A management system for your business provides structure, accountability and direction for the employees who work for it. It’s your company’s framework for the strategic goals that you set, as well as the tools that your team utilizes to deliver the results required to meet the desired level of quality, or to meet the legal requirements for occupational safety or to increase profits through more efficient processes.
Management systems are based on the assumption that when all processes are documented and responsibilities are clearly defined, and success indicators are clearly defined, the tasks can theoretically be taken care of by themselves. This isn’t always the case in practice but it’s the aim that companies seek when they introduce a management system.
This logic applies to virtually every management system, whether they are for sustainability, quality energy, information security or other. All of them are basically identical in their core tasks: Plan actions, implement, review metrics and continuously improve. This is why you’ll find a variety of similar tools on the market.
Since management systems are a part of all areas of the company and are typically an inter-functional focus it is a waste of time to run multiple systems in parallel. It’s not a smart option to create a concept management system over the quality management system you already have. This is only going to add unnecessary burdens on your employees, and it is not practical from an ISO standpoint. It is becoming increasingly important to make use of software that integrates different systems, both existing and new, into one management system.