Guidance

Plan your management system

The ISO Navigator™ database hyperlinks the ISO 9000:2005 principles and the ISO 9001:2008 requirements; and explains them in plain English with practical guidance.

This guidance has been superseded by ISO 9000:2015. You can learn to apply the latest quality management principles in the context of your business's own particular operations by reviewing and documenting its activities in the context of each quality management principle. If you want to see a comparison matrix that correlates the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 to the revised requirements of ISO 9001:2015, please click here to begin comparing.

Our range of ISO 9001:2015 quality manuals and integrated manual templates cover the requirements of ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018, and offer an easy way to implement and document your organization's quality management system or integrated management system.

ISO 9000:2005 Customer focus (superseded)

Organizations depend on their customers, therefore customer needs and expectations should be researched and understood. Customer focus is all about how you manage the market in which your organization operates and interfaces with. Greater profit and market share is acheived by an orgnaization's ability to respond to market opportunities.

  1. Research and understand customer needs and expectations
  2. Ensure objectives are linked to those customer needs and expectations
  3. Communicate customer needs and expectations to the organization
  4. Measure customer satisfaction and act on the results
  5. Manage customer relationships

ISO 9001:2008 Base Clause Customer focus 5.2 links to customer related processes and customer satisfaction. If the organization's mission is to satisfy the customer, then customer requirements must be determined (7.2) and feedback (8.2.1) sought.

There is now considerable emphasis on top management (e.g. Directors) being seen to be on-board and playing the game. Top management is defined as the person(s) who direct an organization at the highest level.

The principal message that management must get across is that the objective of this business is to keep the customer happy. Specifically, management must communicate these ideas (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5.1, 5.5.2, 5.5.3) to the employees who should be aware of their own roles and responsibilities (6.2.2).

Notice that none of these clauses specify a procedure or a record – you are simply required to do it. As a result, the Certification Body auditor will want to speak to the MD and the staff. This something that your internal auditors must also do.

How to apply the latest quality management principles

The latest and current quality management principles (QMPs), stated in ISO 9000:2015, are intended to provide the foundation by which any organization can continually improve its performance.

You can learn to apply the latest quality management principles in the context of your business's own particular operations by reviewing and documenting its activities in the context of each quality management principle.

Want to know more?

SSL certification

A certificate guarantees the information your internet browser is receiving now originates from the expected domain - https://www.iso9001help.co.uk. It guarantees that when you make a purchase, sensitive data is encrypted and sent to the right place, and not to a malicious third-party.

Free PDCA guidance

ISO Navigator™ is our FREE online training tool that shows you how to apply the principles of PDCA to your operations. We also offer many helpful templates that get you on the road to documenting your management system, please visit the download page.