Objectives without baselines: planning an auditable SMS
A 250-person logistics company, Hanseatic Freight, is implementing an SMS for its internal IT shared service centre. The IT director has drafted three objectives for the coming year: “improve user satisfaction,” “reduce incidents,” and “become more proactive.” No baseline exists: the service desk records ticket counts in a spreadsheet that is overwritten weekly, satisfaction is measured by an annual survey with a 4% response rate, and problem management is informal. The implementation plan lists only “train staff on ISO 20000” and “buy a tool.” The CFO has approved a budget, but no one can say how the objectives will be measured or who owns them. An internal audit is scheduled in five months, and the certification body has asked for evidence of planning. The IT director believes that certification is mostly about having the right documents and wants to start writing policies immediately.
1. Assess the draft objectives against ISO/IEC 20000-1 planning requirements. What should be changed?
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Objectives must be consistent with policy, measurable where practicable, monitored, communicated and updated. “Improve user satisfaction” has no metric, baseline, target or owner; “reduce incidents” is ambiguous-volume, major incidents, repeat incidents or resolution time?; “become more proactive” is a slogan. Hanseatic should first establish reliable baselines: ticket data with stable definitions, a survey with a usable sample and response rate, and incident trends. Then set specific objectives with owners, timeframes and evaluation methods. Planning to achieve objectives also requires what will be done, resources, responsibilities, completion dates and how results will be evaluated. Writing policies before understanding data and gaps may produce documents that do not reflect reality. The plan should include risk and opportunity actions, not just training and a tool purchase.
2. What should the implementation plan include to move from intent to an auditable SMS, and how should competence and awareness be addressed?
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The plan should start with a gap analysis against the standard and a clear scope, then sequence processes, roles, resources, communication, documentation and measurement. A tool purchase is an enabler, not an implementation. Competence requires defined criteria for roles, training or other actions, and evaluation of effectiveness; awareness requires people to understand the policy, objectives, their contribution and the implications of nonconformity. The plan should identify who needs what, by when, and how evidence will be retained. It should also include milestones for internal audit and management review so that certification is not the first test. Ownership should sit with named managers, and progress should be reviewed at management review with decisions and resources. That gives the certification body evidence of planning, not just a document set.