Information quality in design process documentation of quality management systems

Information is the main constituent of documents that make up a quality management system. The main function of information found in process documents is to provide knowledge regarding how to executing a process and to standardize this process by providing a specific path of execution. However, it is not easy to determine a standard level of quality of process information optimal from the viewpoint of the owner and the process executor. Since there is no universal standard that would allow evaluation of the quality of process information, the purpose of the presented studies was to solve the aforementioned problems and to provide practical solutions for document makers to design proper process descriptions. To achieve the main purpose, a methodology for examination of influence characteristics of processes on information requirements of users of process documents was created. The paper presents findings carried out in processes at enterprises and is aimed at finding relation between attributes describing information and characteristics of processes. The paper proposes a set of guidelines developed by the authors for selection of appropriate document characteristics. These guidelines are based on findings collected from the conducted research. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.