This is the quality manual at the centre of an ISO 9001:2026 management system, setting out how each process runs and who is responsible for it.

Effective IMS Manuals

The IMS1 manual is supplied in fully editable MS Word format and can be easily customised and edited. The document uses pre-defined style formatting throughout, with all text in Calibri font for improved readability.
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alphaZ documents - beautifully designed, tried and tested management system documents. No junk, jargon or unnecessary content. Simple and usable documents developed over 25 years through practical use in the real world.

Further Reading

Further guidance on quality management systems:

• Quality Management Systems
• ISO 9001 Clause 4.4 - Quality Management System and Its Processes
• Setting Up a Management System
• ISO 9001 knowledge base

How to Download

This manual is supplied within the ISO 9001 Toolkit - click through to the toolkit for details. Every alphaZ ISO toolkit includes the IMS1 manual written for the standards it covers.

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ISO 9001 Quality Manual (IMS1)

The IMS1 Integrated Management System Manual in its ISO 9001:2026 form is a Word template that gives a top-level overview of how the organisation is run - its scope, its processes, who is responsible for each one, and the registers, forms and policies that support them. Each process is set out in numbered boxes, with decision tables showing what happens when a check is not met, and placeholders mark where your own details go.

The manual follows how a business works rather than the clause order of the standard, and a table in 1.4 links each ISO clause to the section that covers it. Sections 1 to 5 carry the quality management system, while Sections 6 to 8 are kept as short overviews of environmental, health and safety and information security management, so the section numbers match the other IMS documents that refer to them.

What the Manual Covers

• Section 1 Integrated Management System - update log, company profile and scope of certification, the ISO 9001 requirements not applicable with their justification, context of the organisation including climate change, interaction of processes, control of documents and records, and legal compliance
• Section 2 Leadership, Commitment and Planning - company policies and objectives, the responsibilities of top management, the IMS Lead and the Data Protection Lead, the organisational chart, management review, and risks and opportunities
• Section 3 Resource Management and Support - recruitment, induction, competence, training records and leavers; equipment, premises, vehicles, measuring equipment and the work environment; and management system communication
• Section 4 Operational Processes - enquiries and sales, purchasing and outsourced services, control of operations from planning through to release and invoicing, and management of change, variations and design
• Section 5 Monitoring, Evaluation and Improvement - customer satisfaction, nonconforming outputs, problems and complaints, internal audits and continual improvement
• Sections 6, 7 and 8 - short overview sections on environmental, health and safety and information security management, each with a company commitment and the main points for workers or for protecting information, ready to keep as they are, edit or expand

The Appendices

• Appendix i - External File References - the folders referred to in the manual, and a registers key giving the file name and location of each register, such as the key risks register, the audit schedule and the training matrix
• Appendix ii - IMS Folder Filing System - a suggested folder structure, from IMS setup and documentation through customer feedback, audits, key suppliers, equipment and training to standards and legislation
• Appendix iii - Terms and Definitions - plain explanations of the management system terms used in the manual and its supporting documents

Who Needs an ISO 9001 Quality Manual?

Small and medium-sized businesses setting up a quality management system for ISO 9001:2026 certification, or pulling an existing system together into one place, use IMS1 as their framework document. As supplied it gives an organisation with no documented system enough content to meet the standard with limited editing, and where processes or software are already in place the supplied text can be replaced with a short summary and a reference to them.

Included in the ISO 9001 Toolkit

This manual is part of the ISO 9001 Toolkit, where it is supplied with the IMS1 Manual Guidance and the registers, forms, policies and procedures it refers to.

Using the Manual

Start with the front page and 1.2, entering the company details and scope and keeping only the requirements that genuinely do not apply. Then name the people in 2.2 and 2.3 and complete the Responsibility field at the top of each section. Yellow highlighted text marks the placeholders and instructions to complete and then delete. Registers are named by a term and listed once in the Appendix i key, so if one is held in your own CRM, HR or accounts system you change a single row and every reference in the manual still holds.

Related Documents

IMS1 Guidance works through the manual section by section, with the ISO clauses each one covers. The context and planning in Sections 1 and 2 rely on F-IMS22 Interested Parties Register and F-IMS23 Opportunities and Risks Register, I-C-IMS1 Manual Checklists help check each section is in place, and the clause-by-clause ISO 9001:2026 Correlation maps the standard to the manual.