ISO 9001 Clause 4.2: Interested Parties

So, who is an interested party? 

In ISO 9001 it’s defined as a person or group that can either affect or be affected by the actions of the organisation.   A common mistake is just including the customer and forgetting about the many other interested parties that have influence on the organisation.  Think of each interested party and why you are including them and the relevance they have to your Quality Management System.

Internal Interested Parties

You can start internally and should include your management, staff and any shareholders.  These are hugely relevant to the QMS as they are the face of your brand and the ones that will interact with many of your other interested parties.

External Interested Parties

When we look at external interested parties the first we will start with is the customer, we may also have to consider an end user depending on the type of business.    They can have the biggest effect on our business in both a positive and negative way.

There may be governmental, legal or regulatory entities that can have an impact on your business.  Changes in certain legislations or new initiatives can have major impacts on a business.   Banks, insurers and financial institutions will also need to be considered along with unions and the local community.

Your suppliers and their performance will impact your ability to operate to plan so they need to be included also.

Needs and Expectations

Once you have identified your interested parties then you must look at their needs and expectations

If we take customers as an example of an interested party.  We may identify their needs and expectations as ‘receiving the product at the right price, on time and with good after care service’.  Staff needs and expectations may be ‘job security, good work environment, reward and recognition of their effort’.   Once we are aware of what each party needs then we will be in a position to ensure they are getting what they need from the organisation.

Issues

Now that we have our list of interested parties and know what their needs and expectations are then we can look at what issues may occur that could be of concern.  This time we will take the ‘local community’ as an example of the interested party.  Their issues might include that ‘we hire local people, that we don’t pollute the local area and contribute in a positive way to the area’.   Once we identify these issues we can address them and decide what we will do.

Risks and Opportunities

What would be the risk to your organisation if one of your interested parties had a need that was not met?  For example, your supplier expects to get a detailed description of the raw materials you need.  If you don’t give the full specification then what they supply you may not work for your product.  This could lead to you not being able to fulfil orders and result in an unhappy customer.

How would you go about reducing or eliminating this particular risk?  Maybe a process you could put in place to ensure that you fill in a specification sheet and have it agreed by both parties.

You must always remember that while you will be identifying risks during this process you will also unearth a few opportunities that may have a positive effect on your performance.

Communications and Change

Part of the ethos of ISO 9001  is striving for continual improvement.  By communicating with our interested parties we can identify what we need to provide to ensure their expectations are met.  Where issues occur we will learn from them and change the way we operate to ensure a better experience.

ISO 9001 is a Quality Management System that will add value to your organisation.  The new element that focused on interested parties helps us take a deeper look into our processes and make improvements.  This can lead to great opportunities for growth and development.

If you are interested in implementing ISO 9001 or are ready to transition from ISO 9001:2008 to the new ISO 9001:2015 contact us today to see what your options are.