Joomla! site syndication http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:29:00 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk Joomla! site syndication http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/content/view/110/ I received the following question via our 'ask the team' page today, and I thought other people might be interested in the answer: I realize that the companies usually have a quality improvement team. But almost not effective. Could you advise me how to keep the team energized on quality? I would say the most important thing is to ensure there is commitment to quality from the very top of the management structure and that this commitment is effectively communicated throughout the organisation, particularly to the members of the team. It is not enough to send out one communication at the start showing the commitment to quality - there should be a communications strategy planned and executed to ensure quality remains highly visible at all times.It is also important that the members of the team are allowed the time and resources they need to drive forward the quality agenda, and they need to have the authority to carry through any actions necessary. They should be given objectives that relate to the quality agenda that are achievable and measurable, and there should be regular meetings to report back to senior management on progress against these objectives. Weblog - Blog Items Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:42:02 +0100 http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/content/view/103/ Not everyone fully understands what TickIT is, and my intention here is to give a brief explanation.TickIT is an accreditation scheme used by UKAS to check that certification bodies audit for ISO9001:2000 compliance in Information Technology organisations. This is probably a meaningless statement for most people, so I'll try and explain . . .In the UK, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is ultimately responsoible for the administration of quality standards. They accredit certification bodies like LRQA and BSI to audit organisations seeking registration to standards and issue quality certificates. A certification body does not need to be accredited by UKAS to issue a certificate, but if it is not the certificate has limited value.TickIT is an accreditation scheme, which means UKAS use it to decide whether a certification body has the necessary skills to audit a software development organisation against ISO9001:2000, which in practice means that the auditors used have been trained to TickIT standards.So, it is the responsibility of the assessment body to identify that an organisation applying for certification develops software, and send appropriately qualified auditors. The implications of this are:An ISO9001:2000 certificate without TickIT awarded to a software development company is of limited valueAn organisation that develops software and wishes to gain ISO9001 certification should only have the option of TickIT registration (provided they have approached an assessment body which can certify to TickIT - see below)Equally, an organisation developing software should take into account the following:Ensure the assessment body is accredited to issue TickIT certificates (they are listed here (http://www.tickit.org/certification.htm) ) Ensure at least one of the auditors sent has TickIT trainingYou can then be sure you will receive the appropriate certification for your organisation. Weblog - Blog Items Sat, 20 Jan 2007 17:55:07 +0100 http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/content/view/104/ Thanks to James and Bizzy for their comments on the preceding entry. In answer to the questions:Is thre an additional cost associated with gaining TickIT certification over ISO9001?The only difference from a certification viewpoint between TickIT and ISO9001 is that the assessment has to be performed by a TickIT qualified auditor, and their daily rate is generally slightly higher so there will be some additional cost, but the assessment should not take any longer.Does TickIT require any extra work?The short answer is - no it shouldn't. TickIT does not place any demands on the organisation beyond those already required by ISO9001. It is purely giudelines in their application to software development. I hope this helps. Weblog - Blog Items Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:08:20 +0100 http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/content/view/105/ A view I have often heard expressed is that only large organisations benefit from the implementation of ISO9001 management systems. However, talking to people who work with organisations of all sizes, I find this is not necessarily the case.The benefits of ISO9001 certification fall into two camps. Firstly, there are the benefits derived from operating to procedures using the 'plan-do-check-act' cycle, namely control of processes, costs and consistent quality of product coupled with a method for measuring and improving those processes. Secondly, there is an element of consultancy provided by the assessing body which can also be of benefit. If you have the same assessor for an extended period, and most certification bodies will try and ensure this, then they build up a knowledge of your operation and are able to act as an independent observer and offer observations on your ways of working based on their considerable experience which can be of value.Applying this to organisations of different sizes, there tend to be three divisions.Firstly, very small businesses. These will struggle to see the first set of benefits mentioned, as the cost of certification may outweigh the benefits gained. Also there may be little the assessor can offer that the proprietor does not already know. However, their market may require certification.Secondly, very large businesses. They often have rigid processes in place and changing them is difficult. Also, given the size of the task of assessment, they will push for the minimum number of assessor days and will not allow time for the consultancy benefits to manifest.Finally, there are the larger SMEs. They are best placed to see the benefits of the process model as they are large enough for their processes to require control, but agile enough to be able to apply the 'plan-do-check-act' cycle. They are also interested in any information the assessor can provide, and have acess to sufficient funds to be able to buy in as much of this advice as they need.Thus, in my opinion the busiess sector that benefits most from the implementation of ISO9001 is the SME sector. The very smallest may not see all the benefits, although they may need registration to allow them to operate in their chosen market, but above that the gains far outweigh the costs of implementation and maintenance. Weblog - Blog Items Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:27:36 +0100 http://www.thequalityteam.co.uk/content/view/106/ In answer to Bizzy's comment on the previous blog, a properly implemented management system should have minimal impact on existing working practices, unless they are very poorly managed. The initial implementation should concentrate on documenting the processes 'as is', only adding things where additional control is needed anyway. The benefits come later, when analysis of the way the processes are operating can throw into relief opportunities for improvement. The goal is to deliver better product more reliably, which will benefit the business and what benefits the business should benefit those who work in it. Weblog - Blog Items Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:51:29 +0100