Documenting the context and interested parties

Answer:

Determining interested parties and their needs and expectations is part of the process of determining context of the organization. However, determining internal and external issues (i.e. the context) and identifying relevant interested parties and their needs and expectations is different in terms how it is carried out and how it can be recorded. Therefore, I think it is better to have different sections of the manual or separate documents dedicated to these two topics. It doesn't really matter from the perspective of the standard how you choose to document this since there are no requirements to document the context or interested parties, so you can adopt the approach that you find the most suitable for your organization.

Both interested parties and issues can be external and internal, for example internal interested party is the top management, employees, unions, etc, and internal issue are organization chart, internal communication process, organizational culture, etc. Also, you need to determine needs and expectations of the interested parties and there is no analogue requirement for the context.

For more information, see: How to identify the context of the organization in ISO 9001:2015 https://advisera.com/9001academy/knowledgebase/how-to-identify-the-context-of-the-organization-in-iso-90012015/

These materials will also help you regarding the context and interested parties:
- Free online training ISO 9001:2015 Foundations Course https://advisera.com/training/iso-9001-foundations-course/
- Conformio (online tool for ISO 9001:2015) https://advisera.com/conformio/ "