Finally, clause 8.5.1 requires organizations to plan for and manage continual improvement of the quality system, including the use of quality policy and objectives as well as quality performance data. The standard requires that opportunities and priorities for quality system improvement be identified by means of a comparison of the actual quality performance to objectives defined in the quality policy and quality objectives. The organization determines the actual quality performance by analyzing customer satisfaction information, product and process conformance data, supplier performance data, internal audit results, and other data and information relevant to quality performance. Management reviews are used in part for assessing this information against the quality policy and objectives and determining where improvements are needed. Corrective and preventive actions and special management programs are the means for implementing improvements.
Continual improvement is just a way to use the system to facilitate improvement.
Transition Transition from the 1994 version to the 2000 revision is an important issue for registered organizations, accreditation bodies and registrars. TC 176 set up a special joint working group with the International Accreditation Forum to study the issues and publish transition planning guideline documents. However, registrars may begin assessing conformity to the draft international standard as part of surveillance or reassessment audits. In practice, the first statement means that registered organizations may start their transition as soon as the DIS is released and may be assessed to the new standard when ready, without having to wait until the end of the year. Practical consequences of the second statement will depend on how accreditation bodies and registrars define their specific transition rules.