CERCO Working Group on Quality

This paper, produced by the Cerco "Working group on Quality", provides relevant information on questions about implementing a Quality Management System (QMS). Starting point for this document are the answers received by 23 members of the CERCO Working Group on a questionnaire entitled "Good reasons for implementing a Quality Management System in European National Mapping Agencies". This questionnaire has been sent to all Cerco members in December 1998. The original answers are added as an Annex C, a comparative table between benefits and risks when implementing a quality management system is added as Annex B.

Later on, these answers have been discussed in the Working Group and the global result of answers and discussion are in this paper. Further, this document gives general information on the QMS concept and its applicability in a mapping environment. Main benefits and advantages are compared, with the focus on the issues "Management", "Workers", "Quality", "Users/Customers" and "Promotion". On the other hand, risks and disadvantages in implementing a QMS are mentioned, with special attention for "Increase in production costs", "Missatisfaction" and "More rules without results". Consequently, a potential scenario for the implementation of a QMS inside European National Mapping Agencies (ENMAs) is described.

Finally, some conclusions are gathered, which are pointing towards a positive advise for an NMA about its question "Must/can I implement a QMS", with "ISO 9000" as a possible best reference. But there is also a need for exchanging experiences between ENMAs in this field.

The purpose of this document is to give to the National Mapping Agencies the relevant information to take an appropriate decision on what kind of QMS is required, why and when a QMS is required to be implemented, and how a QMS must be implemented.

CERCO (Comité Européen des Responsables de la Cartographie Officielle) gathers participants from National Mapping Agencies. It has created several working groups for exchanging information and for discussing geographical information issues. During its Plenary Assembly in Cyprus (22/23 September 1997), CERCO decided the creation of the Working Group on Quality (WGQ) to study problems and share experiences among National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) about quality aspects of Geographic Information. The WGQ is working on three main issues: "Quality management and ISO 9000", "Data quality issues" and "Standards".

The objectives of the "Quality management and ISO 9000" issue are :

1. To analyse the opportunity of implementing Quality Management Systems (QMS) in NMAs,
2. To develop arguments for justifying the use of QMS and
3. To give arguments for certification.

Special attention is devoted to the Family of standards EN-ISO 9000, as the more widely used QMS normative reference, in particular to the applicability of ISO 9000 standards to Geographic Information.

A Quality Management System (QMS) can be seen as a complex system consisting of all the parts and components of an organisation dealing with the quality of processes and products. QMS can be defined as the managing structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and management resources to implement the principles and action lines needed to achieve the quality objectives of an organisation.

During its fourth meeting held in Paris from 25 till 28 May 1998, the CERCO WG on Quality decided, focusing on "Quality Management and ISO 9000", to work on a document entitled " Good reasons for implementing a QMS". The objectives of this discussion are:

• to promote QMS implementation within the NMA's,
• to share common knowledge about the reasons,
• to justify the implementation of a QMS and
• to identify interesting subjects and experiences to be discussed in the field of QMS.

The quality of a product or service is defined (ISO 8402) as "the totality of its features and characteristics that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs". Stated needs are the needs described explicitly in the product or service specifications while implied needs are those needs not explicitly specified because they are implied by the common understanding of a product or service (e.g. a book must be readable, an engine must work).

Quality is not an intrinsic characteristic, but it is related to a global perception of user’s satisfaction. Quality is a result which is observed when using the product. Thus, it is clear that assessing and checking the quality of a product or service only at the final stage of the production line is not enough and also that first approach should be completed by the quality of the production processes, which concerns the whole organisation by the end. Therefore, there are two main approaches to manage the quality of a product or service:

Referring to process quality, the concept of Total Quality (TQ), closely related to the terms Total Quality Control (TQC) and Company-Wide Quality Control (CWQC), was introduced during the 80s.

TQ can be defined as the implementation in a organisation of a policy aiming the permanent mobilisation of all the staff in order to improve:

1. The quality of its products and services,
2. The effectiveness of its functioning,
3. The appropriateness and consistency of its objectives, and
4. The competitiveness of the organisation,

taking into account the evolution of the environment.

The family of standards ISO 9000 was first published in 1987 and was reviewed in 1994. The aim was to provide a normative framework and methodology to define a QMS in a consistent way, paying special attention to users feedback throughout the consideration of user’s satisfaction as a core concept. There are several standards with different scopes: design, production, inspection and delivery (ISO 9001); just production, inspection and delivery (ISO 9002); and final inspection and test procedures (ISO 9003) (see Annex A for references). These three models are to be used in contractual situations, whereas the ISO 9004, which is the widest quality management standard, concerns a volunteer approach from an organisation. All these standards provide quality requirements, explaining what a QMS must contain, without setting how to achieve them. The results of a QMS consist of a lot of quality proves produced all along the production steps, and giving trust to customers, before they use the product.

ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003 Quality System Standards will be undergoing a major change in the year 2000. At the highest level, the Standards will now focus strongly on customer satisfaction, process management, and continual improvement. Another big change is the elimination of ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 from the Standard set. In 2000, there will only be the ISO 9001.

The new Standard set consists of:

• ISO 9000:2000 - Quality Management Systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary
• ISO 9001:2000 - Quality Management Systems - Requirements
• ISO 9004:2000 - Quality Management Systems - Guidance for performance improvement

The 1987 and 1994 revisions of the Standard contained 20 separate elements with very little connection between them. The new Standard will be converted from 20 discrete elements to a clause structure consistent with other international Standards like ISO 14001. The four main clauses in the new Standard are Management Responsibility, Resource Management, Process Management and Measurement, Analysis and Improvement.

The new Standard requires that companies have procedures that show the evidence of reviewing customer requirements, quality objectives set at the process level, monitoring processes to determine if the objectives are being met, continually improving processes and assessing customer satisfaction.

The family of standards ISO 9000 is applied over most of the world in a wide variety of activities. For instance, the number of delivered certificates has grown from 125 000 in 1995 to 225 00 at the end of 1997 (in 129 countries). ISO 9000 has become the most used reference for QMS. Lately it has been implemented in some areas related with Geographic Information, as topographic instruments, hardware and software production and delivery.

How to implement the ISO 9000 philosophy to the production of Geographic Information is partly common to other implementations, partly specific for NMAs. ISO 9000 was primarily intended to goods manufacturing and the question is its applicability to Geographic Information.

However, there is a significant number of implementations of QMS in NMAs, some of them based on ISO 9000, resulting in an amount of experience and knowledge. A questionnaire about those experiences has been circulated among NMAs and analysed by CERCO WGQ.

The ISO 9000 initial subject has been extended to QMS in order that every Mapping Agency could answer even if it has implemented another QMS. The questionnaire structure is based on four main sections as presented in figure 1.

Figure 1. Structure of the questionnaire about Quality Management System

The questionnaire has been sent in December 1998 to 32 Mapping Agencies, to the OEEPE, EUROGI and MEGRIN. 23 NMA’s answered this questionnaire and it shows a high degree of interest in that new quality management. 50 % of the NMAs that answered have already implemented a QMS, whereas all the others have intention of doing it in the future. This means that Geographic Information is concerned by improving quality processes and organisation as it is mentioned in other industrial fields.

In this chapter only some general results will be highlighted, as a direct extraction of the answers given. In the chapter 4 and 5 the "good reasons" respectively "the risks and disadvantages" for implementing a QMS will be described, both as a compilation of the questionnaire, improved with the results of the discussions within the Working Group.

General results:

• 80 % of the NMAs having a QMS, adopted the ISO 9000 standards as their reference ;
• Half of them selected the ISO 9001 and their QMS covers their whole organisation.
• ISO 9001 seems to be very attractive because of its chapter about design and specification.
• NMAs with no QMS yet declared their intention of adopting ISO 9000 standards at 30 %;
• The extent and the scope mentioned by these NMA’s concern different departments: mapmaking, metrology, cadastre, digital geographic information production, data capture and storage. The picture of a QMS is seen at a detailed level and expected benefits are not clearly set up on the global organisation.
• NMAs having already implemented a QMS cope with the fact that a QMS covers the whole of the organisation, even if it is cut and structured into small independent QMS. The choice of the ISO reference is justified by the fact that it is an international existing model, used in industry, answering to customers’ demand, with external requirements, with available support and training.
• Since 1974, the trend of NMAs for implementing a QMS is increasing exponential and has doubled since 1995, following the trend concerning industrial ISO 9000 certification. About 70 % of the NMAs that answered the questionnaire have intention of looking for certification, and three of them have already obtained it. Certification is explained as a way for improving reliability, as an official acknowledgement, and also as a way for having a better subcontracting policy and for maintaining the level of quality inside the organisation.

These advantages and benefits given by NMAs already working with a QMS may be arranged into four classes: they expect to get a better management, to satisfy users’ demands, to improve quality of products and processes, and then to answer to external requirements

NMAs who don’t have yet a QMS, focused on customers’ demand (reliability, trust and credibility), interfaces and co-operation with subcontractors and other organisations, promotion of their public image, improvement of products and processes, but they are also interested in having compatibility with other NMAs, showing by that way the need of a common understanding.

Disadvantages and risks as fears on the long term consist of the increase of production costs, bureaucracy with more papers without actual results, and then less workers’ satisfaction. These elements come from the risk of building a very complex system, with too many documents difficult to update together, with strong procedures slowing down and boring the production staff. The difficulties to convince top management has been mentioned, showing the contrast between effort and time required for implementing a QMS and on the other hand benefits wanted by top staff on a short period.

All NMAs explained their interest for exchanging their experience in QMS. The favourite subjects are the application of ISO 9000 to GI, the procedures and process analysis and also the quality management organisation and documentation. Then three other groups of subjects have been mentioned: education and training and subcontractors, users satisfaction and non-quality costs, and at the end quality management terminology. The interest for the applicability of ISO 9000 standards is justified because there is a crucial importance in finding new ways for improving production processes and quality of products. The subjects about processes, procedures, documentation and organisation are introduced then because the implementation of a QMS is a problem of describing responsibilities, production processes, and thus documentation and organisation between the whole staff.

The most important advantages and benefits mentioned by all respondents are summarised in the following (for a detailed list of the issues see Annex C, questions 2.8 and 3.8).

1. Better management and a more effective organisation

The idea of a "better management" includes a strong intention of increasing benefits and productivity, by standing the amount of product inspection and cost investments in production control closely related to the level of users’ satisfaction. It also includes explicitly a feasible way for solving organisational problems by defining clearly responsibilities and interfaces, for giving transparent rules applicable by every employee and for introducing continuing improvement as a regular part of day-to-day leadership. It is promoting a philosophy of measurement, calibration and accountability every time where it is required, when any risk may occurs. Costs are saved when quality inspection is positioned cautiously where there is a risk of non-quality.

Both managers and workers have more satisfaction because responsibilities are clear. From that organisational point of view, a QMS seems to be a good tool for reducing overlapping work, for protecting know-how and for reducing training costs when staff changes. It also maintains action lines when managing staff changes. Some answers even state that greater employees satisfaction is one of the biggest benefits of a QMS.

It also helps in subcontracting and selecting tenders.

Organisational problems are the most common cause of failure in GIS projects and a QMS is one of the best ways to improve organisation.

2. Workers’ satisfaction and more commitment to the organisation

A well implemented QMS gives not only more satisfaction to the management, but also to all the other employees. With a QMS they have a tool to demonstrate they have done 100% of the job. They also know to whom and where to give a direct feedback on (new) methodologies from there own experience. They will have a clear view on the demands of the customers, in terms of quantity as well as quality.

3. Improved quality of products and services

This means to define the product as close as possible to the users’ requirements (specifications) and also to reduce non-conformance and to track what happened during the production. It implies to develop a high control on processes, by describing and harmonising them, observing them, simplifying and optimising them. The knowledge on processes gives the possibility to detect errors, to manage them and to avoid repeating the same error. It also provides control and inspection proves to customers, and in this way it gives more information about the products.

5. Better customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction relates to the intention of fulfilling customers’ needs. A QMS gives a framework for having a consistent and improved approach to customers. It may provide a better definition for users’ requirements (specifications) as well as a standard process for handling complaints. It also provides a model for customers as well as partners in which it is clear how and where needs have to be explained and who has to translate these needs into specifications, or who is responsible in case of a claim, and how the claim has to be put in.

6. Promotion

Although there are a lot of advantages and benefits in favour of the implementation of a QMS, it is obvious that there are some risks and disadvantages which can be foreseen and prevented when implementing a QMS in a NMA. It has been recognised, as an outcome of the questionnaire performed, that the most important risks are (for a detailed list of the issues see Annex C, question 2.10):

The final result of the implementation of a QMS in a NMA depends on a number of factors:

• What are the improvements the organisation is looking for;
• Depending on that: what kind of QMS is applicable, and
• On which department(s) and process(es) this QMS has to be put into practice.

Good answers on these questions, provided with good arguments, are of crucial importance. To that aim this document should foresee how ENMA´s will develop in the new century and mainly what the different national governments expect from NMA´s.

At the moment, and as a simple conclusion arising from the questionnaire, a National Mapping Agency should, probably, comprise the following tasks in its quality management system :

• Map production.
• Digital geographic information production.
• Cadastre / Real Estate information.
• Commerce and marketing.
• Metrology.

All these tasks are considered more and more from a business approach. This is maybe the main reason for dealing with the implementation of the QMS in our NMA´s.

Indeed, previously, the NMA´s have been big organisations characterised by:

• Funding/income from governments.
• Performing a public service.
• Great number of workers.
• More technology than business driven.
• Standardised quality of the product (geodetical, network, data, model etc....).

However, since a decade ago, some NMA´s have moved to a new approach where optimising the ratio between incomes and expenses becomes the nucleus of the whole activity.

Beside this new approach, the technical evolution in the Geographic Information field provides different tools which enable more various applications, setting then the issue of data to be used for multi-purposes and having to meet very different customers expectations.

The enlargement of the GI market is combined with an increase of customer requirements for the quality of the products. It sets the need for explaining the quality of GI and that need requires to show the way GI is produced, going by this way further than only final quality inspection figures.

If this trend continues, and, as it is expected, geographic information becomes a real need in the European society, the scenario will be as follows :

• Europe will have to converge in cartographic matters.
• NMA´s will have to survive via a more effective GI production.
• The NMA´s behaviour will not differ too much from any other company in Europe.
• The complexity and the demand of the market will require more transparency on production matters.

Regarding this scenario, all solutions aiming to improve the ratio incomes/expenses are welcome. Therefore quality management appears to be implemented for improving at the same time the organisation of the production lines inside the NMAs’ and also for better meeting customers expectations.

The questionnaire has been a very valuable experience and the participation rate shows that the subject is completely relevant for NMAs. The quality management concept combines a better care of customers and also a continuous improvement of the whole organisation. Quality management appears as a new way for improving the quality of the product.

The following conclusions can be taken:

1. All NMAs answering the Questionnaire and having implemented a QMS valorise at the end the cost/benefits ratio as good.
2. The most mentioned and appreciated benefits identified by NMAs with a QMS are :
1. A better management and a more effective organisation
2. An increase of workers' satisfaction and more commitment to the organisation
3. The improvement of products and services
4. A Better users’ satisfaction
3. There are some risks in the process of implementing a QMS, especially on the short term, but they are the kind of risks that appear in relation with a technological revolution. These risks may be avoided by prevention.
4. Each Mapping Agency who answered the questionnaire is convinced of implementing a QMS. The best reference according to the answers is ISO 9000. The question pending is which part of the ISO 9000 Family is actually appropriate ; this question may be solved by the new version of the standard. The attitude towards certification is various.
5. In the potential scenario for NMAs in the beginning of the next millennium, a first objective appears: to get the more versatile achievable position regarding QMS. This implies to implement a QMS ISO 9000 – like in order to have the possibility of getting the certification in a short period of time if it is required.
6. NMAs may exchange their experience through interpreting ISO 9000 chapters in the context of Geographic Information. The next step may be to analyse the methods for implementing a QMS, to compare the difficulties and the solutions which have been set within the different NMAs. There may arise a common guideline for implementing a Quality Management System suited to Geographic Information for Mapping Agencies in Europe : an "handbook for implementing a QMS in a mapping agency", including frequently asked questions and practical keys for the applicability of ISO 9000 to Geographic information.

REFERENCES

ISO 8402:1994 Quality management and quality assurance — Vocabulary.

ISO 9000-1: 1994 Quality management and quality assurance standards. Part 1: Guidelines for selection and use

ISO 9001: 1994 Quality systems – Model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing

ISO 9002: 1994 Quality systems – Model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing

ISO 9003: 1994 Quality systems – Model for quality assurance in inspection and final testing

ISO 9004-1:1994 Quality management and quality management system elements

COMPARATIVE TABLE BETWEEN BENEFITS AND RISKS WHEN IMPLEMENTING A QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CERCO Working Group on Quality

12

YES

11

NO

2. If the answer to question 1 is YES : 3. If the answer on question 1 is NO :

Summary			Summary
11	Organisation/efficiency		16
7	Avoid/learn from mistakes		3
6	Increase/control/assess quality		5
4	Achieve confidence by users		8
3	Cheaper		0
3	Staff		2
2	Subcontractors		3
2	Quicker		3
2	Preserve competence		3
1	Usage/income/benefit		2
0	Co-operation		3
For a total view on all the answers given, see Appendix C		For a total view on all the answers given, see Appendix D

CERCO/WGQ expresses its acknowledge for the co-operation and for the information provided by means of answers to the questionnaire to :

Antonio Rogriguez, IGN-Spain

Joaquin Rodriguez, CNIG-Spain

Laure Dassonville, IGN-France

Toon van Roosmalen, Topografische Dienst-The Netherlands

Hakon Wikstrom, NLS-Sweden

Paola Ahonen, NLS-Finland

Thierry Mercier, IGN-France

Knut Olav Sunde, SK-Norway

Tom Otto Husvik, SK-Norway

Dolors Barrot, ICC-Catalunya

Turgut Kurttekin, GCM-Turkey

Jorgen Giversen, KMS-Denmark

Ema Pogorelcnik, SMRS-Slovenia

Karl Haussteiner, BEV-Austria

Gerry Wade, Ordnance Survey - Ireland

Vaclav Slaboch, CUZK-Czech Republic

Records of education/training; users’ (or customers & rsquo;) satisfaction review of contracts Improvements to existing products and services Analysis and (some) simplification of technical and business processes More consistent, improved approach to customers Reduced training costs for new recruits Difficult to assess because other initiatives (restructuring of organisation, new pay bands) had an impact Accountability, measurement and consequence, but still a long way to go Providing constant quality level of surveying and mapping base data on the field of accuracy, attributes and updating, and related process The lead-time of the land survey process has decreased The production costs of the topographic maps have decreased The usage of our datasets has been increased / more income for digital products

To save time and quality by protecting know-how and practices when staff changes To save costs by positioning and defining quality controls regarding risks which could appear if there was no control. To reduce quality inspection done by internal customers with the quality proofs given by producers To avoid overlapping works To save time by managing incidents and errors (it avoids to repeat same errors) To have a feedback with experience (well done the first time and same error avoided on the second time) To know how to manage unexpected events: we know how to deal them methodically and we save time, costs and quality (to reduce risks) To have a common language (by quality education and training) To get visibility and explanation on organisation and processes To get a better organisation : responsibilities are defined more precisely To describe relationships between departments To improve customers confidence by providing them quality control results Better quality assurance

Defined/described procedures (transparency) Better relations to partners/customers (mainly to such organisations which an own system or such organisations which are building up a QMS because of the "same language") Better relations to partners/customer (improvement/process of correction) Optimisation of a processus because of some complaint (after customer-interviews!) A very good pattern for the integration for the organisation "cadastral-survey" into the organisation "federal office of topography" (described and defined procedures/interfaces and responsabilities etc) More transparency, general rules for every employee Standard calibration procedures Identification of existing errors and defaults Quality level improvement Improvement of the design of existing processes Improvements in subcontracting cartographic paper acquisition Standard complain process implemented Protection of know-how against changes in humanware

Greater personal satisfaction in employees Control of Cadastral Maps was streamlined Moderation of the topographic map control QMS made it possible to overlook every single process in the project Keep subcontractors on track We can establish more effective processes and save money for our customers We will be able to give a better presentation of what information our products contain. To have a system that evaluate and improves the leadership, strategies, goals and action plans To harmonise processes between departments and divisions Employees that are satisfied and focused to customers The image of the NMA will be improved