Quality Management Plan

Quality Management Plan was traditionally linked to planning of factory management and production processes, but in recent years it became more and more important in the services industry. In fact, all organizations that want to monitor and improve their customer services need to apply processes and procedures summarized under the term “Quality Management Plan”. In the recent years, an increasing number of professional support institutions and (business) associations applied for internationally recognized Quality Management certificates, like ISO 9000 certification, in order to demonstrate their commitment to quality and gain a competitive advantage in their markets.

There can be many type of Quality Management Plan like Air Quality Management Plan and Water Quality Management Plan or some company specific Quality Management Plan. Let’s discuss Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

The IDEM Office of Planning and Assessment staff is responsible for the planning and development of Agency environmental data operations standards, which are described in the Quality Management Plan. The IDEM Quality Management Plan is a requirement of IDEM’s Environmental Performance Partnership Agreement (EnPPA), and was prepared in accordance with strict guidelines from the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

The Quality Management Plan is a formal document that describes the quality system in terms of the organization’s structure, the functional responsibilities of management and staff, the lines of authority, and the required interfaces for those planning, implementing, and assessing all activities conducted. It describes the specific quality assurance and quality control practices employed by both internal and external IDEM staff/contractors for data generation and monitoring activities used in permitting and other regulatory activities.

The primary goal of the IDEM Quality Management Plan is to ensure that all of the Agency environmental programs produce results (data) that are of sufficient quantity and known quality, and are of the type and quality needed for their intended uses.

The IDEM Quality Management Plan was reviewed and approved by USEPA Region 5 and has an effective date of August 10, 2001. The current version of the Quality Management Plan is effective until June 30, 2004, unless there is a substantive reorganization of the agency, major changes in the quality system, or adverse results from a quality management system assessment.