Structuring Documentation in the Management System — How Does It Work?

The Challenge: Structuring the Management System Effectively

Quality management representatives face several challenges:

• Clarity: Structuring management system documentation and presenting the flood of information in a clear, useful way for everyday work is a real art.
• Adaptability: The system must remain flexible to adapt to organizational and process changes.
• Identification: All employees should be able to understand and identify with the structure.
• Interdependencies: It must be clear how different elements of the organization — such as processes — work together to deliver performance.
• Completeness and Precision: The structure should fully and precisely reflect the management system — each piece of content should have exactly one home.

A Solution: The Aachen Quality Management Model

The Aachen Quality Management Model offers an effective approach to these challenges. It helps structure management system documentation in a process-oriented way by distinguishing three categories of processes:

• Core processes (or value chains): These create the value that external customers are willing to pay for ("quality forward chain"). Running counter to this are feedback processes ("quality backward chain"), which help the organization continuously improve its core processes.
• Support processes: These are necessary to execute the core processes but do not directly create value themselves. They are often referred to as value-preserving processes.
• Management processes: These guide and align the core and support processes, as well as the people involved.

This structure maps the company’s business model into a process landscape, placing a clear focus on customers and quality delivery. It makes relationships and interactions between processes clearly visible.

With suitable IT support, each area in the process landscape can be linked directly to its underlying process documentation within the management system. This enhances transparency and enables intuitive navigation through the process landscape.

Why Other Models Fall Short

Other models often considered for structuring management systems are, in practice, less suitable. Here's why:

• The EFQM model is designed for evaluating management systems, not structuring them. It offers ideas for improving systems but no structural framework.
• The St. Gallen Management Model visualizes interdependencies within a company — especially in relation to its environment and market — but it's not intended for structuring management systems.
• The Process Classification Framework (PCF) is a useful tool for classifying and optimizing processes but focuses mainly on evaluating performance.
• The SCOR model is excellent for modeling and optimizing material flows. However, since there's little connection between smooth material flow and product quality, it's not ideal for structuring a management system.

By contrast, the Aachen Quality Management Model is purpose-built for one goal: structuring management systems effectively. And now for practical implementation: Under “Related Articles,” you'll find 7 tips for creating a process map using the Aachen Quality Management Model.