PAS 99 Integrating Common Management Systems

Management systems are designed to add value to the organization by saving resources, time, and money. PAS 99, developed according to the ISO standards for writing management system standards, is a single framework developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) which assists in proficient management of all ISO certified systems. PAS 99 was developed in response to the need for a reference document for the implementation of a real and effective integrated management system. Prior to the publication of PAS 99, there was confusion in the market about what should be considered an integrated management system as organizations were only able to merge the reference documentation (manuals, procedures, etc). This approach was far from a real integrated management system and insufficient for many organizations.

PAS 99:2006 was created to enable organizations to integrate common management system requirements into one framework. PAS 99:2012 is based upon the structure of ISO Guide 83, and now sets a common structure to be followed by all management system standards moving forward.

PAS 99 is designed to be used by organizations that have a management system standard or are implementing various management system standards. It applies to organizations of all sizes and industries.

To integrate different management systems, some elements of the standards were restructured to enable easier integration of various management systems. The high-level structure as adopted by many of the new standards has the following elements:

1.  Scope
2. Normative Reference
3. Terms and Definitions
4. Context of the Organization
5. Leadership
6. Planning
7. Support
8. Operation
9. Performance Evaluation
10. Improvement

Benefits of PAS 99 Integrated Management Systems:

PAS 99 has gained success because it provides a great number of benefits to users.

Some of the benefits of implementing the PAS 99 system include, but are not limited to:

1. Meet differently implemented standard requirements of your business with a single set of policies and procedures. This helps govern the standards in a more coherent and less cumbersome manner, which results in a more streamlined and smooth approach to meeting the multiple different requirements.
2. A single audit can cover all the various management systems in place, providing a way to achieve the same end goal but with far fewer resources involved.
3. Improve the overall efficiency of your business by systematically removing redundancy and duplicate tasks. The duplicate tasks with different targets are now replaced by singular tasks that cover all the different targets of the individual management systems.
4. Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined with roles now being responsible for all the areas that have an overlap causing the merger of multiple roles into one. This new role will now be responsible for all the common objectives that were previously being looked after by multiple different roles.
5. Continuously improve multiple management systems by providing an integrated overview of the systems which allows growth to be driven without handling and executing improvements on multiple disparate systems.

Implementation and certification of PAS 99 Integrated Management Systems:

PAS 99 can be tailored for specific business needs and can be built to suit any organization that utilizes multiple certified systems. The developers of your organization’s specific PAS 99 will help your management design and implement a tailored PAS 99 integrated management system. Then, your staff must be trained to ensure effective implementation of PAS 99. The type of training your staff receives can vary and is based on your organization’s specific needs.

In the process of getting PAS 99 certified you can expect the following:

1. Gap analysis

It is during a Gap Analysis that discrepancies between PAS 99 requirements and the organization’s existing integrated management system are assessed before any further formal assessment.

2. Formal Assessment

It is during a Formal Assessment that, firstly, your organization is assessed for preparedness for the assessment of PAS 99 controls and procedures. If there is any gap found, it will be communicated to you for rectification. Then, if the primary requirements are fulfilled, an assessment of the actual implementation of controls and procedures is carried out.

3. Certification and beyond

After the Formal Assessment, a PAS 99 certificate is issued having validity for three years and during this time the client manager of PAS 99’s developers would stay in touch with the user’s organization and would help in any improvements.

Compliance with this specification does not in itself ensure conformity with any other management system standards or specifications. The requirements of each management system standard will still need to be addressed to achieve certification. Organizations that wish to certify compliance with PAS 99, can do so to demonstrate that an effective integrated management system is in place.

ISO Terms Explained

To the novice quality manager, ISO jargon can be extremely overwhelming. What is an NCR? What do you mean by OFI? Are we certified or accredited? But before you go and pull out your hair, let’s take a moment to go over some of the most frequently used terms and their definitions with regards to ISO and Management System Certification.