Identifying and documenting the context
How to identify and document Interested parties, Internal and External issues?
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Answer
Clause 4.1 of ISO 9001:2015 is about determining those internal and external issues that can be relevant to influence your organization’s future. You can think about political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legislative as external issues, and about performance, complaints, experience, market presence as internal issues. For example, can you think about technological trends that can influence your organization’s economic sector? Consider banks vs the financial internet startups. As an example of political trends imagine that your organization is in France and exports to the UK. Will Brexit influence sales?
Clause 4.2 is about determining who are the relevant interested parties for your organization’s business ecosystem: customers; customer’s customers; regulators; influencers; universities; suppliers; unions; competitors, employees (please check ISO 9001:2015 Annex A3 – it is up to your organization who are the relevant interested parties and what needs and expectations are considered relevant)
Documenting this topics is not required by ISO 9001:2015. So, organizations are free to develop their own methods. Normally, when working with organizations during the implementation of the QMS I document these in meeting minutes and management review records.
The following material will provide you more information about context and interested parties:
- (This case study has a clear example) Case study for ISO 9001:2015 transition in a construction company - https://info.advisera.com/hubfs/9001Academy/9001Academy_FreeDownloads/Case_study_for_ISO_9001_2015_transition_in_construction_company_EN.pdf
- 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/
- How to determine interested parties and their requirements according to ISO 9001:2015 - https://advisera.com/9001academy/blog/2015/11/10/how-to-determine-interested-parties-and-their-requirements-according-to-iso-90012015/
- (This webinar gives some of examples) Free webinar - ISO 9001:2015 clause 4 - Context of the organization, interested parties, and scope - https://advisera.com/9001academy/webinar/iso-90012015-clause-4-context-of-the-organization-interested-parties-and-scope-free-webinar-on-demand/
- Enroll for free course - ISO 9001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-9001-foundations-course/
- book – Discover ISO 9001:2015 Through Practical Examples – https://advisera.com/books/discover-iso-9001-2015-through-practical-examples/
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Aug 30, 2019