Certification Terms Glossary & Services

In the rapidly evolving landscape of data quality and management, understanding key terms and concepts is essential. This glossary serves as a comprehensive resource to demystify the terminology and jargon that surround everything certifications. Whether you are a seasoned data professional, a newcomer to the field, or anyone in between, this glossary is designed to provide clarity and insight into the world of DQS and certifications.

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What does a quality management representative do?

In everyday corporate life, those responsible for a quality management system are often referred to as quality management representatives. In the official texts of the quality management standard ISO 9001, however, only a "representative of the top management" is mentioned, not a quality management representative. And this only up to and including the ISO 9001:2008 version.

The current standard from 2015 assigns responsibility for the quality management system to top management more clearly and comprehensively than before. It is therefore only logical that ISO 9001:2015 no longer requires a representative of top management. Instead, the top management is now responsible for the management system.

What does compliance mean?

The English word compliance has Latin roots. In the context of business law, it means something like "adherence to rules" or "conformity to rules".

In relation to management system standards, compliance plays a central role. In this context, compliance can also be seen as the action of a company or organization to achieve conformity with a specification or a commitment entered into voluntarily, for example in relation to standards, laws or agreements. Non-conformity with such commitments is sometimes also referred to as "non-compliance" (a term from ISO 19011).

When the word compliance is used in other languages, however, care must be taken. For example, the internationally recognized ISO 9000 standard for principles and terms in quality management clarifies that the French word "compliance" cannot be used as a synonym for "conformity" (meeting a requirement).

What does Delta Audit mean?

Delta audits are performed with the intention of auditing management systems for the difference between the status quo and the (new) standard requirements.

The purpose is to identify possible need for action before, for example, a transition audit to a new standard or a certification audit is performed. Delta audits can be performed at any time and independently of regularly scheduled audits.

The delta audit is named after the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet "Delta" (∆). A term often used synonymously is gap analysis.

What does ISO and ISO standard mean?

The three letters ISO stand for the International Organization for Standardization, based in Geneva.

What is a High Level Structure?

The High Level Structure (HLS) was introduced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to give management system standards a uniform structure and similar core content. The aim behind this is to improve the alignment of different ISO standards by means of a cross-standard structure.

The HLS also serves as a guideline for the development of future standards, so that in the long term all ISO standards for management systems will contain the same overarching structure, common core requirements and common terms and definitions.

What is a management manual?

Once upon a time, the management manual was the central medium for the comprehensive documentation of a (quality) management system. However, with time and the revisions of the well-known management system standards such as ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment) or ISO 27001 (information security), the term has fallen out of use. The reason: the revised standards no longer require a (QM) manual.

Of course, this does not mean that such a manual should no longer be kept (one also says "deposited") or even allowed - it just means that companies are now freer to decide in which way and with which media they want to keep the documented information of their management system and to record other information they consider necessary or worth knowing.

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