Are you looking for a consultant to prepare your organization for ISO 9001:2015 certification? Do you know that for selecting the QMS Consultant, there is a standard ISO 10019:2005 which is “Guidelines for the selection of quality management system consultants and use of their services”? In this article we will discuss how you can choose your QMS Consultant based on this international standard.
Before digging down deep into the ISO standard, let’s talk about the practical things you should look at in a QMS consultant before onboarding them.
1) Strong understanding of the ISO standards:
The consultant should have strong understanding of the ISO standards. I am not talking about only ISO 9001 standard but also ISO 9000, ISO 9002, ISO 9004 and ISO 19011.
2) Lead Auditor Certificate on ISO 9001:
Having a Lead Auditor Certificate on ISO 9001 with your QMS consultant will help you prepare for the external audit and will give an advantage during the internal and external audit.
3) Lead Implementer certificate on ISO 9001:
It is not always mandatory to have a Lead Implementer certificate on ISO 9001 standard for a consultant to provide consultancy on this standard. However, having the certificate is a plus point as they are certified by 3rd party bodies for implementing ISO 9001 standard in any organization and has the theoretical knowledge.
4) Ability to understand the process of the organization and the intended outcome of each process:
It is very important for the consultant to have the ability to quickly understand the process where he/she will be giving consultancy service and also get the idea of the intended output of different processes. For that usually the consultant needs a background experience in such king of sector work experience which can help to achieve this skill.
5) Understand the needs and expectations of the internal and external customer of the organization:
An ISO 9001 is a standard which actually focus on the customer satisfaction, it is mandatory for the consultant to have idea what the customer of the company wants or may want. As the whole management system will be built on this single target point, it is very important for the consultant to have the idea of the needs and expectations of the internal and external customers of the organization.
6) Consultant providing consultancy service in similar industry sector:
Many consultants usually have a particular niche or industry preference and experience while coming to provide the consultancy service. For example: if a consultancy firm regularly provides service in power sectors, then the power plants should prefer this consultancy firm over others.
However, this is not always a strong point because many often it is seen that many consultancy firms are working in a sector for a long time but still did not gain enough knowledge and skills as required to guide an organization for QMS consultancy service. For this now we will dig dive to ISO 10019:2005 standard and know what are the requirements for choosing a consultant for a QMS Consultant.
After you receive proposals from different consultancy firms, usually, you will see the following milestones or method for their consultancy service:
Not having these activities in the consultancy service proposal will indicate a gap in the competency or understanding of the consultant in handling projects for ISO 9001 implementation.
Many often when we look for consultant to get prepared for ISO 9001:2015 certification audit, either we search in the internet for the best consultant around us or we ask our colleagues or friends if they know someone. Many companies release circular or tender for the consultancy service and selects from the best price they get. Sometimes, the competency which is required in a QMS consultant is not known by the organization. In such cases, the selected consultant will not be able to implement ISO 9001:2015 properly and effectively. Even if they manage to certify your organization, it will not be as effective as it could be.
Following ISO 10019 guideline can help organizations select the right consultants, which can lead to more effective quality management system implementation and improved product and service quality. The standard may seem very old as it was published on 2005. But the standard is still valid as it was reviewed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) on 2021 and confirmed it is still applicable for now.
This standard is helpful for the organizations who are looking for consultants for preparing their QMS but do not know how to choose them and what competency the consultancy firm needs to have. Also, this standard can be a good guide for the consultancy firms who provide consultancy on Quality Management System and want to keep themselves on top of the selection list.
Quality Management System Realization:
The first thing you need to understand of this standard is the Quality Management System Realization described in clause 3.1. The following points are included in the QMS Realization:
In ISO 10019:2005 standard there is a table A.1 where Quality Management System Realization Activities have been described elaborately. You can find the standard in the following link of ISO (https://www.iso.org/standard/35651.html).
The second thing you need to know is the “Input to the selection process”. Here comes the needs and expectations of the organization, role of the consultant and evaluation of the competence of the consultant.
Organization’s needs and expectations
In practical scenario, it is seen that the consultancy firms many often overlook the needs and expectation of the organization and provide their service according to their regular practice. Even if they collect the needs and expectations in the beginning of the project, during the document preparation and implementation stage all the needs and expectations are seen not always fulfilled. Many often the needs and expectations are not reflected in the final product or output of the consultancy service.
To avoid such case, the organization need to define the objectives of the QMS realization first. After that the organization must specify what are the things they want from the consultant. In this process the top management should be involved.
Role of the consultant
One of the major roles of the consultant is assisting the organization to ensure that the design and the implementation of the QMS is suited to the organization’s culture, characteristics, level of education and specific business environment. They should be able to illustrate the concepts concerning quality management in a clear and understandable way throughout the organization paying special attention to the understanding and adoption of quality management principals. The consultants need to communicate with all relevant individual, at all levels, involving them actively in the QMS realization. The consultant’s major role is advising and supporting the organization to identify the appropriate processes needed for its QMS and defining relative importance, sequence and interaction of these processes. A competent consultant will always make this process easy for any employee of the organization to understand the processes.
The consultant’s role is very crucial as they have to assist the organization in identifying needs for documentation essential to ensure the effective planning, operation and control of its processes. The consultant will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the QMS to simulate the organization to look for opportunities for improvement. The consultant will also assist in promoting process approach and continual improvement of the QMS.
The consultant needs to assist in identifying the training needs to enable the organization to maintain the QMS. Also, they have to assist the organization, where applicable, to identify the relationship between its quality management system and any other relevant management system (e.g. environmental or occupational health and safety) and facilitate the integration of such systems.
Competence of the consultant
When you choose a consultant, the following competency need to be ensured before onboarding them:
1. Personal Attributes: The consultant must be ethical, which means he/she has to be fair, truthful, sincere, honest and discreet. The consultant should always be very observant which means he/she should be aware of the culture and values, physical surroundings and activities. He/she need to have the ability to predict the changes the organization may have in the future and good perception on the organization. The consultant needs to versatile to adopt different situations and provide alternative and creative solutions. Being persistent, focused on achieving objectives, capable of reaching timely conclusions based on logical reasoning and analysis. He/she has to be able to act and function independently while interacting effectively with others. Communicating, listening and effectively interfacing with all levels of the organization, confidently and with sensitivity to its culture is also required. Not being realistic and flexible with goo time management can lead to bad reputation for the consultants. The consultant should be able to take responsibility for his/her own action. A mindset of helping the organization employee is a must.
2. Relevant Education, knowledge and skill: The consultant should have appropriate education, knowledge and skill to carry out the consultancy work of the organization. The following table can give a better idea on the education and work experience required for a consultant.
3. Knowledge and skills specific to quality management
The consultant must be able to understand the ISO standards of ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9004 and ISO 19011. The consultant should be able to understand and implement the requirements of these 4 standards in the organization he/she will be consulting. In addition, having knowledge on ISO 10002, ISO 10005, ISO 10006, ISO 10007, ISO 10012, ISO/TR 10013, ISO/TR 10014, ISO 10015, ISO/TR 10017 and ISO/IEC Guide 62 will be added advantage.
He consultant should also have knowledge on sector specific standards, measurement control system standards, accreditation standards, conformity assessment standards, product standards, dependability management standards, standard related to safety aspects etc.
General knowledge on the national and international certification/registration and accreditation system (i.e., ISO/IEC Guide 62) and the processes and procedures for national certification of products, system and personnel are also required for the consultant.
If you think that this is the end of having knowledge of the standards then you are wrong. The consultant should have knowledge on general quality principals, methodologies and techniques. For developing and implementing an effective and sustainable quality management system, the consultant should have some valuable concept of:
The consultant should be able to relate these concepts in the organization with easy examples of them.
4. Knowledge and skills specific to the organization
I am not going in to the details but the consultant should have 3 major things of the organization he/she is doing consultancy on:
Work Experience:
The QMS consultant should have relevant work experience in managerial, professional and technical aspects of the consultant services to be provided. This work experience can involve the exercise of judgement, problem solving and communication with all interested parties.
The consultant should demonstrate verifiable references to past work experience and achievements to the consulting organization. The consultant’s relevant experience can include a combination of some or more of the following:
Maintenance and improvement of competence
The consultant should maintain and improve his/her competence by him/her self by additional work experience, auditing, training, self-study, coaching, attending professional meetings, seminars and conferences. This is many often becomes very difficult for the consultants to develop competency by him/her self as consultancy is a profession of overworking and have no work-life balance. But those who can keep on developing themselves can stand out in the crowd.
Competency of the Consultant at a glance
To read more about how to Use the quality management system consultant’s services read this article:
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