Process Approach: What Does It Mean and How Does It Help?

Managing the Business Better with QMS Series: Topic no. 2

By Mr. Manuel Arboleda

One of the basic principles of the standard is the use of the process approach. A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities which transform inputs into outputs. A procedure is a specified way to carry out an activity or a process.

There are two process concepts identified in the standard. One, the PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act. Simply, for whatever your objectives are –Plan on how to meet the objectives, Do the Plan, Check the results, and Act on the results to make it better next time. In any activity intended to achieve a result, the PDCA framework is used. The quality management system, as with the other ISO management system uses this framework.

The other process concept to apply is the SIPOC process. Simply, any series of activities that intend to achieve a simple goal is comprised of the supplier (S), input to the process (I), the process itself (P), the output (O), and the process customer (C).

The SIPOC process bears to mind that whatever objectives need to be attained through the processes, consider the supplier (S), who must be a reliable source of compliant inputs (I) to the process, the process (P) is able to translate the inputs into compliant outputs (O) through process controls to meet the requirements of the customer (C).

In the SIPOC process, it is clearly understood that the interrelationships of these processes must be considered to deliver one common result.