Last edited 25 Apr 2018

ISO 9000

The International Organization for Standardisation ISO 9000 is a ‘family’ of quality management systems designed to help organisations create their approach to directing, controlling and coordinating quality.

It aims to meet the needs of an organisation to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products that meet the requirements of clients, stakeholders and any applicable regulatory requirements. It is important to note that it is intended to be the base level of a quality system, rather than a complete guarantee of quality.

ISO 9000 is not industry-specific, it can be applied to organisations from many different industries and of any size.

ISO 9000 contains these standards:

ISO 9001:2015: Quality management systems - Requirements
ISO 9000:2015: Quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary (definitions)
ISO 9004:2009: Quality management systems – Managing for the sustained success of an organization (continuous improvement)
ISO 19011:2011: Guidelines for auditing management systems

The ISO quality management principles are:

Customer focus: Organisations should seek to understand customer needs, meet their requirements and exceed expectations.
Leadership: Leaders should establish and maintain organisational unity, direction and a positive internal environment.
Involvement of people: Peoples' abilities at all levels can be used for the organisation's benefit.
Process approach: Activities and related resources should be managed as a process to achieve a desired result.
System approach to management: Overall performance improvement should be a permanent objective.
Continual improvement: Analysing data and information enables effective decisions.
Factual approach to decision-making.