What Is An Integrated Management System?

Integrated Management System (IMS) is a way to integrate various management systems and processes that an organization presently follows or intends to follow. This concept stems with the ever evolving and constantly changing global market scenario where businesses are no more restricted to certain geographical setup hence there is widespread variation in demands related to regulatory bodies and societal needs. ISO has also evolved over the years catering to expanding market. 

Let’s talk about the most common standards that become a part of IMS in an organisation:

1. ISO 9001 is Quality Management which provides a structured approach for organizations to meet expectations of customers, performance enhancement and demonstration of commitment to quality. The aim is having consistent output of the business to customers. This is most commonly implemented standard across sectors of the business. 

2. ISO 14001 is Environment Management System that provides framework for organisation to implement an EMS and improve its environmental performance. 

3. ISO 45001 is Occupational Health and Safety Management System that provides framework for organisation to manage its OH&S risks and improve its OH&S performance. Previously this standard was OHSAS 18001, which in recent times have been revised and changed to ISO 45001.

The Main Elements Of ISO Include:

At present (in Jan 2025), ISO has already published about 25737 standards of which some can be adopted irrespective of type of business and some are sector specific. These all figures are apart from other management systems (not ISO) that might be country specific. Most organisations usually have implemented or begin with Quality Management Standard i.e ISO 9001 which provides a structured approach for organizations to meet expectations of customers, performance enhancement and demonstration of commitment to quality, some adopt Environment Management System (ISO 14001) followed by Occupational Health and Safety Management Standard (ISO 45001). There are other management systems which are very common now such as Energy Management System (ISO 50001) and Information management system (ISO 27001). 

1. Leadership and Commitment: Commitment from leadership is very important for the success of IMS. Employees look upon the commitment by leadership that further fuel the implementation process. Correct and timely resource allocation is the key.

2. Policy: A commitment by leadership on the quality, occupational health and safety, environmental factors that organisation as a whole is working towards. This is not just a document but it becomes the base for taking up organisation goals and objectives along with management plan.

3. Planning: Planning is an important step. This takes into account various factors such as customer requirements, assessing risks related to OH&S to environmental factors of the work, etc. This will help mitigate any surprises and business risks too in the course.

4. Implementation: Resource availability, timely communication, strong learning and development structure is the base for implementing IMS. Resources can be human, machines, material, timely permits, etc all that need to work together in unison for a successful project.
   

   

5. Monitoring, Measurement, Review and Continual Improvement: Tracking, monitoring and timely actions taken to ensure requirements across IMS are met is important. In the course of this, there are improvement activities also that are taken up to self-improve the system.

6. Documents and Record Management: IMS involves ample document and records. Developing a consistent method of creating a document/record, storage, retrieval and disposal is very crucial. Access to relevant document and records is crucial. Organisation also have taken a digital route to create, store and archive documents and records. 

7. Audits: One way to cross check effective implementation of IMS are the audits. It can be an internal or an external audit. It provides a means to look beyond the usual and start to question the usual. The more we dive deep into removing gaps in our systems, the better our systems are bound to become. It definitely takes times since it involves resources, sometimes beyond control but we continue to do it. 

8. Corrective and Preventative Actions: During the course of activities at workplace be it related to QMS, EMS, etc there will be deviations, non-conformities, incidents that are going to take place. The process of establishing actions to correct it now and prevent such occurrence in the future as well is the key. Ultimately these occurrences are lagging indicators for the organisation, more in numbers would result in putting reputation at stake.

In most of the organisations, there are designated teams that deal with each of the management system and work in individual silos. The number of existing standards is huge and require a whole lot of consistent efforts to implement or sustain end-to-end requirements. At this point, Integrated Management System becomes the ultimate solution where business viability and customer demands are both catered on the same platform.

All ISO standards are structured as per High Level Structure (HLS). HLS usually has 10 clauses with further sub clauses defining the requirements of each standard. This way integrating clause to clause of various standards is meaningful. Thus, implementing an Integrated Management System is the answer where organisations follow multiple management systems. 

For effective IMS implementation, it begins with a cross functional team formation and training that covers all standards under IMS. Once proper awareness and trainings are imparted, IMS roll out with a detailed project implementation planning. Usually, an IMS Manual is prepared often called the Apex Manual or the Guide Manual that combines requirements of similar clauses. For example, Clause 4 elaborates leadership and commitment requirements, here all the requirements of Clause 4 across all the intended management systems are verified and combined into one Clause 4. This way there is one source to refer for implementing a Clause 4 under IMS of an Organisation. Similarly, if there are unique sub clauses mentioned under a standard which is not common in other, the same is also included. This way a eliminates duplication and cover all such overlapping requirements.

The main aim of IMS is to ease the process of doing business, meet the demands of interested parties and at the same time ensure productivity.