Since the beginning of the year I've been writing about management systems; and for the last three weeks I've specifically discussed management review. Before I shift to talking about something else, let me touch on one more question. What do you do when you have to comply with several different management system standards all at once?
The first step is to simplify. And to my mind that means folding all your multiple management system standards into one Integrated Management System.
After all, there are several features that every management system standard requires. They all require some way to manage documents and records; they all require some definition of management responsibility; they all require training; they all require an internal audit program; and yes, they all require management review. So if you have to comply with three different standards that all require document control, do you set up three different document control systems? I hope not! Whenever requirements overlap, just do it once. Then if there are special details that apply to one standard but not the others, introduce it as a feature of the common system.
This means that you set up one employee training system, but then you can have a matrix to identify which employees need which classes. Everyone gets trained on company policies and fundamentals; but only these people have to get trained on calibration, and only those people have to get trained on how to analyze environmental aspects and impacts.
It means that you set up one document control system, with a simple indexing method that allows you to retrieve the documents you need for this or that special purpose.
It means that you plan out one master audit schedule for the year. The individual auditors might have to change depending on their respective specialties. But with one master schedule you know that you've covered the whole organization, and you minimize the risk that some department has all their internal audits accidentally cluster in the same month.
And it means that you plan for one program of management reviews. Here you might balk. Doesn't management review have to be focused? Don't we need to have different people in the room to review the QMS than we need for the EMS? If we merge all the management reviews together, won't that waste the time of people who are only needed for one part but have to sit through all the rest?
No. If you design your management review in the ways I've already described, it will be fine.
Of course the technical details out of the QMS will be different from those out of the EMS or some other system. But for the most part you shouldn't bring technical details into the meeting in the first place! If your systems are running correctly, the technical details should (mostly) all have been handled as part of routine operations. And I've already said that you shouldn't bring to the meeting anything that can be handled by routine operations.
The only issues that you have to address in the meeting are things that aren't working, and that cannot be handled anywhere else. These are the topics that require the action of senior management to resolve them. And as long as the topics genuinely require the attention of senior management, it doesn't matter that this topic relates to the QMS and that topic relates to the EMS. Senior management is already used to addressing topics all across the organization, from marketing strategy to financial performance to personnel legislation. They can handle variety here too, so long as you are careful not to swamp them with unnecessary details. Let them deal with the forest; there are plenty of other people who can tackle the trees.
And so far as possible, give yourself one Integrated Management System to follow, not a truckload of special-topic systems for this and that. Keep it simple.
Good read Michael, thank you!
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