ISO 9001:2015 QMS implementation. External interested parties confusion.

[zanjuk123]

Hello all!

Passing my ISO 9001:2015 QMS implementation exam and got across very vague question.

"Which one of the following is potentially an external interested party?"
1)Customer management
2)Worker representatives
3)Top management
4)Contracted employees

Initially, I thought 2) is the correct answer, however, more I dig into the question- less sense it makes!
Context is not given. Depending on how you see and read above options they all can POTENTIALLY be an external interested party and at the same time neither of them.
E.g.)
1)Customer management - is it noun or is it verb? Is it someone who is in charge of our customers inhouse (salesmen) or someone at our customers company who is managing the company?
2)Worker representative - could be union rep. or solicitor who is an external interested party, but at the same time representing internal employees interests.
3)Top management - usually referred to MD or stake holders ,however shareholders (such as investors) are also part of the Top management. Is that right?
4)Contracted employees - someone who is employed by company and being part of organisation on the permanent contract, or someone who is here for the project sake only (gas engineer, pest controller, builder, etc. ) and called "contractor".

Depending on the context (which isn't provided) answer may vary. The only reference is ISO 9001:2015 requirements .

Can someone share thought or experience, or good point why X) answer is right whilst others aren't, please ?

 

[fisicx]

I agree, without context it doesn't make any sense.

Back in the day when I ran a QMS is was all about internal processes. External anything wasn't interested in how we ran the toolstore or goods inwards or even the inspection systems.

 

[zanjuk123]

I agree, without context it doesn't make any sense.

Back in the day when I ran a QMS is was all about internal processes. External anything wasn't interested in how we ran the toolstore or goods inwards or even the inspection systems.

There is many more questions with some uncertainty in the exam.
I do think it is a good idea to dispute exam results in case i fail it.
What do you think ?

 

[fisicx]

In can't answer that question as I don't know the examination board or the current requirements. It's been a long time since I did anything with ISO9001

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

What does your tutor/teacher/professor say?

 

[zanjuk123]

What does your tutor/teacher/professor say?

It was an online course, exam could have been taken any time after that, I don't have tutors contact anymore.
Speaking to different people I was advised option 1)Customer management - but I don't know if its right or not because after passing the exam they haven't showed the wrong or right answers.

 

[fisicx]

If you have passed the exam does it matter if you were right or wrong? You are never going to have to worry about deciding who is an external interested party.

 

[TonyD77]

Hi, I am a Lead Auditor in my day job, and audit 9001/14001/45001/27001, the choices you were given were certainly ambiguous. There isn't really a right or wrong answer when identifying your interested parties, there is no requirement to class your interested parties as internal or external, just who they are and their expectations or requirements.

 

[WaveJumper]

Agree with above and back in my day the only interested people were our investors probably made them feel good in the board rooms

 

[Ryan Paul]

#4 is the only is the only logical answer.

 

[HFE Signs]

Do people still bother with ISO90001? I remember when it was BS5750 (showing my age). A lot of people dropped it when they realised just how much trouble it was and they didn't like the inspectors.

IT has evolved and CRM systems have improved, you have to ask if it really matters anymore? Interested for peoples views on this??

 

[TonyD77]

Do people still bother with ISO90001? I remember when it was BS5750 (showing my age). A lot of people dropped it when they realised just how much trouble it was and they didn't like the inspectors.

IT has evolved and CRM systems have improved, you have to ask if it really matters anymore? Interested for peoples views on this??

As a current auditor, there has been no reduction in new 9001 applications, still busy doing new stage 1 audits.

 

[zanjuk123]

Do people still bother with ISO90001? I remember when it was BS5750 (showing my age). A lot of people dropped it when they realised just how much trouble it was and they didn't like the inspectors.

IT has evolved and CRM systems have improved, you have to ask if it really matters anymore? Interested for peoples views on this??

As a business you can provide products or services on high level anyway, but having ISO stamp on your website shows to your customers or potential customers that you are capable to reach consistency at all times, reassuring them that you are good enough. in my mind it is good practice for smaller businesses to get ISO accreditation as it will push them to become better,
In the food industry there is BRC which is similar to ISO, but more strict. Without BRC certification you are not allowed to produce food, basically. ISO only gives more discipline and more structure to the business in my mind,

 

[fisicx]

Not sure I agree. You can pass the ISO9000 certification and still deliver rubbish goods and services.

I know because I’ve worked for companies who got the certificate but were useless at what they did.

 

[HFE Signs]

Not sure I agree. You can pass the ISO9000 certification and still deliver rubbish goods and services.

I know because I’ve worked for companies who got the certificate but were useless at what they did.

I wasn't going to be that blunt, but I've had the same experience.

 

[Newchodge]

Hello all!

Passing my ISO 9001:2015 QMS implementation exam and got across very vague question.

"Which one of the following is potentially an external interested party?"
1)Customer management
2)Worker representatives
3)Top management
4)Contracted employees

Initially, I thought 2) is the correct answer, however, more I dig into the question- less sense it makes!
Context is not given. Depending on how you see and read above options they all can POTENTIALLY be an external interested party and at the same time neither of them.
E.g.)
1)Customer management - is it noun or is it verb? Is it someone who is in charge of our customers inhouse (salesmen) or someone at our customers company who is managing the company?
2)Worker representative - could be union rep. or solicitor who is an external interested party, but at the same time representing internal employees interests.
3)Top management - usually referred to MD or stake holders ,however shareholders (such as investors) are also part of the Top management. Is that right?
4)Contracted employees - someone who is employed by company and being part of organisation on the permanent contract, or someone who is here for the project sake only (gas engineer, pest controller, builder, etc. ) and called "contractor".

Depending on the context (which isn't provided) answer may vary. The only reference is ISO 9001:2015 requirements .

Can someone share thought or experience, or good point why X) answer is right whilst others aren't, please ?

Everything in the list is a noun. Based on the grammar following the first sentence.

The answer has to be 1 as everyone else is not external.
Worker representative will be shop steward
Top management are part of your company
Contracted employees are doing the work. If they are employees they cannot be external contractors.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I used to work as a hydrographic surveyor many years ago as a freelance, Two companies come to mind when i worked, for one we had tons of instructions covering the ships office, the point on using the theodolite covered about 8 pages with a complete breakdown on how to use it assuming you hade never used one before, the second company just had a paragraph stating "Only Surveyors and qualified personnel are to use the Theodolite"
The training of the writer's differed so much, probably just milking the job for the most money and the managers of the company just accepted it as fact required

 

[SillyBill]

Do people still bother with ISO90001? I remember when it was BS5750 (showing my age). A lot of people dropped it when they realised just how much trouble it was and they didn't like the inspectors.

IT has evolved and CRM systems have improved, you have to ask if it really matters anymore? Interested for peoples views on this??

For big business in my industry you either have it as a prerequisite to do business with them or if you don't have it, they are auditing you (in which case may as well have it) and subjecting you to very length questionnaires. About the only benefit is the questionnaires we get allow you to skip sections often if you have ISO 9001/45001/18001.

Its something we could do without if we didn't need to, most of the stuff a well organised business should be doing anyway. The suggestions for improvements you get tend to always be yet another form, yet another procedure, yet another excel spreadsheet etc., like more paperwork is what we need when we're drowning in it anyway. Challenge is to not make it a paper creation exercise. A barrier to business essentially for most SMEs.

 

[Ryan Paul]

For big business in my industry you either have it as a prerequisite to do business with them or if you don't have it, they are auditing you (in which case may as well have it) and subjecting you to very length questionnaires. About the only benefit is the questionnaires we get allow you to skip sections often if you have ISO 9001/45001/18001.

Its something we could do without if we didn't need to, most of the stuff a well organised business should be doing anyway. The suggestions for improvements you get tend to always be yet another form, yet another procedure, yet another excel spreadsheet etc., like more paperwork is what we need when we're drowning in it anyway. Challenge is to not make it a paper creation exercise. A barrier to business essentially for most SMEs.

This is my exact experience, particularly with 14001.
Some companies need the accreditation to secure contracts.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

You could contact Boing aircraft about QC, they seem to know alot about the subject. Don't take iso 9001 as gospel do your own checks, do all companies really publish their non compliance