IQNet - Time after Transition
The transition
15 December 2003 is a historical date. On that date, the transition period ended to upgrade the certificates based on the ISO 9001/2/3:1994 quality management system standards to the new process oriented model, ISO 9001:2000.

Another historical date is 15 March 1987. On that date, ISO issued the first version of the ISO 9000 series. These standards have had greater worldwide impact on most economic areas than anyone had expected at the time. ISO 9000 has established itself as the generally approved basis for quality management systems. Among the benefits, ISO 9000 certified companies have been able to reduce costs through a substantial decrease of supplier audits.

IQNet partners issued 30 % of all QMS certificates worldwide in 2003. Are all these customers certified to the new standard? The answer is "almost". More than 85% have obtained the new certificate. Many of the remaining organizations are under maintenance and continuous oversight of the certification bodies, with the target to achieve the new status as soon as possible.

In general, ISO 9001:2000 certification is voluntary. Therefore, some organizations have not yet decided, if and when they will apply for a certification based on ISO 9001:2000.

Regarding the percentage of organizations that have not yet decided to look for a certification based on the new QMS standard, there is a small difference between regions, but quite a big difference between certain countries. The reasons for the latter are:
  • size and sector of the companies involved
  • economical situation of the country and the companies
  • attitude comply with new requirements
  • market perception and pressure
  • early and continuous customer and market information by all interested parties (international organizations, standards bodies, accreditation and certification bodies)
Since ISO 9001:2000 is well accepted in all economic sectors, we believe there is a prosperous future of this standard. Another important element is the stability of the standard. With the decision of ISO TC/176 not to change to ISO 9001:2000 before the 2nd Quarter of 2008, certification bodies and customers can now work on a stable basis.

Lessons for future changes
The transition time is usually tailored based on the number and substantiality of the modifications and changes. If only the wording is changed in order to improve the clarity of a standard (Example: the current revision of ISO 14001), the transition time may be shorter than if a standard with a high number of users like ISO 9001 is changed from a task-oriented to a process-oriented model. In the year 2000, ISO/CASCO, ISO/TC 176 and IAF decided on a 3 years transition time for ISO 9001:2000. Since then, the general conditions have been changed in many sectors and countries, e.g. the economical situation, which is a major driver for certification activities. Therefore, a more flexible transition time could be an option in future.

Opinions of individual IQNet partners on the transition
  • Avoid a forced transfer by a certain date. Let the market decide and make sure that the auditors are properly trained before the process starts.
  • A guidance document on "The Process Approach and Auditing to the Process Approach" a year before releasing the ISO 9001:2000 would have been of help.
  • The first certifications/registrations were not done to ISO 9001:2000 process approaches because the auditors were not sufficiently experience and the trainers were not familiar with the final requirements.
  • The customers should have received technical assistance to modify their quality management systems at an earlier stage.
  • ISO 19011:2002 should have been issued before ISO 9001:2000.
  • The transition has been planned in an appropriate way and enough tools have been supplied to help the certified organisations to carry out a smooth and progressive transition.
  • Many organisations have left the process to make the transition towards ISO 9001:2000 for the last moment, as their daily activities asked for other priorities.
  • The co-operation between ISO and the conformity assessment industry could have been better, if the experience of the certification bodies could have been considered to a larger extent.
  • The massive transition exercise and the cooperation between ISO and the conformity assessment industry were lacking mainly of the participation of the certification bodies and their customers in decision making.
  • Stakeholder groups and certification committees should have given the possibility to decide about the transition.
  • In future, customers should be assisted much earlier in scheduling the changes, when major changes in management systems are required.
The future
Management system standards will be further developed and will be applied by new groups of customers, with increased perception, for new products and under new constellations. This will require fast and adequate information to customers, but also specifically trained and skilled auditors. As a consequence, the number of third party certificates will continue to grow. In addition, assessments for benchmarking and improvement possibilities are more and more demanded from customer's side.

Examples:
  • ISO 9001:2000 attracts more organizations in new areas, e.g. services, hospitals, transports, casinos, lawyers, etc.
  • An increasing number of organizations are implementing integrated systems, like QMS, EMS, OHSAS, Information Security Management, HACCP, product safety and compliance with product standards.
  • The number of sector schemes and market driven standards is growing: ISO 22000, TL 9000, AS 9100, ISO 16949 etc.
  • Many customers are not happy at all if at the end of the audit the audit team presents only a few minor non-conformities. ISO 19011:2002 made a step forward: opportunities for improvement are now expected in audit findings.
  • Benchmarking through assessment models like IBEC (IQNet Busieness Excellence Class), IQNet 9004 and GoodPriv@cy.
Opinions of individual IQNet partners on the future
  • Revisions of management systems standards must add value to the nature of auditing.
  • Modifications must be customer driven, even though they may come from ISO TC 176 or TC.
  • The quality of auditing and the value this can add to the benefit of the customer should get a bigger part in the auditor's training.
  • The implementation of tools like Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, etc. into the ISO 9001 quality management system could give organisations an impulse to move from ISO 9001 to ISO 9004.
  • The basic target of management system standards, certification and accreditation to continuously promote the world trade will remain unchanged,
  • New and modified standards will ask for specially tailored seminars.
  • The current knowledge about management system standards should be better used in order to shorten the standards' development processes.
  • It is essential that ISO maintains and up-dates management system standards also in future.

Hans Buser
Secretary General of IQNet









Mr Hans Buser, Secretary General of IQNet, underlined at the 3rd International Food Safety Conference in Barcelona, 30 January 2004, that besides food safety audits the standard ISO 9001:2000 was still the leader for certification used in the food sector.

Reasons for the growing success of ISO 9001:2000 are:
  • Confidence and trust in third party certification
  • Request by private and public customers
  • ISO 9001:2000 asks for continuous improvement, which is in line with most companies' business policies
  • External audits help organizations to implement effective improvement processes and to reach requested results
  • Basis for market driven certification, inspection and assessment activities (e.g. in the food sector)