Consulting company, Quality manual, ISO 9001 (8.3)

Hi,

I work as a QA Manager in the consulting company which is rather young and we're going to have a certification in October. Thus I'm in a process of developing Quality manual and suddenly stuck while describing 8.3 ISO 9001. In fact we are providing our services for customers based on the contract requirements and we do not have any design activity.

Can I exclude 8.3 ISO 9001 requirement from the scope?
Maybe you have any examples of QM of consulting companies. It would be great!

Thanks in advance.

 

Why would you describe 8.3? If you're writing a QM, describe your processes - not clauses.

If the consultancy services your organization offer need to be tailored to the needs of your clients, then demonstrating conformity with the applicable design and development requirements of the standard should be considered. ISO 9000:2015 defines DnD as "set of processes that transform requirements for an object into more detailed requirements for that object".

You're from a consulting company, don't copy - design your own. When documenting a QM, don't use the clauses of the standard as the structure of your QM. Refer to the statements of ISO 9001 as indicated below:

• "It is not the intent of this International Standard to imply the need for: alignment of documentation to the clause structure of this International Standard" (Introduction 0.1 General);
• "The structure of clauses is intended to provide a coherent presentation of requirements, rather than a model for documenting an organization’s policies, objectives and processes. The structure and content of documented information related to a quality management system can often be more relevant to its users if it relates to both the processes operated by the organization and information maintained for other purposes" (Annex A.1 Structure and terminology).

 

Define and communicate your management system (how you perform and manage your work) in a way which will ensure consistent, high performance from everyone including new staff. Call it a QM if you want, but make it concise, clear and accessible.