Preface The primary objective of this handbook is to provide both novice and experienced quality practitioners with a concise, user-friendly guide to understanding and implementing the requirements of the ISO 9001 quality management standard. The ISO 9000 family of standards has undergone three revisions. Initially published in 1987, ISO 9001 was revised in 1994, 2000, and, most recently, in 2008. The first part of the handbook is made up of four subsections:
"introduction", "The process approach", "Conceptual overview", and "An implementation path". The "Introduction" outlines the background of the ISO 9000 family of standards. "The process approach" introduces some of the basic concepts found in the ISO quality management system.
"Conceptual overview" provides an understanding of the fundamentals associated with quality management systems (QMSs). Finally, "An implementation path" suggests an approach for QMS registration, and describes the process of conformity assessment by third-party registration bodies (registrars) and accreditation bodies.
The second part of the handbook is also made up of subsections, which are numbered according to corresponding clause numbers in
ISO 9001:2008. This contains
- the actual text of ISO 9001:2008;
- guidance, providing an explanation of the intent of the ISO 9001:2008 standard;
- numerous definitions extracted from ISO 9000:2005;
- typical audit questions useful for organizations seeking to implement a QMS based on ISO 9001:2008; and
- self-diagnostic questions to be used by an organization while
preparing its quality management system.
Some figures and tables were kindly provided by Denis Pronovost of Accademia Qualitas, a private organization that teaches the application of ISO 9000 principles.