Templates

Because we have received so many inquiries about the pros and cons of using templates for ISO quality manuals and forms, we decided to give this topic its own section. 

Template Reviews: Please see our reviews of numerous ISO 9000 templates in our Reviews section.

Benefits of Templates for Quality Manuals and Forms

Using templates for ISO 9000 quality manuals and forms can provide the following benefits:

• Completeness

The ISO 9000 standard is written in a very generic way so that it can be applied to any company of any industry. The disadvantage is that it is much less of a specific guidance for your particular circumstances, and it is often very difficult to find out what is actually required. Good quality manual templates could help ensure that all requirements are addressed.

• Jumpstart

Writing quality manuals, quality procedures and useful forms is at the beginning of any ISO 9000 implementation. It is usually a big hurdle to take, especially due to the "I don't even know where to start" factor. Using quality manual templates gets you over this hurdle, and hence you can get a huge jumpstart on your ISO 9001 implementation. Similarly, forms templates will help jumpstart your ISO 9001 implementation.

• Savings

By using templates for ISO 9000 quality manuals and forms, you can implement an ISO 9000 quality management system (QMT) in very short time and without the use of expensive ISO consultants. You spend much less time on researching the ISO 9001:2008 standard and its requirements, much less time on writing, and much less time on correcting your mistakes. Templates for ISO quality manuals and forms are typically a huge money and time saver.

• Quick Certification

The reduced time to implement ISO 9001 can allow you achieve ISO 9001 certification very quickly. Once certified, you will be able to reap the marketing rewards that come with certification. Together with the improvements to your company, this could lead to significant savings and increased business.

• Quality

Good ISO templates lead to good ISO 9001 quality management systems. Using good templates to model your new ISO 9001 system on allows you to start with an excellent ISO 9001 system from the beginning; or you can improve an existing ISO 9001 system when using good templates as guide for improvement.

• Simplicity and User-Friendliness

The more user-friendly your ISO 9001 system, the better! If you can use templates to set up a simple, user-friendly ISO 9001 quality management system, you are already half the way to a system that makes business sense.

• Benefit from Others' Mistakes

If you use proven, successful templates, you benefit from others' mistakes. There are usually many mistakes made until a real good ISO 9000 system evolves. With quality materials that are proven successful you don’t have to make the same mistakes that others have already made.

• Guidance through Forms

Good forms have two purposes: (1) to collect and record information, and (2) to guide the user through the process of collecting the information. Truly good forms not only collect all the necessary information, they also do it in a very efficient manner. Often, forms can replace work instructions by guiding the user through an entire process that could extend beyond the mere collection of data.

• Better Compliance through Forms

Good business forms can make it easy for employees to meet the ISO 9001 requirements. Instead of having to look at work instructions, forms can in a subtle way guide employees and ensure that they follow ISO 9001 requirements.

It is interesting to note that all benefits translate into real, monetary benefits.

Disadvantages of Templates for Quality Manuals and Forms

The disadvantages of using templates can be summarized in two categories:

• Bad Templates

There is a significant danger in using bad templates. Not only could you lose many of the above listed benefits, the result of bad templates could even be the opposite of those benefits.  We recommend that you carefully chose your templates. Please see our Reviews section for reviews of numerous ISO 9000 templates on the market.

• Bad Usage

  No matter how good the templates, they will always require customization. Template that are blindly adopted as one's own quality manual or forms could be a liability as they may not fit the company. In addition, the customization process of templates provides valuable benefits as it allows the user to focus on improving their own company's processes. Skipping the focus on customization is a missed opportunity for improvement.

The Bottom Line

In order for a company to reap benefits from the use of templates, the company has to carefully select its ISO templates; please see our Reviews section for expert reviews of ISO 9000 templates; in addition, we recommend that you visit a discussion forum (see our Reviews section).

Secondly, we urge you to not blindly adopt templates but to invest time and efforts in the customization phase. Consider good quality manual templates as something that worked well for other companies. There may be many good ideas in those templates which could lead to process improvements at your company.  But there may also be processes described that just don't make sense for your company.  In this case, come up with your own process that works for you. Remember, there are countless ways to meet the ISO 9000 requirements.