action – It’s a two-way tie for number one. Corrective and preventive actions are intertwined, though they’re not interchangeable.

A corrective action is the one you take to ensure that a problem does not happen again. A preventive action is what you do to prevent, or lessen the likelihood of, the problem from happening in the first place. Think of a heart attack: surgery to repair the damaged heart, combined with other measures (improved diet, exercise, etc.), is a corrective action. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, and (when you reach a certain age) regular visits to a cardiologist before you have a heart attack are a preventive action.

And, don’t forget what binds these procedures together — a mission, vision, and strategic plan for your firm. More on that later. For now, what do you think? Are there any procedures you’d add to, or take out of, this list? Would you put them in a different order?

Required Policies Procedures

Only company policies and procedures required by standards, regulations or company strategy must be developed.  ISO 9001 requires only six procedures, so why do many companies feel they need to write 40 or more procedures to achieve control?  Occasional users need procedures as a reminder of procedure steps that they do not perform very often.  Frequent or regular users do not need, and often times do not use, the procedure.  So how are those other 34-plus procedures used?  Most procedures are used to train infrequent users.  For training purposes you may only need a process map.  Are you using your procedures to make up for a weak training program?

Your Policies Procedures Template Design

When you do write procedures you will need to standardize on a procedure template design.  Start your policies and procedures template design by thinking through your document and record control procedures.  Your procedure template design should make room for a header block to ensure your procedure communicates your purpose and scope.

Add a Title, Policy, Purpose, Scope, Responsibility, and Definitions section to help people understand your procedure. Clear department responsibilities identify who does what and helps to declare which positions are mentioned in your procedure with a synopsis of what is expected for each position. Key term definitions reduce confusion; industry jargon should be explained in the definitions section of your procedure to help new procedure users.

Writing Policies Procedures

Before you start writing procedures from scratch, look around for examples, or templates, that you can copy.  Pre-written procedures will speed up your development, reduce your research time, and turn writing procedures into editing procedures.  I’ve found it’s a lot easier to edit a procedure than to write one from scratch, depending on the procedure.  Many procedures are really common using business best practices, so why reinvent the wheel?

If you have to write a procedure from scratch, start writing procedures using active voice construction to reduce task confusion. Subject, verb, object provides clear active voice construction for your procedure.  For example, “Accounts Receivable invoices customers” is clearer and contains fewer words than “customers are invoiced by Accounts Receivable.”  The extra “are” and “by” make the sentence longer, put the subject last, and force the reader to stop and reread the action.  Be direct and to the point — use the active voice.

Add references to related documents to improve your procedures’ usability.  Clearly note when your procedure refers to other procedures or forms.  There’s nothing worse than following a procedure and coming to a passage that refers to a company form and…that’s it. You don’t know what the form looks like, where you might find it, or what version of the form you need.  Putting an example of the form, with an explanation, in the procedure will save you and your users time during procedure training and implementation.

List applicable laws or regulations: clearly communicate your company’s need for compliance.  If you’re implementing a records retention procedure, references to IRS or equal employment opportunity (EEO) passages, for example, provide a brief synopsis and help you implement your procedures.

How to Write Policies and Procedures

Policies Procedures Overhead

Large organizations have a large number of procedures.  They have a lot of staff, business operations, and economy of scale to make their procedures work.  Smaller businesses should remember — the more business procedures you write, the more business procedures you have to edit, implement, train, audit, and review.  More procedures may also produce more audit findings in addition to more updates, more documents to control, and more administration overhead.

Many companies fail to plan for this administration and procedure overhead, so it should come as no surprise that their procedures don’t work as well as expected.  Every procedure becomes outdated, eventually.  Also, due to infrequent maintenance and use, some procedures are overlooked when it’s time to update them.  This can result in repeated procedure audit findings or, worse, repeated waste, fraud, and abuse which the procedures were intended to reduce.

The lean thinking solution is (a) to write only procedures that you absolutely have to write to conform to requirements and (b) to improve your training program to build competent and skilled employees instead of writing procedures you don’t have the time or budget to maintain.

Next week, we’ll cover policies and procedures implementation and training.  It’s much easier to comply with standards and train employees when you’re working with written procedures.  If you’re interested in learning more about your procedures, call or e-mail us for a procedure review of your written procedures.  We’re happy to provide feedback on what you’re using and tell you how you can improve your processes.

Process maps are used for various purposes, including, but not limited to:

• Developing process understanding;
• Process improvement and discussion;
• Documenting a process; and
• Training and communication.

A process map highlights actual and potential problems – bottlenecks, backflows, delays, waste, and process gaps.  Process maps clarify process boundaries, ownership, responsibilities, and effectiveness measures (metrics).  Process maps are used in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), process improvement, and systems design.

What Can’t a Process Map Do?

It can’t do the work for you.  A process map does help you establish a shared understanding of what a process is and how it cuts across – links – business functions. The workers must still do the work.  However, process maps can be used for designing processes, writing procedures, defining and achieving objectives, complying with quality standards like ISO 9001, and building internal control. 

All process maps are not created equal, however.  The table below shows the purpose of each, as well as its positives and negatives:

Most importantly, process mapping is about communicating your process to others, so you can achieve your objectives.

Document Map

A Document Map is an expanded SIPOC format.  Each row is an individual SIPOC flow representing the:

• Supplier ->
• Input (yellow) ->
• Process Step (light green) ->
• Output (blue) ->
• Customer

Effectiveness criteria and performance objectives are listed at the bottom.  Your effectiveness criteria represent your Key Performance Indicators (KPI), metrics, or measures for your process.  If you are planning on continuous improvement (to conform to ISO 9001) then you should identify your metrics and your performance objectives.

We have also introduced PDCA or Plan, Do, Check, Act structure to the process steps:

• “Plan” is performed as part of the prior “Act” step where credit criteria are determined.
• “Do” occurs when the sales person gets the order and starts entering it in the system, credit checks are performed and terms calculated.
• “Check” occurs when the credit issued is reviewed along with the credit criteria.
• And finally, “Act” occurs when new credit criteria are issued.

Bizmanualz Credit Approval Document Map

Document maps provide a lot of data detail but can be short on activity details.  Text based procedures are much better at depicting individual tasks and methods.  But we can also use an Activity Map.

Activity Map or Value Stream Map

Activity maps or Value Stream Maps are used in lean implementations to depict process tasks as single-piece flow and with as much detail as you can capture.  The whole purpose of an Activity Map is to capture enough information so that you can identify the tasks that are clearly adding value and those that are of questionable value.  Activity maps are helpful for architecting and organizing the text before writing a new procedure.

Each of the five activities in the Credit Approval process (figure 2.) are listed along the top row in light blue.  Next, an optional tally field totals the number of tasks below each activity (i.e. 4+1).  The first number represents the task total and the second number is the lean value-added (green tasks) total.  Then the person or department responsible for the activity is listed with a departmental color code.  And finally, the detailed tasks are shown, one per box.  Value-added tasks are color coded green, clearly wasteful tasks are coded red, and all the white boxes represent possible waste, or steps that can be eliminated through lean process improvement events.

Figure 2: Value Stream Map - Activity Map

Activity maps provide sufficient details for process improvement and can also be augmented with task timing data, which can be used to quantify time and cost savings.  All you need is a spreadsheet and you can start making activity maps.  Unfortunately, activity maps are just OK at training or communicating how a process works. Work flow diagrams are much better for training workers and communicating processes. We will discuss workflow diagrams and rendered process maps next week.

Continued in Part III (Work Flow Diagrams and Rendered Process Maps).

High-Level Process Map

A High-Level Process Map describes all of the core processes within an organization.  For example, ISO 9001 requires that the sequence and interaction of the Quality Management System processes are determined.  One way to demonstrate that processes are “determined” is through a high-level process map.

Figure 1 shows nine core processes that make up the Order-To-Cash Cycle, their sequence and interaction, thus fulfilling the basic ISO 9001 requirement.  The color coded boxes show the three main process flows or cycles in your business:

• Red is your Order Cycle (Purchasing + Production < Sales);
• Blue is your Just-In-Time (JIT) Production Cycle (Shipping = Receiving + Production); and
• Green is your Cash Cycle (Inventory + A/R – Payables > 0); which taken together make up your Order to Cash Cycle.

Inputs/outputs are labeled, information flows are indicated with a dotted line, and the material flow is a solid line (black for inventory and red indicating the primary material flow).  If you need more detail, then each of the nine processes can further be explained separately in a lower-level process map.  The term “process map” does not refer to the scope of a process being high-level, low-level, or very detailed.  A process map is focused on the activity flow, order, or sequence and interaction.

Figure 1: High-level process maps show all core processes within an organization

Low-Level Process Map

The main difference between a high-level and low-level process map is one of scope.  The process flow has not changed, just the scope of what we are looking at.  The Order-To-Cash Cycle has nine processes identified but each process can be further subdivided into sub-processes.  Each sub-process makes up a low-level process map or process flow chart.  A low-level process map is an area of a high-level process map that we have zoomed into for more detail.

For example: the Accounts Receivable (A/R) Cycle is comprised of customer billing, credit, and collections.  If we take a look at just the credit approval portion (Figure 2) of the whole A/R cycle we see that there are five main steps: sales call, order entry, credit check, review A/R balance, and calculate credit terms. There are three UML symbols used: square for process steps, diamond for decisions and an odd looking square with a curved bottom representing data.  Decision diamonds produce an alternative flow that here represents either an “OK” or “Bad Credit” decision, which requires a new sales call to resolve.

Figure 2: Credit Approval Process Flow Chart

Low-level process maps can provide a lot of detail for analysis and can be used in place of textual procedures for simple processes.  If you want to “lean out” your documentation for ISO 9001 then flowcharts can simplify your procedures and reduce unnecessary paperwork.  Organizations with highly trained employees can benefit by using simple process maps.

One problem with low-level process maps is that sometimes it is hard to determine who is responsible for which activity.  Another is that they may not conform very well to the SIPOC format we prefer.  In this case a Cross Functional or “Swim Lanes” Map can be used to convey individual responsibilities or departmental roles within an organization.

Cross Functional or “Swim Lanes” Map

Cross Functional process maps have the same UML flowchart symbols used in the low-level process map example.  Only now, four cross functional swim lanes have been used to identify who is responsible for each element, decision or data.  You can have any number of swim lanes in your map, although as a practical limit you may want to make it fewer than ten for clarity.

In Figure 3, the first band, the customer is clearly responsible for making a “buying” decision and must complete the credit form.  The sales department is the second band and must respond to sales calls, receive the credit information (form), enter the order, and produce an order form.  The order form is sent to the credit department, which compares the data to the credit criteria issued by management.  If everything looks “OK” then credit reviews the customer’s existing A/R balances for credit capacity, and then calculates the credit terms.  Management is responsible for preparing a “credit issued” report and overseeing the credit approval process.

Figure 3: Credit Approval Swim Lanes Map

Swim lanes are really good at depicting responsibilities and with no loss in the low-level process flowchart information.  Suppliers and customers are obvious and it does conform to our SIPOC format.  Although, we still see alternative backflow present in the “bad credit” decision.  The problem with alternative flow is they can make it hard to follow the process.  A better method would be to use “single-piece” flow (the path a single product takes without alternative flows) and eliminate alternative flows such as in a Document Map.  We will present Document and Value Stream maps next week.

Continued in part II.

Now look at quality in light of behavior change.  What do you design and develop that causes behavior changes.  Certainly that would include teaching methods, but also the curriculum, course length, how the day is structured, homework, grading, extracurricular activities, grade levels, meals served, etc.

Consider a factory that makes a product.  The factory worker uses work instructions, methods, and tools to create the product.  The system the worker uses consists of these very same work instructions, methods, and tools.  Problems or defects with the product produced, as a result of these work instructions, methods, and tools, require changes to the system.  The product is not the work instructions, methods, or tools.  Seems obvious but, how would this work in education?

Let’s take a look at the teacher in a school.  The teacher uses work instructions, methods, and tools to create the product we call learning, just like a factory worker.  If the product produced (learning) has problems or defects (i.e. learning is not occurring as expected) then the teacher must change their work instructions, methods, or tools in order to decrease the defect rate and increase the quality of the product.  Teaching is to a school as working is to a factory.

There was a European study done in 1997 regarding the Application of ISO 9000 Standards to Education and Training.  Although it references the old ISO 9000:1994 standard instead of the current ISO 9001:2008 standard, it is still a worthy interpretation of ISO 9000 for education.

People Don’t Create Defects. Systems Do.

People use the system (made up of work instructions, methods, and tools) to create products.  Neither teaching nor working is the product.  They represent the system used to create the product.  The consumers consist of the students, parents, and society whom all consume or benefit from the learning.

The effectiveness of any system is a function of product flow.  Variations and defects obstruct the product flow causing rework, delays, and unsatisfied customers.  The work instructions, methods, and tools need to be aligned to deliver maximum learning at a maximal product flow (progression through the grade levels).  Effectiveness occurs when the two are aligned to produce the highest composite result.

Education Quality Basics

Purchasing – Think about art supplies, books, equipment, meals, sporting goods, or furniture.  If there are purchasing specifications that are important to learning than those items need to be controlled.  Do you have an obligation to provide safe and healthy meals?  What about sufficient supplies, equipment or furniture for learning?

Production & Service Provisions – Think about the work instructions or teaching procedures to ensure some type of consistency or uniformity.  How are these controlled, revised, distributed, and validated (how do you know they worked?).  Can you trace or track learning (or the lack there of) to a specific teaching method or event?

Customer Property – Think about what kids bring to school: coats, notebooks, books, supplies, etc.  Do you have an obligation to care for their property, provide lockers, or control access?  What do you do if an item is damaged or misplaced?

Control of Non-Conforming Product – A non conformance can be in the teaching methods, student behavior or performance, or purchased items needed for learning.  What do you do with broken furniture, equipment, or lockers?  What is your process for removing it from the learning process so that it does not hinder other students from learning?

Corrective Action – What is the process for monitoring, reviewing, and adjusting the learning system as a result of complaints, comments, or audit findings?  Each incident should be tracked, investigated and resolved.  A good complaint handling process is the best ways to instill a culture of continuous improvement in your organization.

Preventive Action – Do you review your methods and make changes BEFORE you receive complaints?  If you get a complaint your action is corrective, if you fix it before you get a complaint than its preventive.  So what are you doing to prevent complaints?

A class is like a manufacturing cell in a factory.  The batch size is the number of students.  But one class does not make a graduate.  A student must pass through numerous classes or manufacturing cells in order to come out an educated student.  How your students progress through the cells in your facility determines the learning effectiveness of your quality system.

St. Louis, MO – June 18, 2009 – Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training, and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the release of the updated ISO 9001 Policies and Procedures Manual. The company has greatly improved its product by modeling its policies and procedures on the Deming (“Plan-Do-Check-Act”) Cycle.

“The updated manual reflects our lean philosophy in multiple ways,” said Christopher Anderson, Managing Director of Bizmanualz. “For example, rather than borrow the text of the standard verbatim in the quality manual, we stripped it to the bare essentials. Putting in a lot of verbiage not required by the standard can make your Quality Manual less user-friendly, less useful, and less likely to be improved.”

The updated ISO 9001 Policies, Procedures & Forms Manual conforms to the ISO 9001:2008 standard, which was updated for the first time in eight years and released in November, 2008. ISO 9001 requirements for procedures and records are clearly identified throughout the updated manual. Recently ISO 9001 certified by using lean principles, the company has used a similar approach in the update process.

“We carried procedures over (from the old to the new ISO 9001 QMS manual) that most organizations consider critical,” said Steve Flick, Bizmanualz Product Director. “Similarly, we removed procedures that customers didn’t consider a high priority, or had little-to-nothing to do with 9001 requirements, or didn’t amount to more than simple work instructions.”

Twenty-three QMS procedures are included in the updated ISO 9001 manual. A forms list at the end of each procedure points out if the filled out form is a “required record” and which ISO 9001 clause requires that record. Bizmanualz redesigned its ISO 9001 QMS manual to help companies easily establish an effective quality management system, as well as to simplify the certification journey for organizations wishing to comply with ISO 9001:2008.

Bizmanualz also offers manuals for Accounting, Finance, Computers & Networks, Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, ISO 22000, Disaster Recovery, and Security. All of Bizmanualz® Policies & Procedures manuals are available via instant download or in hard copy form, with easily editable MS-Word documents included on CD.

Each manual provides prewritten policies, procedures, and forms that enable executives to create and maintain internal controls and implement best practices for all departments in their business.

Bizmanualz® ISO 9001 QMS Policies, Procedures, and Forms: How to Quickly Create an ISO 9001 Quality Management System with easily editable Policies, Procedures, and Forms. (400 pp/trade binder/$495.00) is a Knowledge Management title from Bizmanualz, Inc. It is available through the company’s website, www.bizmanualz.com, or by calling the publisher at 800-466-9953 (outside the USA, call 314-863-5079), faxing your request to 314-863-6571, or by e-mailing sales@bizmanualz.com.

St. Louis, MO (April 24, 2009) - Bizmanualz, Inc., a business strategy consulting and quality publishing company based in Clayton, Missouri, today announced the successful certification to ISO 9001:2008 for the design, development, realization, and delivery of its policy and procedure publications, training courses, and consulting services.  The certification demonstrates the Bizmanualz commitment to continually improve its ability to assist business owners achieve the growth they envision. 

“We developed a Lean visual management approach to implementing our Quality Management System (QMS) to dispel the notion that an ISO system requires a lot of paperwork,” explained Chris Anderson, Bizmanualz, Inc., Managing Director. “Now we can show clients the benefits of a working ISO-compliant quality system using Lean visual techniques to streamline the operations, focus employees on the objectives, and reduce wasted efforts.”

Bizmanualz ISO 9001:2008 Registration

Bizmanualz received its ISO 9001:2008 certification on April 10,2009, from Platinum Registration.  Auditor Colin Gray noted particular areas of excellence, including Bizmanualz customer feedback, corrective action, and internal communication methods, which involve morning staff meetings around the company’s “scoreboard” — a bulletin board listing the company’s main processes, projects, action items, and metrics.  Mr. Gray also praised the Bizmanualz Internal Audit process, saying in his report that the company’s internal audits are “thorough, effective, and meaningful.”

Kaizens/Corrective Actions are posted on the Bizmanualz "Kaizen Wall"

With the new lean implementation, Dan Davison, Vice President of Sales and Marketing has noticed a difference, saying, “clients are seeing tighter project definition, project management, status reports, and budget forecasts by job for the coming weeks. Tracking tasks posted on the wall increase our communication’s effectiveness.”

ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized QMS standard, which ISO Secretary General Rob Steele said has “an estimated one million users worldwide.”  Certification is obtained through independent registrars that audit every aspect of a company’s QMS.  Lean is a quality system approach that seeks improvement through the elimination of waste, a focus on the customer, and systems of visual management.

Bizmanualz has been at the forefront of deploying business best practices since 1995, delivering Policies and Procedures publications, Lean ISO Quality Management Systems, and strategic marketing implementation services to help business owners achieve growth and expansion.

Bizmanualz Policies and Procedures publications are available through Amazon.com, calling Bizmanualz at 800-466-9953 (outside the USA, 314-863-5079), faxing your request to 314-863-6571, e-mailing sales@Bizmanualz.com, or by logging onto store.bizmanualz.com.  Bizmanualz® is a registered trademark of Bizmanualz, Inc.