Planning & Objectives

Open: More > Planning & Objectives. Typical leads: Quality Manager and Executive; authorized department managers can record measurements. Three tabs cover objectives, risks and opportunities, and planned changes.

Create and monitor an objective

1. Open Objectives and choose Raise objective.
2. Enter title, metric name, unit, direction, target value, and optional target date.
3. Use At least for a minimum desired performance, such as 95% on-time delivery. Use At most for a maximum, such as 2% scrap.
4. Open the objective and record dated measurements as the data becomes available.
5. Review the derived Meeting, Off track, or Unmeasured result. Investigate the source data if the status is surprising.
6. Raise an action for work needed to improve performance. Retire an objective when it is no longer active, retaining its history.

The latest-dated measurement determines status. Backdating a measurement does not make it the latest merely because it was entered last. Write the measurement basis consistently so percentages remain comparable.

Manage risks and opportunities

Open Risks & opportunities and choose Raise, then a type, title, description, and priority. Describe the anticipated situation and the planned response. Use the record to raise an assigned action where follow-up is needed. Close the record with an outcome note explaining what happened and how the response worked.

Example: “Our only approved plating supplier cannot support the forecast.” The outcome might record qualification of a second source and the supporting supplier reference. Today's suspect material or product-safety occurrence belongs in Product Integrity or an NC; the planning risk explains the broader business exposure.

Plan a QMS change

Use Planned changes for a deliberate change to the system. Enter title, purpose, consequences, resource needs, and responsibilities. Raise actions while the plan is active. Complete or abandon the change with a note explaining the result.

A planned change describes the intention and organizational preparation. If the execution needs detailed impact assessment, effectivity, authorization, and verification, also create a Change Control record. Put reciprocal references in the narrative if no direct linking control is offered.

Follow up

Review off-track objectives and active risks at management review. Do not create measurements solely to clear a red indicator. Closed, retired, or abandoned planning records do not generate new linked actions; create a new current planning record when genuinely new work arises.

In the user guide

This article is chapter 13, "Planning and Objectives", of the NormaQMS User Guide (NORMA-UG-001), which is under Help > User guide. Chapter numbers in the text refer to that guide.