ISO 9001: Understanding Interested Parties

What is an “interested party” and how are they relevant to the QMS?

In section 4.2 of the ISO 9001 standard, the organization seeking certification is asked to identify the needs of their interested parties. The first step would be to answer the question “what is an interested party?”. In simple terms, an interested party can be any entity that the organization affects or is affected by. 

This broad definition contains a wide spectrum of different entities, some of which are more common than others. Customers are undoubtedly the most important and obvious “interested party”, as they are the reason for an organization’s existence. The needs and expectations of customers should have the largest influence on the processes within an organization.

However, the ISO 9001 standard encourages an organization to think outside the box and to consider other interested parties beyond just their customers. Some examples of other common interested parties are suppliers and employees. Seeing as they have a direct effect on the QMS and processes, it is important to meet their expectations as well. For an employee, these expectations can include things such as clear instructions, training, or paychecks that are on time. A supplier would expect things such as accurate purchase orders or timely payment of invoices.

Some other interested parties that are missed during this evaluation may include regulatory bodies and the community surrounding the organization. A regulatory body will be interested in compliance. Clean air, water, and the responsible disposal of waste are all examples of this interest. As for the community, this entity includes homes and businesses in the shared area of the organization that expect the company to be responsible and work with its neighbors to be safe and environmentally conscious. 

However, there are several other examples of other interested parties, and not all of these examples can be applied to every organization. Ultimately, is it up to the organization to identify which parties are relevant to their QMS and what their expectations are. The final step is to apply what was learned to the rest of the management system and regularly monitor the compliance to the requirements of the interested parties.