What is a quality assurance system?
When the term 'quality assurance system' is used, it means a formal management system you can use to strengthen your organisation. It is intended to raise standards of work and to make sure everything is done consistently. A quality assurance system sets out expectations that a quality organisation should meet. Typically, these are the stages that organisations implementing a quality system aim to follow:
- Agree on standards. These concern the performance that staff, trustees and users expect from the organisation
- Carry out a self-assessment. This means that you compare how well you are doing against these expectations.
- Draw up an action plan. This will include what needs to be done, who will do it, how it will be done, and when
- Implement. Do the work
- Review. At this stage, you check what changes have been made and whether they have made the difference you were hoping to achieve.
PQASSO (developed by CES specifically for small and medium-sized organisations), Investors in People, the EFQM Excellence Model and the Quality Mark are all examples of 'off-the-shelf' quality assurance systems. Many organisations develop their own bespoke quality systems, either from scratch or by adapting one of the established off-the-shelf systems.
