Quality Procedures for Dummies

A Quality Procedure is designed to capture the basics of what you do in a simple and easy to repeat process.

Consider the 2 examples:

Process: Getting up in the morning
1. Wake up
2. Wash, dress
3. If practical have breakfast
4. Leave house

Alteratively what we see in some orgnisations is...

Process: Getting up in the morning (Form QA1 Getting Up - to be signed by both divisional manager and team leader)
1. Wake up to alarm at 7.15am
2. Get out of bed
3. Go to bathroom (follow bathroom process QA2 and QAF2 Bathroom Process checklist)
4. Dress (Dress Process QA3 and QAF3 Dress Process checklist)
5. Go downstairs
6. Make Breakfast (follow Breakfast Process QA4 and QAF4 Breakfast Process Checklist, with additional QAP5 external check)
7. Leave house at 8.00am

The interesting thing, is both would actually be allowable under ISO 9000 rules, assuming that under the first example you can show that indeed you get up, wash, dress and have breakfast prior to going to work. A simple log of these actions will be an ellegant sufficiency.

However, many QA people when they get the process bit between their teeth decide that they need to be specific.

Which of these processes would YOU rather be audited against eh???

/end Rant Mode....

*sigh*