6.3 Infrastructure

Essential buildings, pieces of plant and equipment which are necessary to achieve product conformance must be maintained, specifically:

• Buildings and workspaces
• Process equipment, both hardware and software
• Support services, such as transport and communication

Should I document our infrastructure management procedure?

It is not a mandatory requirement to implement a procedure to control how you manage your infrastructure. However, you should always look to adequately define and control any operational process that directly impacts product quality.

NB this procedure is often called the 'Facilities Management Procedure' by quality professionals.

How's best to document the procedure?

Develop and implement a 'Facilities Management' procedure that defines:

  • The responsibilities for coordinating maintenance activities
  • How maintenance activities are planned and provided
  • How the provision of facilities are planned and deployed
  • How the work environment conditions are monitored and maintained
  • How supporting services are planned and deployed

Looking for help documenting the procedure?

We provide a template for the operational procedure '6.3 Facilities Management' to help you document this process in many of our ISO Templates.

Measuring infrastructure management effectiveness

The effectiveness of infrastructure management might be determined by reviewing how it affects product conformity, e.g. ‘do our buildings, services and equipment add to the overall quality of our products? What could be changed to enhance product conformity?’