Full Form of ISO -What is ISO, Standards and Certifications

What is International Organization for Standardization (ISO)?

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies comprising standards bodies from more than 160 countries, with one standards body representing each member country. For instance, the United States is represented by the American National Standards Institute.

ISO is a nongovernmental organization where the members are national standards organizations that collaborate in the development and promotion of international standards for technology, working conditions, scientific testing processes, societal issues, etc. Documents detailing these standards are then sold by ISO and its members.

The decision-making body of ISO is the General Assembly. ISO includes representatives from the members and elected leaders, who are called principal officers. The headquarters of the ISO is in Geneva, Switzerland, where the operations are overseen by a central secretariat.

ISO: standards

There is a 6-stage process for developing standards in the International Organization for Standardization:

• Proposal stage. The proposal stage begins when consumer groups or industry associations make a request. If a new standard is truly required is determined by a relevant ISO committee.
• Preparatory stage. To prepare a working draft of the new standard, a working group is prepared, which is composed of experts in the subject matter and the stakeholders of the industry. The working group's parent committee decides which stage occurs next when the draft is deemed satisfactory
• Committee stage. This stage is not mandatory. In this stage, the members of the parent committee review and comment on the draft standard.
• Enquiry stage. At this stage, the draft standard is called a Draft International Standard (DIS). The draft is distributed among the members of the ISO for their reviews and then the motion is put to a vote. If the draft is passed by the members, it is published as a standard. But, if it doesn't, then the draft moves to the approval stage.
• Approval stage. To the ISO members, the draft standard is submitted as a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS). In order to approve the new standard, voting is done.
• Publication stage. The FDIS is published as an official international standard if the ISO members approve the new standard.

ISO: Certification

Certification is a certifying body's assurance that a service, product or system meets the requirements of the standard as it relates to ISO standards. Conformity with the standards is certified by the third-party certification bodies.

The phrase, "ISO certification", according to the ISO, should never be used to indicate that a product or system has been certified by a certification body as conforming to an ISO standard. ISO-certified products can rather be understood by using the full identification of the ISO standard.

For instance, ISO recommends using the phrase "ISO 9001:2015 certified, instead of "ISO certified".

Why should your Business be ISO certified?

The steps to getting ISO certified might take a lot of time and can be disruptive in the case of the business. So you must determine the need for getting your business certified before actually beginning with the process.

These are some of the reasons why organizations might want to get their businesses certified by ISO:

• Regulatory requirements. To meet the common standards, it is essential that the products of the business are certified.
• Commercial standards. Products and services that are certified to meet minimum standards are required by some industries when certification is not a regulatory requirement.
• Customer requirements. Some customers like government agencies may prefer or require certification, even where there is an industry-standard or regulatory requirement for certification.
• Improved consistency. Consistent quality assurance can be delivered across business units as well as across international borders with the help of the certification.
• Customer satisfaction. A consistent performance by the product or the service is appreciated by the customers of the enterprise. The certified organization can also resolve customer issues by their compliance with standards.

Popular ISO Standards

These are some of the most popular ISO standards:

• ISO/IEC 27000. A six-step process for developing and implementing information security policies and processes is defined by these security standards.
• ISO/IEC 17799. This specifies more than 100 best practices for business continuity, asset management, access control and more.
• ISO/IEC 20000. A technical specification is created by these ISO standards and it codifies the best practices for IT service management.
• ISO/IEC 12207. A consistent lifecycle management process is created by this ISO standard for all software.
• ISO 9000. They define the terms for the organizations to establish and maintain effective quality assurance systems for manufacturing and service industries.

Related Questions

1). Why ISO is so important?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental organization that sets standards for industrial and commercial products, services, and systems. It was established in 1947 to address the need for an international standard to improve the quality of life worldwide.

ISO has over 19,000 members across 163 countries. The organization's work is done through committees called Technical Committees (TCs). These TCs are responsible for developing international standards in their respective fields.

2). What are the 3 ISO standards?

ISO standards are codes of practice or guidelines for a certain industry. They are usually developed by consensus, and they are voluntary.

The three ISO standards are the

• ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System,
• ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System,
• ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System.

3). What does ISO 9001 stand for?

ISO 9001 is the international standard for quality management systems. It is a set of guidelines and requirements that help organizations to implement quality management systems.

The ISO 9001 standard was created in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The ISO 9001 standard is a benchmarking tool that provides a framework for improving an organization's performance.

A quality management system should be based on the principles of continual improvement, customer satisfaction, and continual monitoring of performance.

4). What are the 7 principles of ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 is a set of guidelines for quality management. It is a set of standards that are used by organizations to ensure that they provide quality products and services to their customers.

The principles of ISO 9001 are:

1. Customer satisfaction
2. Quality management
3. Product realization
4. Process management
5. Resource utilization
6. Measurement, analysis and improvement
7. System approach

The ISO 9001 standard is not a recipe. It is a framework for achieving quality management. The principles of ISO 9001 are customer satisfaction, quality management, product realization, process management, resource utilization and measurement analysis and improvement.