ISO 9001 is the world's most recognised Quality Management System (QMS) standard. It aims to help organisations meet the needs of their customers and other stakeholders more effectively. This is achieved by building a framework to ensure consistent quality in providing goods and/or services. This standard is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement. These principles are explained in more detail in ISO’s quality management principles. Using ISO 9001 helps ensure that customers get consistent, good-quality products and services, which in turn brings many business benefits. The standard is based on seven quality management principles, including having a strong customer focus, the involvement of top management, and a drive for continual improvement.

The seven quality management principles are:

1 – Customer focus
2 – Leadership
3 – Engagement of people
4 – Process approach
5 – Improvement
6 – Evidence-based decision making
7 – Relationship management