Contingency planning is simply an outline of procedures to follow in case some major event impacts your operations.  Technically, the contingency plan is a document that identifies the actions the organizations will take when a specified incident happens.  The plan demonstrates that the organization has thought of ways to minimize the impact to its operations and by default the customer’s.  

Below are 8 steps for effective contingency planning:

1. Start by setting up a committee and chose a lead.  The leader will provide the skills, tools and direction so that each department can develop its own plans.  Contingency planning is a big task, so involve the appropriate number of people to maximize input.
2. Record the business processes for each department.
3. Identify issues (real and potential) that can negatively impact business operations.
4. Review the issues with department managers and rank contingency priority to help focus plan development.
5. Create plans to address each prioritized issue.  Try to minimize the number of steps required to resume operations.
6. Test your contingency plans. If a portion of the plan is flawed or conflicts with other contingency plans, modify and then reassess the plan.
7. Formalize and communicate the plan with applicable personnel within the organization.
8. Finally, make sure to review the plan at predetermined intervals to insure continued relevance.   The review helps identify areas for improvement or modification.

By following the steps outlined above, you will be able to create effective contingencies to address your business functions.  Remember, contingency plans should be developed for critical processes, tasks and/or systems.

To learn how Accupoint can help you streamline contingency planning, call us toll-free at 800.563.6250 or visit us on the web at accupointsoftware.com.

In recent years, a number of well-known companies have experienced high profile quality defects. These defects have led to negative media attention, impacting the public perception and financial health of the organizations. In looking for the root cause of these quality defects, it is important that to remember that the results are always a combination of process as well as management failures. Ultimately, management is the driver of the corporate quality culture.

As a result of these failures, management teams are starting to realize that quality not only comes from processes and equipment, but from motivated workers as well. Companies are finally embracing the idea that quality is everyone’s responsibility.  Every level of the organization, from the CEO to the new hire on the floor, has a responsibility for the success or failure of the Quality Management System.

And while progress is being made, still more work needs to be done. Talk is cheap, and management’s message that “people are the lifeblood of the organization” needs to be backed up with tangible actions. Empowering employees with more responsibility in the quality of the product or service, makes good financial sense and goes a long way towards establishing a corporate culture where quality is an essential element of the overall business strategy. It also leads to employee engagement and accountability.

People fundamentally want to be acknowledged and appreciated for their contribution to the organization. They want to take pride in a job well done and be  successful. Companies that encourage this culture are sure to outperform their competition.

To learn how Accupoint’s flexible QMS solutions can help impact your organization's quality culture, visit www.accupointsoftware.com or call us toll-free at 800.563.6250!

The new API Spec Q2 standard demands a risk-based approach to quality management. One area we see this translated to is the Service Quality Plan requirement (5.7.2) . Service supply organizations are required to develop a quality plan to control the execution of service or the use of service related product.

Service Quality Plan should include provisions for all of the following items:

1. Risk Identification and Management: Document steps to identify and mitigate risk, both real and        potential.
2. Forms and Reports:  Identify all relevant documents and records of the project.   Detail the relevant revision for each procedure, specification, or other document used in each activity.
3. Quality Checkpoints: Document quality checkpoints of the project and identify the owner of those checkpoints.
4. Project Deliverables: Identify of the required deliverables of the project.
5. Contingency Planning: Identify anticipated problems and develop plan to minimize the negative effects.
6. Customer Requirements: Document all customer requirements mandated by contract.
7. Services & SRP: Identify all critical services and applicable service-related product.
8. Project Objectives: Define project (contract) objectives.
9. External Services: Identify external services and service providers.
10. Equipment and Monitoring: Document service equipment and monitoring devices required for contract execution.

The Service Quality Plan needs to be updated and approved when a change takes place. In addition, when required by contract, the Service Quality plan and any applicable revisions may need to be communicated with your end customer.

The goal of the Service Quality Plan is to ensure that the project details are defined and communicated with all stakeholders in order to minimize risk and eliminate operational downtime.

For more information on how Accupoint’s flexible, cloud-based solutions can help your organization automate the development of service quality plan documentation, visit www.accupointsoftware.com or call us toll-free at (800) 563-6250.

Last week we continued our discussion on more aspects of a great management of change program. In Part 1 & 2 of our overview, we explored the actions that precipitate making the change. Today, we will discuss the implementation of the change, as well as required follow-up actions.

First, we will want to execute any pre-implementation changes and corresponding mitigation efforts that were identified. Subsequent to the implementation we will want to perform any post-implementation tasks that are required.  Example would include updating procedures or modifying training materials to address the change.  

Next, we need to confirm the effectiveness of the change.  Once the change has been implemented it is important to make sure that the change does what it was intended to do. Sometimes organizations experience undesirable results. When this happens, we must determine if the system should be restored to the old model, or develop a new MOC to address the unintended results.

Finally, we need to follow-up and confirm the success of our mitigation efforts. This ensures that the new system will not produce any unseen difficulties for the organization. Also, we need to verify that the change is going to leave the system running smoothly and safely. Once all of these steps have been completed in their entirety, then the change can be closed.

After closure, we still have one final but critical step remaining. We must perform surveillance audits to confirm the changes were carried out consistently and the system is being used as intended. Comprehensive process audits are a great way to determine implementation results.   Randomly selecting a few processes related to the change and auditing them is a good way to achieve this. It is important to remember that audits should be performed at periodic intervals.  The frequency of audits depends on several factors, but should be scheduled in a manner that guarantees the sustainability of the change.

For more information on how Accupoint’s solutions can help streamline your MoC program, visit www.accupointsoftware.com or call us at (800) 563-6250.