Responsibility and authority

So much can so wrong with this requirement.  The interpretations or should I say misinterpretations have caused so much grief for the uninitiated.  So let’s cut through the bunk with this paste;
5.5.1 Responsibility and authority
Top management ensures that responsibilities and authorities are defined and communicated within the company.

And that is it.  Nothing more.  How can you do this?  Before you go developing stuff, look at the complexity, expectations, risk exposures and communications of your company.  Is there something you already do that meets this one little sentence?  Does ‘definition’ mean ?documentation.  The short answer is no, but the level of understanding once communicated may require ‘ensure-ance’ via something that is documented.
Policies, responsibilities sections in procedures, published delegated authority lists, job descriptions, training records all could be used either singularly or in combination with each other.

And to what extent?  Here is a real life situation from our very own certified QMS.  We have an organisation chart, job descriptions, procedure sections and training.  Whilst we only have 7 documented procedures, we do have 18 policies (normally only a paragraph, of which others might define as business rules) that map out exactly who is who in the wonderful zoo at quality.com.au.

Classification of findings

Each certification service provider is required by JAS-ANZ to classify their findings.  How and by what name is largely up to the provider.  But before I get onto this, “What is a finding?”  A finding (or issue, matter, discrepancy, etc) is any situation that requires consideration or remediation with regard the quality management system.  For example, during an audit it was discovered that there is no documented procedure for internal quality audits.  And we will refer to this during the remainder of the blog.

Make sure you know how a provider classifies a finding and what are the required remedial actions for each before you finalise your decision on a provider.  Whilst most operate within similar constraints, some have some very quirky ‘rules’ and reporting requirements.  And how do you do that?  Ask for their published guidelines / criteria.

So the three broad categories of findings are; 1)nonconformance (or nonconformity, major corrective action, non compliance, etc); 2) corrective action (or improvement request, area of concern , minor corrective action, etc); 3) observation (consideration, opportunity for improvement, comment, etc).

What they represent; 1) nonconformance – lack of mandatory requirement (such as our example above) or an aggregation of findings within the one clause.  2) corrective action, something is in breach of the standard or your own procedures / processes.  Fix them.  3) observation, you may get some benefit from considering an alternate means of managing a situation.

And here is the consequence of each; 1) nonconformance – you will not receive initial certification, you will need to show cause (planned corrective actions) and remedial actions within 3 months to retain certification.  2) corrective action, certification will be granted / continued but you will need to close any remedial action before the next visit (6~12 months).  3) observation, you will need to demonstrate that you have considered the finding and declared an outcome.

Easy.  The best way to combat findings and their classifications is not to get any.  Good luck with that one!  But if your certification is part of a continuous improvement strategy, then rejoice in the findings found, so that you can make your quality management system better.

Get the certification price right

I was taught when it comes down to selecting a product or service, base your decision on price, quality, service.  Then remember that you can only ever have two of these three of these attributes.  So today, let’s focus on price.  No two certification providers supply their schedule of fees in the same format.  Much the same way as no two consultants will provide you with a proposal in the same format.  However, a certification services provider really only has a finite number of components to their costing and therefore should be able to have a direct comparison made.  Here are some of the ‘words’ used when quoting fees; application fee, administration fee, annual licence fee, additional certificate fee, gap analysis fee, stage 1 fee, stage 2 fee, document review fee, certification audit/review fee, accreditation levy, post certification / surveillance fee, triennial audit / recertification audit fee, follow up audit / nonconformance audit fee, travel time fee, travel expenses, cost recovery fees, etc.
Nearly all providers charge on a fee for service basis which normally means the provider over services.  At least one, structures around fix fee, paid in advance.  Only one charges for intra-metro travel, some charge intrastate, most charge interstate and international.  All will charge you extra for a nonconformance or follow up audits.  Most will increase their fees by CPI each year.  All will review their fees just before or after each 3-year certification cycle.
The best way to evaluate them is to set up a matrix that allows multiple variations in fees and terminology.  Then add weighting factors for customer service, reporting, penalty clauses, etc and then it all be just up to just how damn good they can be with their customer service and their quality management processes.

Dope

Yes, I thought that might grab your attention.  In my next volume of blogs, I am not going to tell all.  Nope.  No way.  So don’t look for it here either.  The purpose of the subject line is….. never tell a dope, he (or she) is a dope.  A very nice rule of which there are numerous reasons for not doing so.  Here are a few of my personal favourites as to why.  1) they just won’t believe you.  True dopes just won’t get it, so don’t even try.  2) it can make them angry.  Especially if they are emerging dopes or should I say degenerating dopes, who still grasp some reality and when exposed as one upsets them.  3) it will start an argument on the topic at hand.  This becomes a monumental waste of time as you slowly begin to realise that it is the same as mud wrestling with a pig.  After a while you work out the pig is enjoying it and so is your dope.  4) dopes don’t want help.  By definition they don’t.  they just want to exist and blame everything on everyone else but themselves.  And my last reason is 5) a clever dope (yes an oxymoron) will make your life hell, should they get over their apathy and decide to take their revenge.

And so when deeply engaged in conversation on the very latest conspiracy theory or the blaming of natural disasters on a sacred purge or similar, no need to verbalise, no need to nod, just back away slowly and let the others take the brunt or if one on one with said dope, turn quickly and run.

Welcome to volume II - the next 50 years

Well at least the next 5 years perhaps or maybe even two years.  Yes, I have drawn the curtain on my first book.  From today, I begin working on the next volume.  I have nearly 400 a5 pages on my business thinking, my personal thinking and me the history (which I know was at times way too much info).  I have also started two other blogs / books based on quality and on umpiring.  And so the turning of these posts and rants into a meaningful book or two or three is now the challenge.  Grouping, deleting duplication, correcting my damn fine grammar and so on, should keep me busy for the next 6 months or so.  The really neat aspect of this will be the production of the various media for which to present my bodies of work.  The ol’ pdf format is an easy starter.  Then there are the e-pub formats for e-readers and of course the good ol’ paperback complimented by the ,limited editions of the hard cover version and a coffee table monster with the glossy pictures.  Yes, I am kidding about the last but not the others.  Once produced, the plan is to monetise the outputs through some clever online strategies underpinning a number of new personal / professional offerings which will be taken to market via virtuality and the ever reliable forum / mentoring / workshop models so that the face to face outcomes can be taken on the road to largely exotic locations and or cruise lines.  Hop on board and enjoy the ride.

Quality Objectives – part 1

Quality objectives are an integral part of a quality management system.  They are often misinterpreted by both the organisation and the certification body.  It is easy to understand why, especially with the frequency of mentions in the standard itself and the lack of prescription around them.  This makes them as diverse as the organisations trying to define them.  So, before I explore the wonderful world of quality objectives, here are the actual cuts and paste of quality objectives mentioned ISO 9001:2008;

4.2 Documentation requirements

4.2.1 General requirements

The quality management system documentation includes

a) documented statements of a quality policy and quality objectives,

5.1 Management commitment

Top management provides evidence of its commitment to the development and implementation of the quality management system and continually improving its effectiveness by

c) ensuring that quality objectives are established,

5.3 Quality policy

Top management ensures the quality policy

c) provides a framework for establishing and reviewing quality objectives,

5.4 Planning

5.4.1 Quality objectives

Top management ensures that quality objectives, including those needed to meet requirements for are established at relevant functions and levels within the Oberon Management Systems.  The quality objectives are measurable and consistent with the quality policy.

5.4.2 Quality management system planning

Top management ensures

a) the planning of the quality management system is carried out in order to meet the requirements given in 4.1, as well as the quality objectives, and

5.6 Management review

5.6.1 General

Top management reviews the organisation’s quality management system, at planned intervals, to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness.  This review includes assessing opportunities for improvement and the need for changes to the quality management system, including the quality policy and quality objectives.

6.2 Human resources

6.2.2 Competence, awareness and training the organisation will

d) ensure that its personnel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives, and

7 Product realisation

7.1 Planning of product realisation

The organisation has planned and developed the processes needed for product realisation.  Planning of product realisation shall be consistent with the requirements of the other processes of the quality management system.

In planning product realisation, The organisation has determined the following, as appropriate:

a) quality objectives and requirements for the product;

8.5 Improvement

8.5.1 Continual improvement

The organisation continually improves the effectiveness of the quality management system through the use of the quality policy, quality objectives, audit results, analysis of data, corrective and preventive actions and management review.

So now you know why it will take me at least 3 or so blogs to get on top of this topic!

Learn from your success

I have listened or read a few articles (a few thousand of them.  Just remember that I never, never, never, ever exaggerate!) concerning the value of learning through your failures.  Some even advocate to fail early and fail often so that you can learn and eventually be successful.  Not me.  I don’t plan to fail.  In fact, I have never planned to fail.  I only ever plan to succeed.  This does not mean I haven’t failed.  I have and have done so in some very large ways.  But normally, I have mitigated well before such a failure is catastrophic.  And yes, I do learn from them.  Even before becoming a businessperson (oh so pc), it was one of my employers who set me up in management and perhaps in my future by teaching me exactly what not to do!  Was that learning by failing, well, yes in a way, the failures of others.  But that doesn’t mean for every observed failure, you can’t make it work.  A little more careful planning might just make your venture a success.

No, planning to fail is not an option.  The best thing any businessperson can do is to learn from success.  Perhaps from the success of others.  But that will only get you so far, as me too products or services can only take you so far.  To be the leader, to be the innovator and to have others copy you is a real sign of success and as they continue to follow instead of innovate, you will remain on the front foot.  And to learn by your own success and then repeating that success is the real secret.  Doing over and over again those things that make you money, make you happy, give you balance will make you even more successful.

So when you next ask me ‘How are you doing?’ and you know I am going to say “Fantastic!”, after which I will most likely say something like, “Same, same.” it is because I believe in the science of repeating your successes and learning from them.

Lest we forget

My father, John Gerald Mason served in WWII as a private in the army in two campaigns in New Guinea.  During his tour, he contracted malaria.  Upon his discharge in 1949, he was given the wonderful diagnosis of having just 6 months or so to live.  And so he refrained from seeking that what most returned servicemen do upon their return.  A wife, a family, a home.  However, some 10 years later, he met and fell in love with my mum and the rest, they say, is history.  He did succumb to that nasty malaria in 19 August 1971 (thankfully, some 22 years later than his original 6 month prognosis) from pneumonia which is quite often the case when battling the fever of an attack.  This left my mum a war widow by definition for which I am very happy to report, is, to this day, very well looked after by the various government departments of veteran affairs and repatriation.  As was my schooling, development and well being.  This was capped off by the wonderful people from Legacy who provided me with opportunities of fellowship, sponsored billets and a guiding hand when needed, right down to a simple dinner and the bus fare to return home from any city club activities on a Friday night.

The men and women who serve have done so and do so without question, without judgment and with so much lost opportunity that we must never forget them.  Nor should we forget their loved ones left behind.  Love you dad.  Love you mum.

Certification and service. An oxymoron?

Perhaps.   A certification service provider is really only as good as your primary contact.  And if you happen to be a small / medium business, you may not even register (no pun intended) on the certification provider’s radar.  There are many fundamental reasons why you get varying degrees of service and attention from the certification fraternity.  Here are a few.

If you wish to have the biggest market recognition from your certification trade mark, then realise, they also attract the ‘big end of town’ as their client base.  What this means is that 80% of their revenues come from 20% of their clientele. And if you just happen to be in the bottom half of the client pool, then you aren’t even afforded a primary contact.  You must deal with the operations department for things such as auditor availability, audit dates, reschedules, etc. Got a problem with a certificate?  Different department.  Got a problem with an invoice?  Different department.  And so on.  And remember, the largest provider is also one of the very few that has employee auditors which comes with its own pros and cons (and another post).  However, these guys do have resources and do have people in just about every location in Australia.  I just wish they would stop charging travel within metropolitan areas.  It looks so petty on an invoice.

Most other providers have a client manager mentality and that means your auditor is your primary contact.  This stream lines your communication and allows you to form a relationship with that person meaning you don’t have to induct that person into your workplace or quality system every time they show up.  It means they can truly add value once they learn the culture of the organisation.  However, not all providers allow these ‘client managers’ to actually book audits, which means you still have to go through some sort of back office bottleneck to get a date set up or changed.  Some don’t allow these people to quote on additional sites or additional risk systems.

Just keep in mind, there are certification providers who do all this from your primary contact and ensures you get the best level of care and service you deserve.  And if you are not, you get to resolve with them first to ensure the best outcome.  If not, it is just a phone call or email away to request a replacement auditor (or provider) and let the journey begin again.

Don’t give it away

This is true for both service and product based businesses.  So here are a few points about this.

A sample is not a giveaway.  In fact, the free sample or intro offer is a very astute mechanism for getting customers.  Just make sure you budget / plan this into your cost of sales and hence it has value and is smart business.

Don’t discount.  One more time.  Don’t discount.  It only devalues you, the product, the service.  It requires an exponential amount of sales to recoup the loss of margin.  However, if you offloading capacity, obsolete stock, etc, let the customer know this is what is happening.  Let them know this is an extraordinary circumstance.  And if you need to do it again, you need to review your stock holdings, your margins, prices and perhaps even your ‘grade’ of product / service.

Give them the correct amount.  Yes, the correct amount.  Not more, not less, the agreed amount.  This is pretty easy with product but so much harder for you service type people.  I know we are supposed to go the hard yards, under promise, over deliver.  But if you set this expectation, then your clients will not know when to stop.  They will ring you at night.  They will expect weekends.  They will want you to come in between planned visits because of their current crisis.  Deliver the agreed outputs and should they want more, charge them, rearrange them, decrease the service offering but make sure they know that they are getting what was agreed to, including the bill for the extra hours.  And if they are not in your standard terms for deviations, better get them.

Document control – the risk

How you manage your documents should be structured around the risk to the company.  In a law firm, structuring a legal response around an incorrect precedent is high risk, using the wrong annual leave form is not (unless of course you can’t go on holidays then the risk lies with the employee!).  Having a document control system that can manage both scenarios is desirable but not a necessity.  There are some things that are just so mission critical, just so commercially sensitive that they deserve the ‘extra hard yard’ of control to ensure things go right.  And so putting them on ‘google docs’ might not be the best solution, but in so many ways , it might.  It really is a mine field of exposure, mitigation and downright dumb luck.  And these are just the documents that you have complete control of.  Then there is the wonderful world of external documents.  Those things that you need to use, adhere to but you don’t publish or control.  Forget just having a clever repository for them, you will need a process of review, issue and recall to ensure things go right, especially in the field.  A great example of this would be drawings or specifications used at a construction site.
So I suspect you are now expecting a solution to all this.  Sorry to disappoint, but there is no definitive solutions to these complex needs.  Some are better than others.  Some are just wrong.  So here is a very simple list to review when considering your document management; MS SharePoint, Google Docs, DocuShare, Base camp, just to name a select few.  There are so many available via the cloud and some more worthy than others for review.  The main selection criteria you should consider are, single source of data, check in / out capability, version control, distribution control, data backup / recovery and others.  Good luck.

Old Blogger Link - http://www.johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com

http://www.johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com

Blogger Mysteries

Oh the joy of placing your life in the hands of the big brother.  Blogger is a platform from google.  In an attempt to get my 'brand' consistent, I started a new gmail account so that there was a professional consistency to the brand.  No longer will my handle be big bad surfer dude at gmail.com (fictitious, but just a silly) to johnjamesmason at gmail.com.  But in doing so, I had to export / import the blog I have been keeping for the last 18 months.  All seemed good, all seemed well.  There is only one small problem, no one can see the previous 255 posts.  Oh well.  Here is a link to my history; http://www.johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com.  Re-enjoy if you dare.

JASANZ, FTEs and other mysteries

All certification bodies are governed (within Australia) by JASANZ (Joint Accreditation System Australia New Zealand, I know you all wanted to know that!).  These guys issue certification bodies with an accreditation to supply certification services.  Because of this, each certification body is stringently audited by JASANZ in about the same manner that CBs audit you and me.   When they conduct these audits, they audit against the JASANZ requirements and the requirements of the CB’s own management system requirements.  One of the most stringently audited aspect of the CBs is audit duration.  And this is quite easy.  There is a published schedule of audit days compared with employees and management system.  There are very few interpretations allowed of this schedule and so if it says an audit will ‘last’ 6 auditor days, the records must demonstrate 6 auditor days.  Whether you do it by 6 auditors on one day or 3 auditors  over two days, etc.  They must match.  However the one big interpretation is the number of full time equivalent employees and the number of people conducting the same activity.  It is through these interpretations that can cause the differences in quotations you will receive from a CB.  We make sure you get the best integration of this which will ensure you get the price.  Here is just definition of getting the best result.  Define who is full time, who is part time, who is casual.  You can find this information from your employment contracts.  Just keep a summary.  For the part timers and casuals, simply convert / gather the time in hours, divide the number a full time is expected to work and get your FTE.  So when you asked, just produce the spreadsheet and there is no argument.  Hint; just make sure there is some correlation with your organisation chart.  The next biggest definition is how many people are doing the same job.  But that is just a bit of IP that I will keep to myself until you engage our services.  Just remember, make you best estimate as to how many are doing what and record it.  Then discuss this data with your CB.  You will be rewarded.