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Procedures 04, 05, and 06 — Plus a New Way to Read Them

· 2 min read
Pablo J. Lebed
Pablo J. Lebed
Founder of OpenQMS

Three more procedures are complete, covering competence management, risk assessment, and supplier control. We also introduced a new element to the documentation: Insight blocks.

What's new​

Procedure 04 — Competence, Training and Awareness is fully developed with four appendices: Training Program, Training Record, Record of Attendance, and Competence Approval and Authorization Record. It covers the full competence lifecycle from recruitment through ongoing monitoring.

Procedure 05 — Addressing Risks and Opportunities is complete with a risk and opportunity registry appendix. It walks through identification, assessment, treatment, and the connection between risk management and the rest of the QMS.

Procedure 06 — Externally Provided Products and Services is new in this release. It covers supplier evaluation and approval, incoming verification, periodic re-evaluation, and subcontracting controls — all scoped to a battery materials characterization laboratory. Two appendices provide the Supplier Evaluation Record and the Approved Supplier List.

Insight blocks​

Every procedure in a QMS tells you what to do. But without understanding why a section exists, the procedure becomes a compliance exercise rather than a working tool.

We've added Insight blocks at the end of each procedure — visually distinct commentary sections that explain the reasoning behind the requirements. They cover the failure modes the section is designed to prevent, the connections to other sections, and the common mistakes laboratories make in implementation.

These are not part of the controlled procedure text. They are the conversation a mentor would have with you after you've read the procedure — the context that makes the difference between implementing a rule and understanding a system.

The intro page now links forward​

A small but important change: the introduction page now includes an explicit link to Understanding the System — the conceptual guide that explains how ISO 17025 thinks and how the procedures connect. If you're new to the project, start there.

What's next​

We continue working through the People and Resources group: Procedure 07 (Facilities and Environmental Conditions), Procedure 08 (Equipment Maintenance, Calibration and Verification), and Procedure 09 (Customer Service). After that, we move into the Analytical Process group.