Quality Management System

A quality management system (QMS) shows how an organisation operates. The QMS includes the organisation's policies and procedures, and supporting attachments, such as forms, templates, flowcharts and training manuals.

The policies and procedures should be complete, applied, understandable and consistent with actual practice.

A well-developed QMS describes how policies and procedures are:

• developed
• documented
• approved
• implemented
• regularly reviewed through self-review.

Purpose

The QMS should be used daily as a management tool, so it needs to accurately reflect the organisational structure, culture, and the way education and training is delivered. At audit, the organisation should be able to demonstrate that the systems contribute to better learning outcomes for students.

QMS design

The organisation may choose how it designs the QMS. It should be appropriate to the size, nature, complexity, and where relevant, to the tikanga and kawa of the organisation. It should cover all relevant aspects of any required standards and legislation.

It is possible to have a QMS that meets all requirements of a standard but is not put into practice. On the other hand, an organisation may have very good systems that are practised but not documented. In either case, the QMS becomes unreliable. As a result, it will not be effective, and practices will be inconsistent.

The structure of a QMS

The QMS should be relatively simple in structure, but not so simple that it fails to explain how to carry out important procedures. It should be coherent, logical and well structured. It should reflect the organisation's structure and purpose, to provide assurance that it will be workable in practice.

Coherency

The test of a coherent QMS is where someone unfamiliar with the organisation can find the policy on a particular matter and follow the step-by-step tasks to carry it out. They should also be able to find relevant forms or templates, file documents, and carry out related administrative tasks.

The policies, procedures and documents should be referenced using a document ID system. They should also be version controlled to ensure currency of information.

Coverage

The QMS should cover all aspects of the organisation's operations. It should not be limited to how the organisation plans to meet relevant standards and legislative requirements. A simple way to check coverage is to map your processes from end to end, then ask the question: "Are there policies and procedures that explain each step of this process?" It is advisable to also cross-reference the QMS to any relevant standards and legislation, to ensure full coverage.

Review

The QMS must be regularly reviewed to ensure that it remains current. It is important that there is a plan for review, that it is done regularly, and that the QMS is also updated outside of formal review cycles. See example below.

A smaller organisation might have one copy of the QMS in circulation, which is amended manually and updated every six months. A larger organisation may decide to review its full QMS over a number of years. Some parts may be reviewed more frequently and in more depth. New procedures may have a shorter review cycle initially to ensure any teething problems can be rectified.

Developing a QMS

A starting point for developing a new QMS could be to encompass the requirements of the policies and guidelines for the Private Training Establishments (PTES) (PDF, 112KB). Over time, as it is reviewed and the organisation matures, the design may change.

The QMS may be spread across a number of related documents. If the system comprises several documents, they should cross-reference each other, with robust document control systems in place.

For example, there may be a charter document, a health and safety manual, a tutor manual, administration manual, etc. Each document may contain various policies and procedures that cover different aspects of the organisation.

Writing policies and procedures

A policy states a position or viewpoint on a subject. A procedure explains how the policy is to be implemented, see example below.

Student entry policy

Students must be a minimum of 18 years of age, have at least three years secondary schooling.

Student entry procedure

1. Ask the student to fill out the enrolment form, including a written response to the question: "Why do I want to do this course?"
2. Sight the original of one of the following forms of identification: passport, driver's licence, birth certificate.
3. Photocopy the original of the document that verifies that the student is at least 18 years of age. File the copy in the student enrolment file.
4. Sight evidence that the student has completed at least three years secondary schooling. If the student does not have evidence, allow two weeks for the documents to be submitted.
5. If the evidence is not submitted, close the application and notify the student by letter that they have been unsuccessful. The letter must state the reason.
6. Notify all applicants by letter of the outcome of the application.

Level of procedural detail

The level of procedural detail depends on the nature of the task and the degree of flexibility that is acceptable. The organisation may encourage a variety of approaches, as long as the outcome is achieved. For example, team leaders may be required to develop an annual management plan with measurable objectives. How the plan is developed or what methodology is used is up to them - it is not prescribed in the QMS.

Accessibility and usability

The QMS is the document that anyone should be able to reference for information on procedures and it must be usable and accessible either electronically or physically. Staff should have a way to provide feedback if they find an error or have suggestions to improve a process.

Further information

If you have any questions or require further information, contact the Service Delivery team.