Thomas Johnson wrote: > Good morning, > > Has anyone here worked on a project to implement an industry standard? Our > company needs to comply to an emerging industry standard (API-1163) and I > get to write all the policies and procedures. First of all, it's a very > different type of writing. Second, it actually involves adopting three > related standards that overlap each other. I'm trying to figure out how to > streamline our procedures so that a person doing a certain job doesn't have > to read three slightly different procedures all telling him or her to do > nearly the same thing. > > Here are my questions. > > The three standards have a number overlapping requirements. Has anyone > written procedures that reference two or more requirements from different > standards? If standard A says you must list the ingredients in an apple pie > and standard B says you must identify any pie that contains apples, can you > write a procedure that covers both requirements? Maybe that's not the best > example, but I think it gets the idea across. > > Does anyone have any other tips on writing policies and procedures for > industry standards? >
Shooting from the lip here. The only time I had to implement two standards, the clout-wielding players in the industry got the two standards (ISO 9001 and FDA QSR) aligned. So if we were in compliance with one we were in compliance with the other. Sweet. Here are my thoughts: 1. Policy: "All of our products and processes will comply with the following standards: [list] Failure to comply will have negative consequences for the company. Individuals responsible for such failure to comply will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal and may be sued in civil court for damages if circumstances warrant and the law allows." End of story. Don't complexify the policy statement. IANAL, so the above may need to be modified. 2. Procedures: Let systems be your friends here. If you already have a requirements tracking system in place (e.g., Rational Rose), document the standards-based requirements that have to be included for every new project. If you have a QA test requirements template, adjust it to reflect the need to check for compliance with the standards. If you have a database system in place that can provide a report of all products containing apples and can also provide ingredient lists, document the reports that will be needed, who needs to be able to generate them, who needs to receive them, what form of acknowledgment of receipt is required, etc., and let the DBA worry about how to generate and validate the reports. My two cents, Dick ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. DITA West 2007--Use a discount code of "TECHCOMMPROS" to get a discount rate of $200 off the $900 registration price. http://www.travelthepath.com/conf/dita2007.shtml _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
