IMS

 Integrated Management System

What is IMS?

An integrated management system can be defined as a single system that is created to manage different aspects of an organization's operations with different standards like the quality, environmental and health and safety management standards etc. An integrated management system basically combines all the related system standards of a business into a single system for ease of management and to have smooth operations across the business platform. Thus the IMS comes into the picture wherein safety, quality control and environmental management have common points and all of these work for a common goal which is to make the organization work more effectively and efficiently. This is how the Integrated Management System works, by merging existing system and implementing certain best practices across the organization. This merger enables businesses to streamline their management which helps companies to increase efficiency, save time by carefully handling all the elements of the management system.

 What does IMS do?

A successful IMS removes unnecessary tasks and activities related to many management systems used by the organization. In these cases, audits need not be conducted for each and every standard, but a single audit is enough for all of the standards. An Integrated Management System enables a combined audit that covers the requirements of specific standards. Integration has become seamless due to the high-level structure Annex SL. Standards based on the Annex SL structure include around ten clauses of similar structures that makes it easier to see and understand and share the processes of each standard.

Benefits of IMS

An Integrated Management System brings in many benefits to an organization:

Improves Performance:

IMS brings in continual improvement with their streamlined procedures. This helps businesses to improve quality, health and safety and increases productivity.

Increase in speed and cost-efficient:

With integrated management, through shared tasks and processes, the costs and time required to implement and manage the system could be reduced. When a company has to conduct only one audit and has to have only one management review, the company is thus able to save both time and money.

Consistency in the business

With an integrated management in place, the tasks becomes simpler and there’s no complexity involved. When the processes are aligned together and when there’s a shared system, your company’s procedures become more logical and consistent. This makes a company’s business goal to stand out giving way for a clearer vision and defined objectives that paves way for the success of a company.

Other benefits of implementing an Integrated Management System include:

l Avoiding duplication of tasks and not wasting time in unnecessary efforts

l Reducing unnecessary auditing efforts by separately auditing individual standards

l Achieving certification that is cost effective

l Efficient usage of management’s time

l Using of resources to manage systems in an efficient manner

 The main purpose of ISO standards is to help an organization perform tasks and activities efficiently. If the management in your organization make your staff duplicate the work, then the effort is unnecessary and do not add any value to the organization. Therefore, in such circumstances, implementing an Integrated Management System into your existing operations is a ideal choice.