Context, Policy & Communication

Open: More > Context, Policy & Communication. Typical leads: Quality Manager and Executive. Purpose: maintain the current review of the shop's circumstances, interested parties, policy, and communication.

1. Choose Open review and enter a title such as “Annual context review 2026.”
2. Record internal issues: staffing, equipment, capability, capacity, process stability, and other relevant conditions.
3. Record external issues: customer expectations, supplier availability, market changes, and other factors affecting quality.
4. Identify interested parties and their relevant needs. Name the actual groups and expectations, not only generic categories.
5. Enter the quality policy and how it is communicated. Record a management representative if applicable to your system.
6. Review the scope information linked to the effective QMS baseline. Maintain the authoritative boundary in Standards & scope.
7. Save the review, inspect the missing-information checklist, then choose Make current when the review is ready.

The new current review supersedes the prior current review. Historical reviews remain available. Use a new review when the company's circumstances change materially rather than silently treating last year's review as today's facts.

Suggested content for a small shop

Field	Useful example
Internal issues	A second shift is starting; two inspectors need training on the new CMM program
External issues	A key plating supplier has extended lead times; a new customer requires additional release evidence
Interested parties	Customer quality representative expects lot traceability; operators need current instructions at the station
Quality policy	Management's actual commitments and how objectives support them
Communication	Shift meeting date, briefing method, audience, and location of the current policy

The module is a current business review. The quality manual is the controlled description of the system. The signed scope establishes the system boundary. Keep these three consistent without duplicating every paragraph in every location.

Completion check: the intended review is Current, the earlier review is Superseded, required sections are populated, and the communication method is specific enough to follow up.

In the user guide

This article is chapter 12, "Context Policy and Communication", of the NormaQMS User Guide (NORMA-UG-001), which is under Help > User guide. Chapter numbers in the text refer to that guide.