ISO9001 Document Control
ISO 9001 Document Control is part of the standardized requirements for a quality management system, regardless of the nature of user organization. Customer satisfaction is the key to a good organization so to keep customers satisfied, the organization needs to meet their requirements. The ISO 9001 Document Control standard provides a tried and tested framework for taking a systematic approach to managing the organization's processes so that they consistently turn out products that satisfies customers' expectations.
The foundation of the quality management system is the control of documents. While not a particularly glamorous activity, document control is an essential preventive measure ensuring that only approved, current documentation is used throughout the organization. Inadvertent use of out-of-date documents can have significant negative consequences on quality, costs and customer satisfaction.
ISO 9001 Document Control states that your mandatory document control procedure satisfy several criteria:
- ISO 9001 Document Control must define how you approve all documents prior to use. Approvals may be in the form of a written signature or a password-protected electronic approval record. Also any temporary documents must be clearly identified, signed and dated.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states that all documents must be reviewed periodically, and updated and re-approved if needed. A record of such reviews must be kept.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states that all changes and current revision status of documents are identified, by keeping records of the reasons for and nature of the change. In addition, current revision status must be maintained. This includes the current development stage (draft, review, approval, etc.) and the date or revision level (number or letter) identifying the current version of the document.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states that you ensure all documents are available where they are needed.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states that you must ensure that documents remain legible and readily identifiable. The format and storage of your documents must protect a document from being rendered unreadable due to wear or damage and that every document can be clearly identified through a title, document number or other suitable identification.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states you must control documents of external origin with a record or log.
- ISO 9001 Document Control states that unintended use of obsolete documents must be prevented, and to apply suitable identification to obsolete documents if they are retained for any purpose.
- To see your system works, ISO 9001 requires the organization to audit its ISO 9001 system, this maybe done independently to obtain an ISO 9001 certificate of conformity. This option has proved extremely popular in the market-place because of the perceived credibility of an independent assessment.
