Quality Management with ISO 9001 – What is it?

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The Quality Management Systems (QMS) creation worldwide standard, ISO 9001, was released by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization). The current standard is referred to as ISO 9001:2015 as it was most recently updated in 2015. For ISO 9001 to be produced and updated, it needed to be approved by the majority of member nations in order to be recognised as an international standard, which means it is accepted by most nations on the planet.

What are quality management systems? An ISO 9001 description would be that this standard provides the QMS requirements to be implemented for a business that wants to develop all of the policies, processes, and procedures required to offer products and services that fulfil customer and regulatory needs and enhance customer satisfaction. The cornerstone of quality assurance activities is quality management systems.

Why is ISO 9001 important?

As was already said, ISO 9001:2015 is a widely accepted standard for developing, implementing, and upholding a company’s quality management system. It can be utilised by any business and is intended for usage by organisations of any size and in any sector. Because it is an accepted international standard, many organisations demand this certification from their suppliers as the foundation for any business creating a system to guarantee customer happiness and progress.

Your consumers will feel more secure knowing that you have a Quality Management System in place that is based on the seven ISO 9001 quality management principles if you hold a SO 9001 certification. In fact, ISO 9001 is so important and prominent that it serves as the foundation for other industry standards to be developed by groupings of companies, such as AS9100 for the aerospace industry, ISO 13485 for the medical devices sector, and IATF 16949 for the automobile industry.

What is the current ISO 9001 standard?

The ISO 9001:2015 version of the standard is the most recent one. The previous revision, ISO 9001:2008, was replaced by the ISO 9001:2015 standard, which is also referred to as ISO 9001 revision 2015. Many of the procedures from the earlier iteration of the standard are included in this updated revision, which places more emphasis on risk-based thinking and an awareness of the organization’s context. A significant structural modification from the ISO 9001:2008 standard was made to enable this transition; the key clauses of the standard are different between the 2015 and 2008 iterations.

What is the purpose of ISO?

It is a very common question to ask what the purpose of ISO is. ISO is an international organisation that creates a commonly recognised set of requirements and guidelines to assist organisations around the globe to act more consistently. More than 22,450 standards are created, published, and maintained by the ISO organisation through technical committees made up of people from all around the world. These standards offer guidance on how to develop management systems, conduct certain testing, and design and construct products.

ISO does not go around assessing companies on these aforementioned standards. The ISO only participates in the maintenance of the standards; it leaves the evaluation of businesses in relation to the standards to outside certification organisations.

In the next article we will look in depth into the most important requirements of ISO and how to best implement them into your business.

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Your Android smartphone could be your biggest Word or PowerPoint helper

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Small quality-of-life feature could change the way you use Microsoft 365

Microsoft has announced a new, more convenient way to pull images from Android devices, such as smartphones, into documents and spreadsheets made with the web versions of Word and Powerpoint found in Microsoft 365.

In a post on the Office Insiders blog, the company revealed that it will soon be possible for users of Microsoft’s online online collaboration tool to link their Android photo libraries to a Microsoft account using a one-time set up process. 

For now, the feature is only available to personal users, in addition to enterprise and education organizations, who have opted into the Office Insiders program, which gives users early access to exciting but experimental new features within the company’s office software suite.

Microsoft 365 and Android integration

While at a glance this might seem like an exclusive club, with some business and education users may be out of luck due to their organization’s Microsoft Office configuration, it’s not too hard to enrol so long as a user has full control over their system. 

For personal users, the Office Insider program is a simple opt-in, to be found on the product information page within Microsoft 365.

Once that’s done, linking your Android photo library to your Microsoft account is a simple process, so long as your Android device has the means to scan a QR code with its camera and install the Link to Windows app on the Google Play Store. 

Luckily, these are features that will come as standard on most, if not all, recent business smartphones.

The new feature promises to be robust and intuitive, supporting the same image sizes, dimensions, and file types currently supported by Word and Powerpoint on the web. It will also allow users to replace existing images in documents with those on mobile devices.

The feature will eventually be available to all users of Office on the web who have a Microsoft 365 subscription, use an android phone, and, if they are using the Mozilla Firefox web browser, are using version 104.0 or later.

Source – Your Android smartphone could be your biggest Word or PowerPoint helper | TechRadar

WordPress updates its website builder for the third time this year

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WordPress 6.1 adds improvements to website accessibility and more

Open source CMS WordPress.org has released WordPress 6.1 “Misha” in a bid to expand the block editing experience introduced earlier this year in WordPress 5.9 and WordPress 6.0.

Named after the Soviet-Norwegian jazz pianist Mikhail “Misha” Alperin, WordPress 6.1 includes additional updates to its website builder, offering a new default block theme that features ten style variations designed by WordPress community members.

The release also includes new writing features that allow users to select partial paragraphs in a block, and has a keyboard shortcut to add internal links expanded to all blocks.

WordPress site builder upgrade 

With contributions from over 800 people around the world, WordPress 6.1 has been designed to ensure that users can apply a different look and feel to a website within a single theme.

Available now, WordPress 6.1 also offers a suite of new templates that users can create directly from the Site Editor, including custom templates for posts and pages. 

“Additional improvements to the editor give creators and developers more control and customization for site-building while offering a more cohesive experience to users,” said Josepha Haden Chomphosy, WordPress Executive Director.

The update also includes fluid typography that lets web creators set one font size to scale on any screen size, which can be enabled through theme.json, a configuration file for block themes.

“As of WordPress 6.1, block based template parts can be used in traditional WordPress themes, allowing both site owners and plugin and theme authors to adopt what they need as they are ready in a way that is still future forward. A theme needs to specify the block-template-parts theme support to enable this feature,” a WordPress.org press release added.

WordPress.org has also improved the layout and visualization of document settings to help content creators easily view and manage important post and page settings.

Source – WordPress updates its website builder for the third time this year | TechRadar

Meta Quest Pro VR headset may, with Microsoft’s help, be super productive

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Several of Microsoft’s work and productivity tools are coming to the metaverse.

Microsoft is bringing some of its most popular remote working software to the metaverse, announcing during the recent Meta Connect 2022 event that it is entering a new productivity-focused VR and AR partnership.

In a blog post, Microsoft highlighted that as workplace environments evolve in the aftermath of the pandemic, it’s important to adapt with the times. The company points to recent data it collected showing “50 percent of Gen Z and millennials [envision] doing some of their work in the metaverse [within] the next two years.” 

It’s in this context that Microsoft is expanding beyond its own HoloLens/mixed-reality efforts to help Meta establish a foothold in productivity-oriented VR and AR.

Remote work support

Within the “coming months”, four of Microsoft’s “work and productivity tools” will be making their way to both the Quest 2 VR headset and the newly announced Meta Quest Pro (the official name for the long-awaited Project Cambria). Some of the tools include integration with Microsoft Teams as well as support for a variety of work apps.

To be more precise, the companies are adding Microsoft Mesh to the Quest headsets. This feature will allow people to join Teams meetings being held in Horizon Workrooms, which are virtual boardrooms. You’ll be able to interact with others through Meta Avatars and brainstorm ideas via virtual tools.

It appears the Quest devices will support all the apps from the Microsoft 365 suite. The announcement specifically mentions support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint, but nothing for OneDrive or OneNote. There are also reports stating the apps won’t be special VR versions. Rather, the apps will be a direct port of the desktop version done through Progressive Web App (PWA) technology. Windows 365 will be supported on Quest headsets, too, allowing users to stream a Cloud PC complete with personalized settings. 

Security is also being taken into consideration. Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory will support the Quest headsets, allowing IT professionals to protect the devices “with a Quest for Business subscription.” Put more simply, Intune helps manage hardware to protect company data while Active Directory protects software against cyberattacks.

Outside of the remote work integrations, both companies briefly mentioned a plan to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming over to the Meta Quest Store. A giant screen will be projected inside the headset giving you access to Xbox Game Pass and whatever titles you have, but it doesn’t cover the whole view. Think of a movie screen at a theater.

It’s unknown if services like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be supported. We reached out to Microsoft so we can learn more. This story will be updated if we hear back

Potential end of Hololens

After going through the reveal, we were left with one question: what will happen to Hololens?

Hololens is Microsoft’s own take on mixed reality headsets, but it never really took off. The current state of this tech is a bit of a mystery. Earlier this year, reports came out that Microsoft scrapped all work on the HoloLens 3 in the middle of development. But then the company said those claims were exaggerated and that Hololens was being repurposed for the US Army. Sure enough, the company revealed IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmented System) for the US military in early September.

So, when it comes to virtual reality for consumers and businesses, Microsoft looks like it’s more interested in providing support via software over hardware. Hololens may truly be gone now, outside of niche uses.

Source: Meta Quest Pro VR headset may, with Microsoft’s help, be super productive | TechRadar

Court win for man fired for not keeping webcam on

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A telemarketer who was fired after refusing to keep his webcam on while working had his rights breached, a Dutch court has ruled.

The employee of US-based IT company Chetu was awarded approximately 75,000 euro (£65,700) by the court.

In August, the man, in the Netherlands, was told to share his screen and leave his camera on while working.

After he declined, he was fired for “refusal to work” and “insubordination”.

Chetu did not provide a statement to the court, nor did the company appear at the court hearing, the judgement says.

The court ruled on the case in September, but its findings were published this month and reported by the Netherlands Times.

The BBC has approached Florida-based Chetu, which has a branch in the Netherlands, for comment.

Increased monitoring

Earlier this year, the TUC, which represents unions in England and Wales, warned use of workplace surveillance tech – including the use of AI to monitor workers – had taken off during the pandemic and was “spiralling out of control”.

Methods included monitoring emails and files, webcams on work computers, tracking when and how much a worker is typing, calls made and movements made by the worker, through use of CCTV and trackable devices.

It called for stronger regulation of to protect workers.

Max Winthrop, a partner at law firm Sintons LLP, said surveillance of employees had increased massively as the necessary tech became more accessible and as employers sought to keep tabs on employees working from home.

But he said there was not a simple answer to whether any particular monitoring infringed on an employee’s privacy in the UK.

“It depends. A legitimate reason to monitor, such as the prevention of theft, or physical harm to employees, is likely to be considered favourably by a court or tribunal,” said Mr Winthrop, a member of the Law Society’s Employment Law Committee.

“Merely imposing an intrusive monitoring regime for no good reason, especially if monitoring takes place in areas or the workspace where employees could have a reasonable expectation of privacy, is not”.

‘I don’t feel comfortable’

The employee in the case in the Netherlands had been working for Chetu since 2019, when in August he was asked to participate in a “Corrective Action Program (“CAP”) – Virtual Classroom” during which his webcam was to be kept on.

According to the court record the employee refused, saying: “I don’t feel comfortable being monitored for nine hours a day by a camera. This is an invasion of my privacy and makes me feel really uncomfortable. That is the reason why my camera is not on. You can already monitor all activities on my laptop, and I am sharing my screen.”

In response to the employee’s objections, Chetu argued that this was no different from an employee being observed in an office environment.

But the court disagreed, citing a European Court of Human Rights ruling which, it said, stated that, “video surveillance of an employee in the workplace, be it covert or not, must be considered as a considerable intrusion into the employee’s private life”.

The court found that the there was no sufficient justification for the monitoring by Chetu, and it had therefore violated the employee’s privacy rights.

Source: Court win for man fired for not keeping webcam on – BBC News