Structured documentation in the management system — how does that work?

The challenge: structure the management system well

Quality management representatives face various challenges:

1. clarity: It is an art to organize management system documentation and present the flood of information clearly so that it is useful for employees' everyday work.
2. adaptability: The management system must be flexible enough to react to changes in the organization and its processes.
3. identification: It is important that all employees understand the structure and understand it.
4. Interdependencies: It should be clear how various elements of the organization, such as processes, interact in the provision of services.
5. comprehensiveness and Selectivity: The structure should reflect the management system completely and precisely — every content should therefore have exactly one home.

A solution: the Aachen quality management model

The Aachen quality management model offers an effective solution to these challenges. It helps to structure management system documentation in a process-oriented manner. The model distinguishes between three categories of processes:

1. core processes or value chains: They create the value that the external customer is willing to pay for (“quality forward chain”). The feedback processes (“quality backward chain”) run in the opposite direction to forward-looking value creation. These support the organization in continuously improving core processes.
2. Supporting processes: They are required to carry out the core processes, but they themselves do not add value. That is why they are often referred to as value-saving processes.
3. Management processes: They help to align and manage core and support processes as well as the employees involved.

This structure represents the company's business model in a process landscape and focuses on the customer and quality delivery in a targeted manner. The interrelationships and interactions of the processes are clearly visible.

With appropriate IT support, the individual areas of the process landscape in the management system can link to the underlying processes. In this way, the model promotes transparency and offers intuitive navigation through the process landscape.

That is why other models are not suitable

Other models, which are often considered to structure a management system, are rather unsuitable. Because...

• ... that EFQM model is intended for evaluating management systems, not for structuring them. It simply provides suggestions for designing a good management system.
• ... that St. Gallen management model illustrates the interdependencies of a company — especially in interaction with its environment and the market. It is not intended for structuring a management system.
• ... that Process Classification Framework (PCF) is an effective tool for process classification and optimization, but it focuses on evaluating process performance.
• ... that SCOR model is well suited for modelling and optimising material flows. Since there is hardly any connection between a smooth flow of materials and the quality of a product, it is not ideal for structuring the management system.

The Aachen quality management model, on the other hand, is geared precisely to our goal: to structure management systems effectively.

And now to practice: “Similar articles” continues with 7 tips for creating a process map based on the Aachen quality management model.

‍

‍