Management Review as required by ISO 9001

Management review is a very important part of an organization’s quality management system based on ISO 9001:2015. It is the most important source for continuous improvements. It can be used to bring together all the elements of your quality program and bring cohesiveness to it. It allows the organization to focus on trends, objective evidences as well as data based decisions. It is used to assess the performance of the quality management system and find out opportunities for its improvement. It is held at-least once a year and is a platform for reviewing the quality policy and setting new quality objectives. It is important that the top management be involved in the management review.

The management review requires that a periodic review of the QMS shall be held so as to ensure it is suitable, adequate and effective. It is also required that the alignment of the Quality Management System with the organization’s strategic direction be checked. You should ask your ISO consultant to guide you one how to hold an effective management review.

Management review inputs

The management review process should ensure that all the necessary information is collected ahead of the time so as to allow management to complete this evaluation. Information review should includeand take into consideration

1. The status of actions decided in the previous management review.

2. Changes in the context or the external and internal issues that are relevant to the quality management system.

3. Information gathered on the performance and effectiveness of the quality management system and including the trends in

a. Customer satisfaction

b. Feedback from interested parties

c. The extent to which quality objectives have been met

d. Process performance

e. Conformity of products and services

f.  Nonconformities and corrective actions arising due to them

g. Monitoring and measurement results of processes, products and services

h. Audit results, both internal and external audits

i.  The performance of external providers or suppliers and outsourced processed

4. The adequacy of resources provided for the quality management system

5. The effectiveness of actions taken to address risks and opportunities

6. Opportunities for improvement

7. Suitability of possible changes in the QMS

8. New/proposed regulations or legislations

9. Advances in technology and science

10.Change in preference of buyers

11. New/modified products and services

For the management review to be effective, the attendees should come to the meeting prepared with data, and must have already drawn conclusions from the data.

Management review outputs

After analyzing the inputs given above, the management shall develop some outputs from it that should be in the form of decisions and actions that are related to

1. Opportunities for improvement which can be related to process improvement, quality management system improvement or product improvement

2. Any need for changes to the quality management system

3. Resource needs such as human, infrastructure, equipment or technology etc.

Records

The organization shall keep records of the management review such as minutes of the management review meeting. Observations as well as conclusions and also recommendations for further action from the management review must be recorded. If any corrective action is to be taken, then management must follow up on so as to ensure that the action has been implemented effectively.

The final objective of the management review should be continual improvement of the quality management system. As the QMS is made more effective and efficient, your organizational performance shall likewise improve.