Setting Up Management Systems

Overview

Setting up management systems can be daunting but using the alphaZ documents package can greatly assist with the process and also ensure systems developed are useful and easy to understand.

The az-documents.co.uk website includes a selection of different documents that have been organised by type and although all documents can be used many of them may not be relevant or necessary and some review and analysis of current systems should be completed to determine what needs to be updated, what can be improved and what is currently missing.

The best approach for setting up management systems will depend on your organisation and what is already in place but the following guidance along with the other information available in the az-documents.co.uk/Help section is provided to assist with determining the best approach.

Stage 1 Review Current Systems

When setting up management systems it is important that consideration is given to all existing good practice, processes, procedures, policies and other relevant documentation or systems so that these can be incorporated or referenced.
Some form of gap analysis / review of existing systems should be completed to establish what systems relevant to the management system are already in place and whether currently compliant with applicable standards.

Ask yourself; What currently works well and is useful?

Then complete a review of everything;
Existing form templates, documented procedures and policy documents;
Any existing management system documentation;
Details of any additional standards, industry guidelines or applicable legislation;
Any existing guidance or procedures such as work instructions, method statements, operational procedures or policy procedures;
Any other documents that may include relevant guidance or procedures such as employee contracts, staff handbooks or other documents;
Overview of products / services / operations / activities i.e. details from web site / other marketing literature;
Details of management structure and responsibilities i.e. organisational chart or responsibilities matrix and any job descriptions;
Overview of Software and other operational systems used

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Most organisations will find that the systems that they have in place to effectively run and manage their operations are consistent with ISO standard requirements and it should just be a case of taking credit for these existing systems to demonstrate ISO compliance

Stage 2 Review alphaZ Documents

There are A LOT of documents available on the alphaz documents web site but only some of these documents will be relevant or useful to your organisation and it is recommended that a general review of the documents available is completed before setting anything up to better understand what is available, what might be useful and how everything is organised. Ask yourself; What is better than what we are currently using and what would be useful and improve how things are managed?

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All the documents available on this web site have a description and some may have comments with additional information about what they are useful for or advice regarding their use and implementation. Also review all the relevant Help pages.

Stage 3 Initial Set Up of Management Systems

In most cases the initial setup of a new or updated management system will follow these simple steps :
Download IMS1 manual, the management system filing structure and IMS1 Manual Guidance
Download all the key IMS related files and other files required;
IMS Registers, IMS Implementation Checklists
Other relevant Registers
Form Templates
Policies and Procedures
Any other checklists or other files
Update and format the files
Update and implement the management systems (Ref. Stage 4 - Update and Implement Management Systems)
IMS Filing / Folder Setup - It is important that files used are organised and that everyone understands where everything is filed and has full appreciation of the documents being used.
To assist with this a filing structure has been written into the IMS1 document and a corresponding folder structure is available which includes a printable 10 section Index sheet for use with a lever arch file if intending to prepare a paper copy.

Filing System / Evidence Folders
A good filing system can be useful for ensuring everyone within the organisation is aware of where key forms, policies and other key documents are located and also demonstrates to an auditor effective document control. A correctly mapped out filing system also helps to prevent any misfiling and potential duplication where copies of the same file are saved in more than 1 location.

The initial setup is largely a downloading, sorting and organising exercise to get the key components of the management system in place. As well as resources from alphaZ documents there will be various other resources that are already in place within your organisation that can be transferred or signposted as key components in the management system.

Update the templates - before reviewing and amending the content of the template forms and policies an initial task may be to update the header on all the files to replace the #az-documents.co.uk# text with your company details.

All the resources provided are simple to use and have instructions included or additional guidance is available in the help page Using the site.

Note : When downloading the files it may be sensible to save files that have not been used yet into a 'draft' or 'sample' folder and then transfer into actual filing system when they are put in place for use.

Company Documentation

It is important to demonstrate that your company documents are adequately controlled and managed. To achieve this all the forms supplied as part of the alphaZ package are uniquely numbered, issue controlled and also include an information classification so that confidential, business use or public documents are all clearly marked.

Policies - the ISO standards include very specific requirements regarding policies and what they must cover - the supplied policies will meet the stipulated requirements and if you intend to amend these to better reflect your organisation care needs to not remove any content that is required for ISO compliance.

Stage 4 - Update and Implement Management Systems

The IMS1 Document is the key overview document for the management system and is designed to cover all the key areas that the business manages in a logical way so that the primary function is to be a useful management system overview while also ensuring ISO compliance.

This should be the key document for your organisation by providing an overview of how your organisation is organised, what the key activities are, what other processes need to be managed and who is responsible for these key processes. Someone new to the company, an auditor or any other interested party, should be able to read this document and understand how all the key activities are managed. IMS1 management system manual.

Implementation - the IMS1 document in itself can be used for gap analysis and as an implementation checklist; if everything covered in this document is completed and correct it will ensure ISO compliance. Alternatively, there are various implementation checklists available to assist with update and implementation of management systems.

If one of the gap analysis or implementation checklists has been completed this should have highlighted any gaps and areas where further development is required and may also detail the main steps to be followed when setting up the management systems.

Linking with existing systems – the IMS1 document is intended to act as a top-level overview of the management systems and the supplied content can be deleted and replaced with references / signposts to other documents / software / systems.

Note: An understanding of the minimum requirements for ISO compliance is required if you wish to omit or alter any sections of the IMS1 document. Avoid Duplication - if documented procedures have already been prepared it is not necessary to include these in IMS1 and a summary or signpost / Link to the other document may be an easier approach. When doing this it is important that all documents follow the document management procedure in IMS1.

When preparing other documents, it is recommended that all links point upwards to the relevant section in the IMS1 document rather than having one document referencing other documents. This will then allow documents to be added / removed / renamed without having to then locate and update multiple other references.

Links - IMS1 includes links to various other files supplied as part of the alpha-z package. If these files are not being used the links should be removed or if referencing other files or documents the links can be added with orange text. Various pages in IMS1 include reference boxes to summarise links to other files.

Stage 5 - Check and Maintain

Once the management systems have been prepared and implemented various checks then need to be completed to ensure that everything is correct and accurately reflects the activities and processes within the organisation.

The main document for review will be the IMS1 manual which will provide an overview of all the other documents including a filing structure and associated files and it is therefore important that this file is properly reviewed and updated and that ownership is taken of this document. Ref. IMS1-Manual-Guidance
As well as IMS1 there may be several other files needing reviewed and updated and to assist with this it may be useful to use one of the provided implementation checklists.

Where the management systems have been prepared for ISO compliance there will be the additional requirement to have completed and documented a programme of internal audits and the internal audits can be combined with this process of reviewing and checking the management systems; completing the internal audits will also confirm that everything is correct and ready for external audit.

To assist with internal audits there are various pre-prepared audit checklists covering the ISO standards, all the sections of IMS1 or even individual processes or activities in Audit Checklists.

A further requirement for ISO certification is to have completed and documented a management review and set and documented objectives. Completing a management review using the supplied F-Q3 Management Review Form will ensure all areas for ISO compliance are covered as well as completing a review of the recently implemented or updated management systems.