Management Systems

Management Review is the closing of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and is essential for the continuous improvement of the company’s management system. The standard details that top management shall review the organisations management system to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness and alignment with the strategic direction of the organisation – i.e. is it delivering what the business wants?
Common questions that arise include – how often, what is discussed, who attends and records? ISO does not differentiate between small business and corporations and as such does not specify specific frequencies of meetings. ISO does prescribe specific inputs and outputs for the management review. The outputs must be documented.
The first step is to review the specific management review inputs that are detailed within the standard
– Are there inputs that you already discuss at other management meetings e.g. strategic planning, business planning, operations meetings?
– Which ones are of particular interest to the organisation’s strategic direction?
Note, the standard does not state that all inputs must be reviewed every time – the business can determine specific input review frequency such as monthly, quarterly or annual. Consider mapping out management review frequencies in a matrix for the purpose of planning. Little and often works well.
So, what records would be maintained? The standard states that the business will retain documented information as evidence of the results from the management review. This will often be in the format of meeting minutes including
– Attendance
– Status of actions from the previous meeting
– Information of the specific inputs chosen for discussion, this may be in the format of a report or detailed in the minutes.
– Outputs including opportunities for improvement, any need for change to the management system and resources needed.
Consider utilising the business corrective action process to manage actions raised.

If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with the Astute Business Certification team here.