Do the main certifying bodies understand process-based systems?
In some cases, not as well as you would expect! Assessors need to take a different view of management systems and of auditing from the approach which many of them applied for ISO9000:1994. And many of them did not come from a background which lends itself to giving advice on business and process improvement. The days of the “finding fault” and checklist approach to assessment are in the past. And – more worryingly – not all these organisations have demonstrated by their examples of “best practice” that they have succeeded in putting the emphasis on “best” rather than “practice” in process mapping and management systems development!
