Documents Control - Elements And Requirements

The ISO 9001 standard is caring for us. It cares for us from several angles. One of these cares regards our documentation. The standard requires that we will document by all means.

But it also cares that we won’t get confused and mix up different documents from different sources. Therefore it requires all documents to be controlled. This is not a recommendation but a requirement. You must control your documents. In order to achieve documents control you must maintain a method. This method must be one of the organizations quality procedures and it should be called “Documents Control”.

In this procedure you must refer to the next line of issues.

Types of records

At first, you must define what documents this procedure would include. Documents can be working procedures, diagrams, technical specifications, price quotes etc. In order not to “swirl” around too many documents, let’s make it clear. Let’s define what a document is:

  • Communication of information
  • Evidence for correspondence
  • Sharing of any kind of knowledge
  • Approved documents

    Someone within the organization must supervise all documents and see that they are suitable for working before they are released.

    The reason is to prevent any faults where unsuitable documents are being used or information that is classified is handed to wrong bodies. It is required to define for whom it is authorized and when must he approve any document. Who is responsible? The same one who is responsible for the information documented. It must be part of his job description. There are situations that more than one function would be needed to approve one document. It happens when more than one process is documented on one document.

    Updated documents

    This requirement assures that always the last version is the version in u Read the rest of this post »

    Reflexology - 3 Things I Do Every Session to Ensure Mine and My Client’s Success

    The Risky Business of Project Management