Intelligent ISO 9001 quality management - simple, practical and flexible

About Jane

I work with organisations who want quality management systems that are simple, practical and flexible.

As Director and Principal Consultant, Jane Bennett, Director, Principal Consultant I work with organisations wanting to get ISO 9001 certification, to simplify an existing system, or just wanting to implement a sound quality system.

In doing this, I employ a wide, often eclectic, range of skills and techniques, from sources that include research, education, experience, learning and studying what works, and what doesn't.

Using a mix of consulting, analysis, discussion, coaching, presenting, examples and humour, I work with you to achieve your goals and get the results you want, as quickly as possible but with the least amount of effort.

Why the emphasis on speed and minimal effort? I always seek maximum results from the lowest possible effort and cost. 'Working with slender means' as one client said.

I get pleasure from well designed management systems which support the demands of the people who use them. It happens all too rarely, unfortunately.

My focus is on achieving real value and results: I work only with businesses and organisations where achieving this is possible. The clients I work with have to want to improve and have an ethical approach. Because if we don't have these in common, the consultancy relationship won't work.

I am particularly highly skilled in:

interpreting and applying the demanding ISO 9001 Standard with intelligence, simplicity and flexibility
finding solutions that are practical and work well in your unique context
helping people and businesses to improve performance, achieve measurable results and become more effective.

As an entrepreneur, I also create my own products, such as the ISO 9001 DIY Pack. An achiever and a problem-solver, I aim to constantly exceed expectations. I am passionate about what I do.

Core Values

Honesty: I tell the truth, which includes putting client interests first - if you don't need it or my company isn't right for you, I'll tell you
Excellence: doing the best work I am capable of
Commitment: you can depend on me to meet deadlines and do what was agreed
Value: if it isn't valuable, I don't do it, much less charge for it.

Career Summary

I'm a Bachelor of Arts, a Diploma of Education, and a later Graduate Diploma of Business Information Technology, registered Principal Auditor and certified Coach.

For almost 20 years I've worked in the business world as consultant, quality manager, business coach, business analyst, technical writer, process analyst and communications consultant. In a previous life, I was a company director, owning and running retail businesses, and also a teacher of communications and English, mainly to adults.

A post-graduate IT diploma extended many self-taught IT skills, and helps me talk with analysts and developers. I can translate function-based 'geek speak' into information people actually understand, and more importantly, can use and act upon. Systems and technology can be wonderful, but I believe they exist to serve people, not the other way around.

I've worked across Australia and New Zealand for clients large and small, including ANZ Bank, TabCorp, CRA, CSL, Argyle Diamond Mines, Lend Lease, Department of Primary Industry and Energy, WestPac, NAB, Nabalco Pty Ltd. Highlights include seeing diamonds in the rough mined near Kunnunurra, the vast landscape of the Kimberley, watching the sun set over the Arafura Sea in the far north, and the wildly beautiful landscape of Tasmania.

I've looked into small, medium and large organisations, and worked on projects from formal engineering feasibility studies, process re-engineering and major systems developments and implementations to online help, cultural change, Year 2000 rectification, and corporate intranets and web sites.

As for documenting: policy, business processes, procedures... from functional specifications and test reports, to codes of conduct, guidelines, business strategies, business plans, quality plans, 300-page tenders and post-implementation project reviews, I've planned, analysed, written or reviewed almost every type of document there is.

And then of course quality systems.

The Road to Quality

In my work on business processes and management systems, I reached the conclusion that ISO 9001 was sensible in itself, but there was a distinct problem in how it was often put into practice.

Most systems were built using the old-style manufacturing model. They certainly didn't work well for service companies or those who were project-based. (They often didn't work as well as they could for manufacturers either.)

There just had to be better, easier, more practical ways of doing ISO 9001.

For a start, those doorstop manuals had to go. And the culture of forms and bureaucracy. And procedures just for the sake of having them? People loathed them, and with good reason.

Where I started was with the belief that a successful business already had a functioning quality system, but "wasn't ISO" yet. Then I drew on my experience as analyst, presenter, documenter, technical writer, teacher, trainer and coach to find new ways of developing sound quality management systems, and gradually refined my unique approach in many different situations.

Example: in a small but successful consulting firm which had already failed the ISO 9001 hurdle twice, the negative legacy this had left included a sour attitude toward "quality". A turn-around in attitude was essential. Using some 'people change management' helped get the whole company involved, and 'buy-in' from a couple of key players. We chose one area, where the only consistent thing was frequent problems, costing time and money.

With the help of the key people, we re-engineered it. Out went the 2 massive volumes of detailed procedures (they'd started on a third!). A business of 25 people just couldn't afford to maintain such a large system, and didn't need to.

How much would they be willing to read? Their people were competent and experienced: they didn't need lots of detail. So the massive volumes were replaced with a single, concise handbook of a dozen flowchart procedures. From 400+ pages down to about 40.

In less than a year, the company proudly achieved the coveted certification. With a dynamic and 'skinny' system, flexible enough to support a rapidly changing company with multiple clients and projects.

Another example: For Unisys, I was Quality Manager on the Year 2000 Rectification Program for ANZ Bank: a multi-million dollar, 3½ year effort spanning business units across Australia and internationally. Their existing ISO 9002 system was cumbersome and bureaucratic: an old-style 1994 manufacturing QA model, groaning under a mass of documents, forms, 'quality stamps' and red tape.

I stripped it. Aimed for many fewer, and far shorter documents. Threw out the excess. Joined formerly isolated separate procedures into end-to-end processes, applying a process approach well before the 2000 Standard. This reduced the number of procedures by 40%, people could now see how what they did affected others, and another benefit was reduced time on maintaining documents.

The revised, more practical system worked well for the project team, and enabled us to rapidly bring new personnel up to speed on requirements. It was highly praised at multiple external audits. And later I applied a similar model to ANZ's Group-wide Program Management Office - it received one of the first Australian certificates to the 2000 version of ISO 9001 shortly after its release.

Other project management expertise includes developing common standards, structure and content for the launch of ANZ's original Project in a Box, an intranet project management system: standard processes, templates and procedures for their major projects.

Intelligent Quality Management

In 1998 I started my own company, Mapwright Pty Ltd. The name refers to creating new maps or pathways, and has no connection with cartography. In 2007 I began trading under the registered business name of Intelligent Quality Management, which describes my approach more accurately. The feedback from my many valued clients confirms the value they receive.

Working with a network of other experienced consultants and associates, I make sure clients receive the highest possible levels of service quality. My associates are highly skilled, personally selected and carefully monitored to ensure client requirements are met and my exacting standards.

When not working I enjoy walking with our Director of Leisure Pursuits, learning, visiting galleries or museums, singing, investing, travel, reading, gardening, cooking, listening to music and spending time with friends.

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