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FAQ: Quality Manual - what is it?The quality manual is an important part of your 'quality documentation'. It could be all you have and need, or it may be a part of your documentation. 'Documentation' means anything written down, whether as manuals, or procedures, policies, checklists, forms, etc. And also intranet, online, internet, etc. Your system must be documented if you want to meet ISO 9001. There are specific requirements to include:
You add anything else you decide is necessary. This depends on your organisation, and can be in many formats, from checklists and flowcharts to intranets, wikis or workflow embedded into IT systems. What does a Quality Manual look like?There's no simple quick answer to this, because it really depends on what you need. A smallish business might only need a single manual; a large company usually more. Just as a smart car, a delivery truck and a road train are all vehicles, what's right in one situation won't be in another. Manual/s can be hardcopy (paper) or softcopy: online documents like web pages, help files or IT systems. And you can document in various ways, from easy to very hard. The best way of understanding the 'quality manual' is to look at a good example, and preferably more than one. Widespread popular (mis)belief says there is Only One Single Acceptable format. Balderdash. And it is not possible (fortunately!) to dictate it must always look like X, and always have certain specific headings. What not to doIf you have seen previous examples of 'Quality Manuals', the chances are very high that you've seen only poor examples. They proliferated at one time, particularly in the 90s. There were and still are some quite awful manuals around, of very dubious value. Always thick and ugly: the sort of thing that makes your heart sink just to look at it. They had numbered sections, strictly matching each clause of the Standard: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 etc. (This of course makes absolutely no sense at all to anyone who didn't know the clauses of the Standard inside out.) They used Special Quality Speak throughout - incomprehensible and unfamiliar terms like 'Contract Review' or 'Process Control' and others. QUALITY MANUAL would be liberally plastered everywhere (you certainly wouldn't have guessed it!) usually IN CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE THIS WHICH ARE VERY HARD TO READ. And contained lots of 'shalls', so you had to read things like: 'It is incumbent upon the organisation to ensure that management shall...'. Perhaps you've seen one like that? If not, check this example quality manual (*pdf format) - but take a deep breath first. Too many so-called 'ISO quality systems' (far too many!) still have copious reams of documentation, that often no one can follow, much less use. Why? Because many people still believe that's what a 'quality manual' should be. And that a 'proper' quality manual must have a policy and matching procedures for each and every clause in the Standard.... which means an absolute minimum of 22 written policies and procedures, and perhaps more, no matter what type of company you are or your size! That's an awful lot of paperwork with very dubious value. Particularly if it refers (as so often) to things you've never heard of, let alone understand.
Don't fall for that trap! It will result in a pile of wordy documents, when you really don't need them. Unless of course you regularly use procedures with names like "Design Control", "Management Review", "Nonconformance" and so on? And want every procedure to be pages and pages long, each beginning with a 'Scope' and 'Definitions' and 'Terminology'.... And of course hard to read. What's that? You don't want something like that? Of course you don't. Actually, having an ISO 9001 quality manual that no one reads or uses is a very common mistake people. This exclusive report - no charge - tells you how to avoid that one and others. Good quality manuals are very different. And research shows that information that is well designed and clearly presented has measurable benefits, eg, one well designed intranet doubled employee productivity. Keep procedures clear and short
>> See a sample Intelligent Quality procedure from Mapwright. Mapwright has been been writing clear, simple documents for many years. Clients and customers know and tell me my approach to writing quality manuals works. Quality manual, policies and procedures - easy templates with full guidelines for quality systems.
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Sample awful quality manual - yikes!
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