context
In the real world it is all about context. What do you do? Why do you do it? At quality.com.au (QCA) we have both of these on our home page on the web. We also have it in every newsletter we send out.
However, it needs to be a little more specific than that when it comes to our certifications, professional indemnity and our intellectual property insurances. So in that space we document and retain in our myQuality portal to ensure the directors and our interested parties are on the same page.
With that said, we go on to be very specific with the scope of our operations and in the ISMS space, the scope of our applicability to ensure that certifiers, regulators and those we submit tender responses to understand the context of all things QCA.
One of the most important elements of context is to take into consideration the needs and expectations of interested parties. We do this in management review and our strategic risk register. This filters into our marketing plans and of course our communications within / without our vast organisation.
Here is one example for our tri-certification of our scope (and I dare say context) that is contained within our quality manual, our environment manual and our safety manual…The scope of the management system for certification is; the design, development, implementation and ongoing support of documented management systems. You can fill in the details with proposals, acceptances, project plans and the like. Just remember, define it, document it and test it and all shall be good.