Virginia Tech Center of Excellence for Quality Management
General Information
The Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement (COTA) is pleased to offer a series of workshops addressing Quality Management System (QMS) matters and to provide the tools and skills necessary to develop and implement a QMS.
What is a QMS?
A Quality Management System is a set of management processes and procedures developed and implemented to allow an organization to plan, perform, control, measure, analyze and improve its activities, products and services effectively and efficiently. A QMS is useful for organizations of any size in both the public and private sectors.
The basic elements of a QMS follow the Plan-Do–Check-Act cycle:
- Plan
- Identify the organization’s scope, policy objectives
- Develop and establish processes to achieve those objectives taking into account associated risks and opportunities
- Identify resources (people, communication, tools and equipment, competence, awareness, support) to sustain the QMS
- Do:
- Implement processes and methods
- Establish controls (verification, validation) within processes to meet established objectives
- Check:
- Monitor and measure progress in achieving the established objectives
- Analyze data collected
- Act:
- Review progress of the QMS
- Implement actions to ensure continual improvement
What are the Benefits?
A QMS provides tools to help manage your organization’s management system effectively and efficiently and to improve stewardship across the entire organization, with your customers and your suppliers.
Performance benefits include:
- Enhanced public image with system users and the general public
- Increased awareness of internal and external issues that can affect your organization
- Increased focus on internal and external interested parties
- Increased transparency throughout supply chain from customer to organization to supplier
- Improved communication, cooperation, awareness, competence and training through leadership support and outreach
- Reinforcement of management system processes currently in place
- Proactive management of QMS issues
- Increased operational efficiencies
