From process mapping to QMS architecture

Quality initiatives have been on the agenda of business leaders since at least the 1980s. From being a fad at the outset, with a great deal of publicity and conferences featuring big names from the corporate and consulting worlds, quality approaches have gradually earned their letters of nobility, and today constitute one of the options available to business leaders for the operational deployment of their strategies and the creation of value for their stakeholders.

The longevity of the quality tool, as well as that of the professions and functions responsible for implementing it, depends largely on the ability of the tool and its supporters to evolve and adapt to the needs of companies and their stakeholders.

No one imagines that the patterns inherited from the past, however glorious, will enable us to meet all the challenges of today and tomorrow.

This fact sheet opens a new chapter in the "Piloter et animer la qualité" collection of fact sheets, the aim of which is to report on practical and theoretical innovations in quality and quality-related approaches. This chapter will enable us to share ideas, methods and tools that will enable quality initiatives to be enriched and harmonized with other corporate performance management tools, so that we can continue to meet our customers' needs.

In this inaugural fact sheet, you'll find answers to the following questions:

• The end of "process" thinking?

• What trends are we seeing in performance management?

• What are the prospects for quality management system architecture?