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What's Clause 9 on Performance Evaluation?

The ISO 9001:2015 standard is a set of requirements that set the framework for an organization's quality management system. Clause 9 of the standard addresses performance evaluation. We'll give you a brief and easy-to-understand overview of this clause.

Clause 9 of ISO 9001:2015 is all about measuring and evaluating. Most of the requirements in this clause address various ways of generating data but there is also a section on analysis and one on management reviews where decisions are made based on the derived information.

Measurement and monitoring activities needed to assure conformity and achieve improvement must be defined, planned and implemented. Measuring and monitoring allows the company to manage by fact, not by guess.

The company must monitor information relating to customer perception as to whether the company has fulfilled customer requirements.

Further, this section focuses on the analysis of data arising from monitoring and measurement activities. There are several methods to analyze data, including statistical techniques, but the outcome of the analysis is designed to gain the necessary information to make fact-based decisions.

Internal auditing of the company must be done at planned intervals to understand if the ISO 9001 quality management system is working as planned. Audits are checks on the system, not on individuals.

Finally, management reviews will need to be carried out. The management reviews cover a wide range of topics related to the ISO 9001 quality management system, ranging from customer satisfaction to the performance of suppliers. The result of management reviews are decisions and actions regarding improvements, changes and resource needs.

More ISO 9001:2015 Requirements

There are another six clauses in ISO 9001:2015 that contain requirements for a quality management system. For an overview and an explanation of how they all fit together, please see our article on ISO 9001:2015 Requirements.