How to be ISO 9001 certified using Jira & Confluence
Starting an agile, young and attractive business does not have to be in conflict with certified quality management work. We had the goal from the beginning to work in accordance with standards and also to show our customers that quality is not just a word for us. The complexity, velocity and variety of today’s world does not provide room for static lists, document and manual version controls anymore.
From the agile software development, we were very familiar with agile working methods and documentation in Confluence and tried to map the QM structure with these tools. From time to time we try to develop all management, core and support processes with the help of these tools.
ISO 9001
ISO 9001 sets out the criteria for a quality management system. It can be used by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity. In fact, there are over one million companies and organizations in over 170 countries certified to ISO 9001. For us it was a must right from the beginning of our company, as we were often confronted with the ISO as a prerequisite in our target market. There are basically different types of documents within the certification. Process descriptions, working documents, templates and other applicable documents. The aim is to document quality efforts and prove that the company acts in the spirit of quality management. The knowledge should be made available to all employees.
Old School
At the beginning we dealt with the possibilities for documentation regarding the certification. It quickly became clear that the old proven office tools dominate the market, the forums and also the solutions from consultants. So we compulsively tried to set up our ideas and processes in these documents but we quickly realized that this could not be the path for us.
Versioning? Change histories? Filing structures? All these basic requirements for the documentation within the ISO documents are associated with a lot of manual effort. Storing the documents in OneDrive offers a good solution here. However, this applies in particular to static documents such as process descriptions. If the documents are worked on continuously and the responsibilities as well as the employees working actively with them are changing, the limits are quickly reached here.
Our Idea
Since we are very familiar with agile methods from software development, it was of course quickly apparent, especially with the work documents, that Jira should be the way for us for the “working documents”. Confluence is ideal for static documents. Confluence is a collaborative web-based corporate wiki and documentation tool, while Jira is primarily a project management and issue tracking software.
Confluence implementation
In general we just added a new QMS page to our existing company-Confluence. then we created the following substructure:
Confluence
|...|
| |__QMS
| |__Process descriptions
| |__Working documents
| |__Applicable documents
| |__Management Reviews
| |__Internal Audits
| |__External Audits
...To meet the criteria of the ISO 9001 to receive a document directory we just added “page trees” to generate a directory that is valid at all times. So we have a directory on every main page. On the QMS root page all applicable QMS documents as well as templates and work documents are linked with the help of several page trees. In general, all the rules and areas that apply to the QMS are described in the QM-manual within the process descriptions.
The process descriptions are basically just text documents, So these are simply written down on a Confluence page. Initially, a content directory is created automatically. Versioning is done by Confluence on default. If images are necessary, they are included, the original image is saved in the “Graphics” section and referenced in the document.
The working documents page is just referencing all templates within the QMS with help of filtered page trees. The otherwise classic documents in this area are either mapped in Jira or they are applied templates, those are already in the target folder.
In the applicable document section the structure is always identical. The page is divided into two areas. With the help of a Confluence macro, the document in the second section is shown in full in a preview in the area above. For example, our quality policy is written in a PowerPoint document. This can only be adapted by the QMB through the editing rights. Through the macro it is displayed at the top and can be viewed by all employees.
All events to be held within the QMS, such as internal/external audits or management reviews, also have their own section. These serve as an overview, the creation of the agenda, the processing and also the protocol creation take place within Jira.
In all sections the basic requirements for the ISO norm are fulfilled. Like the Author, last changed date and versioning. Additional you can handle the permissions for the page who can edit (QMB) and who can access (employees) with an ease.
Jira implementation
Jira is a great example how static lists can be migrated to dynamic dashboards at low cost — it is worth mentioning that all the steps explained are covered by the standard Jira functionality. Creating dynamic dashboards helps you stay on top of things by refreshing information real-time. We have a number of dashboards to manage sub-areas of the QMS such as audits, management reviews, the continuous improvement process (cip) and other processes.
The continuous improvement process is shown as an example in an abstract way in the following:
Multiple process within our organization are supported through Jira Tasks like the On-Boarding process. The process is also in the scope of the QMS for example, the induction checklist is an automatically created set of tickets for the newbie and his mentor. The induction is tracked and the training is comprehensive, in addition, the new one gets “hands-on” training in working with Jira.
Conclusion/Benefits
A lot of additional effort is required for the initial creation, since the standard way of displaying everything in Office documents is certainly easier but not the maintenance of the documents. In particular, managing processing with the help of office documents is no longer up-to-date. Jira offers the perfect support to meet the norm.
Last but not least, using a dynamic quality management system allows for a new management style. Quality management is a central component of our management board meetings, and preparation takes a split-second thanks to the dynamic dashboards. And as the world is complex, dynamic and changeable, we continuously work on improving and amending our Quality management in an agile way — which is just as easy as setting up the management in JIRA was in the first place.
