Setting Quality Objectives and Planning Under ISO 9001
ISO 9001 Clause 6.2
This clause requires the organisation to establish quality objectives which are consistent with the quality policy, and are documented.
What Does ISO 9001 Clause 6.2 Require?
Clause 6.2 of ISO 9001:2015 requires organisations to establish quality objectives at relevant functions, levels and processes within the QMS, and to plan how those objectives will be achieved. The clause has two parts: Clause 6.2.1 sets out what quality objectives must be, and Clause 6.2.2 covers the planning required to achieve them.
ISO 9001 Clause 6.2.1 - What Quality Objectives Must Be
Quality objectives must meet several criteria. They must be consistent with the quality policy, measurable, take into account applicable requirements, and be relevant to ensuring product and service conformity and enhancing customer satisfaction. They must also be monitored, communicated and updated as appropriate, and retained as documented information.
The emphasis on measurability is worth noting. A vague objective such as "improve customer satisfaction" does not satisfy the standard - there needs to be a way of measuring whether it has been achieved. A specific target - a percentage of positive feedback responses, a reduction in complaints, a delivery on-time rate - is what the standard is looking for.
ISO 9001 Clause 6.2.2 - Planning to Achieve Objectives
When planning how to achieve quality objectives, the standard requires the organisation to determine what will be done, what resources are required, who will be responsible, when it will be completed, and how the results will be evaluated. These five elements are essentially an action plan for each objective - turning the objective from a statement into something with ownership, a timeline and a way of measuring success.
Objectives can be documented as part of the management review process or separately. Many organisations use the F-Q11 Company Objectives form or include objectives within the F-Q3 Management Review record. If the organisation already has business objectives or KPIs in place, these can be aligned with quality objectives rather than creating a parallel set of targets.
When I review quality objectives at an audit, I want to see that they're genuinely quality-related - customer satisfaction rates, complaint volumes, defect trends, training completion. What I find less useful are generic business targets dressed up as quality objectives. I also look at whether objectives are being actively monitored - if nobody in the room can tell me the current performance against them, the objectives exist on paper but aren't functioning as intended. That's the gap I raise.
Objectives work best when they connect to what the business is already tracking. If you're already monitoring customer feedback scores or on-time delivery, those can often serve directly as quality objectives with minimal extra work. The F-Q11 form structures the process well - each objective needs an action, a measure, a responsible person and a target date. That structure maps directly to Clause 6.2.2 and gives you a clean audit trail.
Three or four objectives that mean something to the business, that someone is actually monitoring, are worth more than twenty that nobody looks at. Make them measurable. Assign them. Review them. That's it.
Practical Compliance Guidance
To comply with Clause 6.2, the organisation needs documented quality objectives that are measurable, consistent with the quality policy, and accompanied by a plan covering what will be done, by whom, with what resources, and by when.
The alphaZ documents below support compliance with Clause 6.2. The F-Q11 objectives form provides a structured template for setting and planning objectives, and the F-Q3 Management Review form provides the natural point at which objectives are reviewed and updated.
| alphaZ document | How it supports Clause 6.2 |
|---|---|
| ISO 9001 Management System Toolkit | The complete toolkit for implementing an ISO 9001 compliant management system. Includes the objectives form, management review and all supporting documents. |
| F-Q11 Company Objectives Form | A structured template for documenting quality objectives with the required elements: action, measure of success, responsible person and target date - directly meeting the planning requirements of Clause 6.2.2. |
| F-Q3 Management Review | The management review process is the natural point for reviewing progress against objectives and setting new ones. Objectives should feature in both the inputs and outputs of the management review. |
Note - all the above files can be downloaded with an alphaZ subscription
