Importance of Writing of Procedures within Departments in Quality Management System are as follows:
1. Purpose:
In developing a quality management system, the writing of procedures within departments is an important function and it is essential that the writing of procedures is standardized within the Company.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
This document provides guidelines for the formatting of procedures and is to be consulted by all personnel involved in the preparation of procedures.
All procedures shall be prepared in accordance with this document except in circumstances where a client specifically requests the use of another format.
2. Scope and Responsibility:
This procedure applies to all documents that become a part of the Company Quality System. It is the responsibility of the Managing Director to approve this document. It shall be the responsibility of the Engineering Manager (MR) to issue, update and maintain this document.
3. Definitions:
Procedure – A logical progression of activities, actions and controls that outline which an objective is to be met.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Method Statement – A logical progression of items to be performed for the completion of an activity
4. Procedure:
General:
The procedure shall restrict itself to the scope of work defined in the purpose and shall with one subject such that it can stand-alone.
The procedure shall detail who, what, where, when and how for the scope of work.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Each procedure shall carry identification to enable it to be controlled, retrieved and referred to without ambiguity. The unique identification shall be a document number as detailed in the Procedure -Document Numbering System.
Each section and subsection of the procedure shall be identified by a decimal index e.g.:
Format of the procedure:
The procedure shall normally contain the following:
a. Front Page
b. Amendment Page
c. Purpose
d. Scope and Responsibilities
e. Definitions
f. Procedure Text
g. Records
Headers:
All pages of procedures shall have completed Headers as detailed below:
Page Number – This requires the page number and the total number of pages in the document. The front sheet or cover page is page (if present).
Revision Number – The space for revision number is filled in with the appropriate revision number. Refer to the Procedure for Document Numbering (1CC-QMP-5B) Document Number.
The document number is the Unique Quality System Reference number Refer to the Procedure for Document Numbering (ICC-QMP-5B).
Date – The date of the current revision. If any minor changes are made to the procedure and a page is replaced and the date shall change on all affected pages.
Document Title – This shall specify the name of the document e.g. Project Quality Manual. Company Name – The name of the company e.g. Indian Construction Company shall be mentioned.
Front Page:
The text area of the front page may contain the following items as shown below:
A. Company Name – Indian Construction Company.
B. Title of the Procedure – Format for writing procedures with document number.
D. Copy Number – For controlled documents, i.e. documents that the originator has responsibility to keep updated; a copy number shall be given at the time of issue, which shall be recorded in accordance with the procedure for document control. For uncontrolled documents the copy number shall be left blank.
E. Issued to – The issued to area shall be completed on all controlled copies to indicate who has responsibility for maintaining that document. For uncontrolled documents the Issued To area shall be left blank.
Amendment Page:
The amendment page shall contain a history of all amendments carried out to the document.
Purpose:
The purpose shall contain a brief description of the requirements for which the procedure was raised to address.
Scope and Responsibility:
The scope and responsibility shall detail the areas of the company to which the procedure is applicable and who has the responsibility for its approval, issuing, updating and maintenance.
Definitions:
If any definitions are required within the procedure they shall be listed in this section.
Procedure Text:
a. The procedure text should take the form of an ordered sequence of method statement/s broken down into items necessary to complete that activity.
b. Each method statement/s shall have a separate section number and shall deal with one activity.
c. The section shall be broken down into sub-sections as appropriate to provide a detailed list of sequential actions required for successful completion of the activity in question.
d. The text should preferably be in the nature of short instructions suitable for work execution.
e. Sections and sub-sections shall be numbered as detailed in 4. 1.4 Above.
References:
This section should contain the document title and number of all documents that have been referenced in the document.
Records:
If, during the execution of the procedure, records are generated, in the form of reports, etc, these should be detailed in this section.