New App Enables Wiki-Based Quality Management Systems for ISO 9001:2015
ISO 9001:2015 is the basis for many quality management systems (QMS), enabling companies to work in a structured manner and consistently deliver exceptional value to their customers.
But complying with ISO 9001:2015 isn’t easy.
In most enterprises, the responsibility for process management falls on centralized quality management organizations that are disconnected from the processes and teams they describe. This makes process documentation difficult and time consuming, and quality managers often struggle to keep up with the continuous process improvements introduced by their innovation-driven teams.
The fact is that the traditional approach to QMS is broken. And teams know this, which is why the only time they consult process documentation is when there’s an upcoming ISO audit.
Innovation-driven enterprises need a QMS that’s as agile as their teams. That’s why we’re excited to announce the release of our Process Management Suite for Confluence.
Originally built as a custom solution for some of the most innovative companies in the world, this app transforms Confluence into a modern, wiki-based QMS that empowers teams to take ownership of their processes, enables organizations to take an agile approach to quality management, and simplifies ISO 9001:2015 compliance.
Continue reading to learn how a wiki-based solution can transform your QMS.
Problems with Traditional Quality Management Systems
When instilled properly, ISO 9001:2015 guides teams towards improved productivity and quality across their day-to-day operations. Consequently, organizations get better at delivering services or products that meet both regulatory and customer requirements.
But top-notch quality does not come easy and, unfortunately, implementing traditional QMS practices can be taxing.
To implement QMS, every business process must be documented for continuous quality improvement. This documentation is controlled by a single entity – either by a quality manager or a department – and stored in file servers or manuals.
But today’s innovation-driven teams are constantly improving their processes and systems. Using the traditional approach to QMS, quality managers are often out of touch with how teams actually work, and documentation quickly becomes obsolete.
This spells big trouble during ISO audits, as team procedures are not aligned with the official process documentation published.
A bigger problem is that teams are unable to reflect on corrective and preventive measures taken to improve their practices; resulting in stunted overall quality improvement.
Reinventing the Quality Management System
A QMS should be more than an auditing tool. It should provide a structured approach to ongoing quality improvement.
One of the ways to do that is by rooting the QMS in the agile principle of continuous improvement. This does not necessarily mean leveraging agile software, but rather incorporating total transparency and flexibility into the QMS.
Teams must be able to participate actively in processes and documentation to improve business quality iteratively and organically. With a continuous, enterprise-wide quality feedback loop, employees can leverage an agile-based QMS to improve daily operations and themselves.
And by following the best quality practices as per ISO 9001:2015 standards, organizations will have no problem passing audits and inspections.
Speaking of continuous improvement, most ISO-certified and fast-innovating organizations seek to improve products, services, or processes either through breakthrough or incremental innovation.
What better way to achieve this than by adopting a modern, wiki-based QMS? With this approach, teams are able to take ownership of the processes they use to deliver innovation, everyone is updated in real-time on the latest process improvements, and enterprises can ease ISO 9001:2015 compliance.
Process Management Suite for Confluence: Communardo’s Wiki-Based Quality Management System
We designed Process Management Suite for Confluence to transform how organizations manage business processes and documentation using Confluence’s powerful wiki features.
Once the app is installed, teams can actively contribute to continuous quality improvements by bringing processes and documentation to life.
Benefits of Process Management Suite for Confluence
- Encourage active user participation (e.g. feedback and comments) to shape processes and documentation.
Confluence is renowned for its collaboration and content creation capabilities. Leveraging these features eliminates the problems with legacy documentation methods and keeps everyone in the loop about the latest process developments and best practices.
- Streamline process management through guided workflows and process templates.
Users know their responsibilities and can work on relevant processes via role-based visualization. They’re also guided throughout their workflow, from process editing to approval.
- Leverage wiki features for continuous process knowledge management and sharing.
With Confluence, teams can update process knowledge in real-time and share it with relevant stakeholders. Metadata for Confluence makes it easy to organize processes according to ISO 9001:2015 standard chapters for quick reference.
- Document reviews and internal audits in a centralized platform.
Since measures, statuses, and key figures are documented with full transparency in Confluence, organizations need little effort for audit and certification.
Discover a powerful new approach to quality management. Start your free trial of Process Management Suite for Confluence and take the first step towards a simpler, more agile approach to QMS.
