Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties for ISO 9001

New ISOs, or those that have been recently updated, have a new structure known as the Annex SL high-level structure. This brings uniformity to ISOs, making them more straightforward to implement and align with other Standards.

Under this new structure, Clause 4.2 now requires you to understand the needs and expectations of your interested parties. But what are ISO 9001 interested parties? Knowing this can help you develop and deliver products and services which consistently meet expectations, as well as look for ways in which your organisation can improve.

To help you meet this requirement, here’s what you need to know.

Clause 4.2

This clause requires you to determine who your interested parties are and what their requirements are. It’s also important to consider how these requirements impact your quality management system (QMS). For example, if a key customer requires a specific quality certification, your QMS needs to include processes to achieve and maintain that certification.
Essentially, Clause 4.2 is about understanding who your stakeholders are, what they expect from you, and how you can meet those expectations in a way that aligns with your overall business goals and quality objectives. This might involve gathering information through surveys, meetings, or analysing existing data like customer feedback or industry regulations.

Identifying interested parties in ISO 9001

To begin, it’s helpful to first identify who your ISO 9001 interested parties are.

An interested party is quite simply a stakeholder who has an interest in your products or services, such as one of your customers, or someone who impacts your organisation’s ability to provide its products or services.

Interested parties ISO 9001 examples

• Your suppliers: Your suppliers provide the resources you need to operate. Meeting their needs, such as clear communication and prompt payment, ensures a reliable supply chain, which is essential for consistent quality.
• Governmental organisations: These bodies set legal and regulatory requirements. Meeting these requirements demonstrates your commitment to compliance and ethical operations, which can enhance your reputation and reduce risks.
• Industry bodies: These organisations often define best practices and standards for your sector. Aligning with their expectations can improve your products or services and increase customer satisfaction.
• Shareholders: If your company has shareholders, they are invested in your success. Meeting their needs, such as providing a return on investment, ensures continued financial support and growth.
• Owners: The owners of your organisation set the overall strategic direction. Understanding their goals and objectives allows you to align your quality management system with their vision for the business.
• Tradeunions: Where applicable, trade unions represent the collective interests of your employees. Engaging with them ensures fair working conditions and a positive employee relations environment, which can contribute to improved productivity and quality.
• The local community: The local community can be impacted by your operations. Considering their needs, such as minimising environmental impact and contributing to local wellbeing, builds positive relationships and demonstrates corporate social responsibility.
• Contractors: Similar to suppliers, contractors provide specific services. Meeting their needs ensures they can deliver quality work, which contributes to the overall quality of your products or services.
• Your employees: Your employees are crucial to your success. Meeting their needs, such as providing training and development opportunities, motivates them to perform their best and contribute to continuous improvement.

To ensure you capture all of your interested parties, carefully list everyone who could have an impact or whose requirements you must meet. Comb through your legal documents, corporate requirements and all contracts and agreements that your company has decided to comply with to guide your research.

Assessing all interested parties

It’s important to understand the level of influence each interested party has on your QMS. Some may have a direct impact, like customers whose feedback shapes product development, while others, such as regulatory bodies, exert influence through legislation. By assessing their influence, you can prioritise your efforts and make sure that the most important needs are met.

What is their influence?

Consider how much power each party has to affect your QMS. For example, a major customer might have a significant influence due to the volume of business they provide, while a local community group might have less direct influence but can still impact your reputation.

How can they impact your quality and customer satisfaction?

Think about how each interested party can affect your ability to consistently deliver quality products and services. Suppliers, for instance, play a vital role in providing quality materials, while employees directly influence the quality of work.

Finding your ISO 9001 interested parties’ needs and expectations?

Now you know who your interested parties are, you need to establish their needs and expectations.

Needs and expectations simply refer to what people want from your organisation. For instance, your customers will be buying goods or services from you – their needs and expectations could therefore revolve around pricing and reliability. Your workforce, on the other hand, will need access to key resources to produce your goods or services as well as job security and training.

Examples of needs and expectations of interested parties ISO 9001

• Profit and a return on investment for shareholders
• Orders with payments paid on time for suppliers
• Compliance with evidence of abiding by laws for regulatory bodies

How to gather your interested parties’ needs and expectations for ISO 9001

There are lots of ways you can collect information on your interested parties to understand what they need.

For example, you can look at:

• Client contracts
• Supplier contracts and agreements
• Customer feedback
• Returned products
• Warranty information
• Legislation and regulations
• Industry standards or codes of practice
• Internal audit records
• Minutes from meetings with interested parties
• Information from quality risk and opportunity registers
• Product or service requirements
• Shareholder agreements

Policies and controls

Once you’ve identified the needs and expectations of your interested parties, you need to establish documented information that addresses them. This could include policies, procedures, work instructions, or risk assessments. These documents should outline how you plan to meet those requirements and how you’ll monitor your performance.

Managing needs and expectations of your ISO 9001 interested parties

You now know the interested parties in ISO 9001 for your business and their needs. Next, you need to put a plan in place to meet those needs.

A plan for this needs to be reviewed by senior management before it can be approved and implemented into your quality management system. It’ll also need to be implemented into other protocols, such as your customer requirements, operational activities, process controls, hazard and aspect registers, risk and opportunity registers, and legal and compliance registers.

When making this plan, it’s a good idea to rank your ISO 9001 interested parties and their requirements on their importance, relevance, and so on. This will give you helpful guidance when developing your organisation’s quality processes.

Communicating with your stakeholders

It’s also a good idea to communicate with your stakeholders during this process. This is especially important when it comes to ensuring compliance with legal obligations. You may need to provide up-to-date information, so make sure you have a process in place to collect this.

Continuously review your ISO 9001 interested parties’ needs and expectations

The needs and expectations of your interested parties can change over time due to various factors such as new market trends, evolving legislation, or shifts in customer preferences. So, it’s crucial that you regularly review and update your understanding of their needs and make sure you stay on top of it. This will help your QMS to remain relevant and effective in meeting those needs.

Get ISO 9001:2015 support from Citation ISO Certification

Want to know more about ISO 9001’s requirements? To find out more, take a look at the requirements of ISO 9001. We’re on hand to support your business’ quality management system with ISO Consultancy, ISO 9001 training and more! If you’re not already ISO 9001 certified, then take a look at our ISO Certification services.

Why not learn more by reading about the benefits of ISO 9001?