ISO 9001 Clause 3: Terms and definitions

The terms and definitions given in ISO 9000:2005 (or its recent version) shall be

In the year 2000 edition of the standard, new terminology was adopted to make it user friendly.

As the earlier standards such as (DEFSTAN 05 - 21) _ Audit for military purchase and BS 4891 & BS 5179 : 1975 were mainly targeted at the "suppliers" i.e. organizations proving its products to the buyer, the "supplier" term was used to identify the organizations applying the said standard.

The ISO 9000 series of standard, in year 2000, detached it self from its past and adopted an easy to understand terminology.

The terms "organization" was used for the company applying ISO 9000 requirements or seeking ISO 9000 certification instead of the term "supplier" while the term "supplier" was used for "subcontractor".

Please note that the term "QMS" used in this e-book refers to "Quality Management System".

Definitions of Important Terms

Audit
Systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled.

Audit evidence
Records, statements of fact or other information which are relevant to the audit criteria and verifiable.

Corrective action
Actions taken to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity or other undesirable situation.

Criteria
Set of policies, procedures or requirements used as a reference.

Document
Information and its support medium.

Effectiveness
Extent to which planned activities are realized and planned results achieved.

Efficiency
Relationship between the result achieved and the resources used.

Nonconformity
Non-fulfillment of a requirement.

Objective evidence
Data supporting the existence or verity of something.

Preventive action
Actions taken to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity or other undesirable potential situation.

Product
Result of a process

Quality
Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirement.

Record
Document stating results achieved or providing evidence of activities performed.

Validation
Confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that the requirements for a specified intended use or application have been fulfilled.

Verification
Confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that the specified requirements have been fulfilled.

External Document Reference: Documentation Kit

Quality Manual Section: Terms, definitions and abbreviations