A graded approach to ISO 9000 implementation for records managers

ISO 9000 is a series of quality system standards developed by Technical Committee 176 of the International Standards Organization. The series includes three standards, ISO 9001 `Quality systems--Model for quality assurance in design/development, production, installation and serving,` ISO 9002 `Quality systems--Model for quality assurance in production and installation,` ISO 9003 `Quality systems--Model for quality assurance in final inspection and test,` and two guidelines, ISO 9000 `Quality management and quality assurance standards` and ISO 9004 `Quality management and quality system elements--Guidelines.` In companies with quality programs already in place, the structure of the ISO series lends itself to augmenting those policies, procedures, and instructions where problems exist or where the risks of failure are greater. The objectives of this paper are to provide a basic familiarity to ISO 9000 and quality assurance concepts; provide a higher level of familiarity to the records management and document control portions of the ISO 9000 series; and to discuss a graded approach to meeting the intent of ISO 9000.