Sample glossary
continual improvement
permanent process allowing the improvement of the global performance of the organization (see also ISO 9000, 3.2.13 and ISO 14 001, 3.2)
COQ
costs of obtaining quality
customer
anyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5)
Do not confuse customer, supplier and subcontractor:
- a customer receives a product
- a supplier provides a product
- a subcontractor provides a service or a product on which a specific work is done
customer satisfaction
top priority objective of every quality management system (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.4)
EMS
environmental management system
FMEA
failure mode and effects analysis
IMS
integrated management system
ISO
international organization for standardization
MCT
multiple choice test
OH&S
occupational health and safety
OHSMS
occupational health and safety management system
organization
a structure that satisfies a need (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.1)
Do not confuse organization and enterprise, society, company:
- organization is the term used in the standard ISO 9001 as the entity between the supplier and the customer
- enterprise, society, company are examples of organizations
Do not confuse organizational chart and process map:
- the organizational chart is the graphic display of departments and their links
- the process map is the graphic display of processes and their interaction
PDCA
plan, do, check, act
process
activities which transform inputs into outputs (see also ISO 9000, 3.4.1)
Do not confuse procedure, process, product, activity and task:
- a procedure is the description how we should conform to the rules
- a process is how we satisfy the customer using people to achieve the objectives
- a product is the result of a process
- an activity is a set of tasks
- a task is a sequence of simple operations
process approach
management by the processes to better satisfy customers, improve the effectiveness of all processes and increase global efficiency (see also ISO 9004, Annexe B.5)
product
any outcome of a process or activity (see also ISO 9000, 3.4.2)
QMS
quality management system
QSE
quality, safety, environment
quality management system
set of processes allowing the achievement of the quality objectives (see also ISO 9000, 3.2.3)
requirement
explicit or implicit need or expectation (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.2)
system
set of interacting processes (see also ISO 9000, 3.2.1)