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PERPUST AKA AN UNIVERSITI MALAYA

Kekal Abadi 21 (2) 2002

IN P'URSUIT OF QUALITY - TOWARD MS ISO 9001 :2000 : THE EXPERIENCEOF THE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA LIBRARY

Sossamma George, Pauziaah Mohamad and Kiran KaurQuality Assurance and Project Management Unit,

University of Malaya Library

Abstract The article reports on the implementation of MS ISO 9001 :2000 in the UniversityofMalaya Library and is based on practical experiences of the University of Malaya Librarybetween the years 2QOOand 2002 in relation to the implementation of the QualityManagement System in the University of Malaya.

Abstrak: Artikel ini melaporkan bagaimana Perpustakaan Universiti Malaya melaksanakanpiawaian kualiti MS ISO 9001:2000. Pengamalan praktik Perpustakaan Universiti Malayadari tahun 2000 sehingga 2002 di dalam proses melaksanakan Sistem PengurusanKualiti di Universiti Malaya diperihalkan.

Introduction

The quality program and the implementation ofthe Quality Management System in theUniversity of Malaya Library began as part andparcel of the quality efforts of its parentorganization, the University of Malaya. Thereason for seeking ISO certification as stated bythe Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato' Dr. AnuarZaini, in his 2002 New Year Message wasessentially to address the various criticisms fromthe public and the mass media (ranging from thequality of graduates produced to poormanagement and services, including flaggingimage problems) and to send a clear message toour customers/stakeholders that radicalimprovements were taking place [1].

Thus the University Management took thedecision to embark on a quest for quality,specifically, to achieve MS ISO 9001: 2000certification, as its strategy toward change andcontinuous improvement. The objective ofstarting the quality program at the University, maybe said to be driven by a desire to improveteaching and learning, management processesand customer services within the University ratherthan to merely obtain the ISO certification for itspromotional value.

I. The Quality Program - The Initial Phase

Prior to beginning the quality program, thegroundwork towards building on a team workculture and changing mindsets was undertakenin 2000 by the University through its Nadiprogram. This team work cum quality culture

~'''~'wa~e'tin place and almost 10 % of the• ·UfliVe'f~l!¥:}ta~~embers from all categories,pa.wcrt)~d~in'·team building cum physical

endurance courses held in Sungkai, Perak. Onthe Library's part, efforts were undertaken to holdminiature Nadi camps. A total of four one-daycamps were held at the Rumah University(University House) for the Library staff. Thesecamps were coordinated by the Library Nadi groupwith the aim of fostering togetherness and teamspirit. The culmination ofthe library's Nadi programwas a one-day camp at Sungkai on 25 July 2001when 180 Library staff underwent a muchabbreviated version of the actual team buildingcum physical endurance course.

The first definite involvement of the University ofMalaya Library in the quality program began in2001 with a workshop entitled Bengkel SOP(Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)Workshop). Selected staff of the Universityrepresenting the Faculties, the Administrationand the Library participated in this Workshopwhich was held twice from 14 to 18 January 2001and 27 February to 3 March 2001. A total of 7library staff attended this workshop, namely, Dato'Dr. Zaiton Osman, Noriyah Md. Nor, TunkuNoraidah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Mukhtiar Kaur,

. Pauziaah Mohamad, Sossamma George andHusin Leman.

The objective of the Workshop was to introduceparticipants to the general concepts andrequirements of MS ISO 9001: 2000, the qualitymanagement system, the quality manual, qualityprocedures and action plans. At that initial stageonly 5 core processes [Proses teras (PT)] wereidentified for the whole University. These wereTeaching and Learning (PT01), Research (PT02),Human Resource Management (PT03),Infrastructure Management (PT04) and Financial

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Kekal Abadi 21 (2) 2002

Management (PT05). For each core process[Proses teras ( PT)], a quality manual had to bewritten. During that workshop, questions on theidentification of the core processes were raised.Dato' Dr. Zaiton Osman, the then Chief Librarian,suggested that other equally important processeshad to be included and that the 5 core processesidentified were not comprehensive. As a result ofthe disccussion held, other core processes wereidentified and as at May 2001, there were 13 coreprocesses of which "Information TechnologyManagement" was one. The Library wasincorporated within this core process.

The second workshop entitled "Bengkel PenulisanSOP" ( SOP Documentation Workshop) was heldfrom 3 to 5 July 2001. The Workshop wasattended by 8 Library staff members headed byDato' Dr. Zaiton Osman and included NoriyahMohd Nor, Che Puteh Ismail, Mukhtiar Kaur,Sossamma George, Pauziaah Mohamad, KiranKaur and Husin Leman. During that Workshopfurther discussions were held and itwas decidedthat two more core processes were to be included,viz, Library Management (PT14) and Museum andGallery Management (PT15). Library Managementwas added because it was difficult to mergelibrary processes with hard-core Information andCommunication Technology systemmanagement. Following that Workshop, thedocumentation! writers' team for the core processLibrary Management (PT14) (Pasukan PenulisProses Teras Pengurusan Perpustakaan), wasformally set up and comprised the following:

Head: Dato' Dr. Zaiton Osman(Chief Librarian)

Deputy: Noriyah Md. Nor( Deputy Chief Librarian)

Secretary: .Pauziaah Mohamad (Main Library)Members: Chan Sai Noi (Research and

Academic Services Division,Main Library)

Che Puteh Ismail (Za'ba MemorialLibrary)

Husin Leman (Chief Clerk, MainLibrary)

Kiran Kaur (Main Library)Mukhtiar Kaur (Law Library)Sharipah Hanon Bidin (Library

System Management Division,Main Library)

Sossamma George(Main library)Tunku Noraidah Tuanku Abdul

Rahman ( Medical Library)Prof. Wan Abu Bakar Wan Abas

(Engineering Faculty)

Assoc. Prof Dr. Michael Ong Ah Hup(Dental Faculty)

Assoc. Prof Dr. Mohd ZambriZainuddin (Science Faculty)

Assoc. Prof Dr. Nor Azila MohdAdnan (Medical Faculty)

Assoc. Prof Dr. Noraini Idris (EducationFaculty)

Abrizah Abdullah (Computer Science andInformation Technology Faculty)

On 23 July 2001, a presentation of the mainactivities and related flow charts for the coreactivity Library Management (PT14) was held for5 other responsibility centers. The purpose wasto obtain feedback from other responsibilitycenters so as to obtain a holistic perspective ofLibrary activities.

The feedback received provided answers to thefollowing questions:

1. Were there activities left out or notcovered in the list of main activitiespresented?

2. Were the main activities listedappropriate?

3. Did the activities listed match that of theflowchart?

4. Was the flow chart reasonable? (in termsof scope, logic and flow)

5. Was the flow chart too brief?6. Did the flow chart take into account the

interface across core processes?7. Did the flow chart take into account the

current situation and changes in the nextsix months?

II. The Documentation Phase

Drawing Up Procedures and Instructions

The ISO Committee for PT14 (LibraryManagement) moved into the documentationphase in July 2001. This proved a verychallenging and demanding phase as itrequired the actual formulation of the qualityprocedures, the drawing up of flow chartsand work instructions for the services andfunctions of PT14. Understanding the standardsand interpreting the technical jargon of thestandards and relating them to our coreprocesses, learning to use appropriatesoftware for the documentation, namelyMicrosoft Visio 20uO, for the flow charting, weresome of the new experiences at that stage.

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Kekal A.badi 21 (2) 2002

The ISO' Committee for the Library also had to 'work within an extremely tight time schedule setby the University of Malaya Central ISOCommittee. The Central Committee had set 31October 2001 as the deadline for alldocumentation to be submitted by all thecore processes identified. Needless to say inorder to meet this deadline, the Library ISOCommittee had to work late into the night till 10prn everyday for almost 3 weeks. The challengesduring this period were many and to try anddescribe them in hindsight seemed a little out ofplace and even comical, but to be fair to all, ifanything that was a time when various skills androles of the team members were called upon.These might be categorized as the interpersonal,informational and decision-making skills of thegroup for the various situations and episodes thattook place in the meeting room. Keeping the groupmotivated and enthusiastic was perhaps thegreatest challenge for Dato' Dr. Zaiton Osman,the Head of the Library ISO Committee. Therewere times during the drawing up of workprocedures and flow charts, when nerves werefrayed or views and opinions differed strongly, andthe interpersonal and decisional skills of the leaderand the group members were required to keepdiscussions focused. Usually the tacit knowledgeof those doinq the work were required to draw upwork processes, flows and resources(informational skills). To allow fol' a holisticperspective, representatives from otherdepartments were required to ask probingquestions, sometimes even narve questions, soas to break away from the natural tendencies tomake assumptions, particularly when all in theteam had similar backgrounds. Nevertheless,between taking tea/coffee breaks and snackingon "assam" (pickled tidbits) and keeping theatmosphere light and jovial, the energy levelsfor the completion of the tedious task at handwere maintained and on 31st October 2001, theteam sent 3 boxes containing 69 qualityprocedures and its corresponding flow charts aswell as relevant guidelines and work instructionsto the Central Committee.

Refining Documentation

Subsequently, the Library ISO Committee satthrough with members of the ISO CentralCommittee in a 3-day Workshop on ContentChecking of Quality Procedures for PT 14 LibraryManagement. The Workshop members wentthrough all the documentation of workprocedures and guidelines. This led to furtherchanges. In some cases, procedures were split

~p to smaller, more comprehensible workprocedures. This resulted in the number ofquality procedures for the Library growing innumbers to a total of 75 quality procedures and11 guidelines. The general feeling at this point oftime was perhaps for the first time in the historyof the Library, it possessed a reasonablythorough set of documentation of its operationsand work procedures. All this had brought us tothe close o. 2001. The next phase was theimplementation phase and this began in 2002 andagain the Central ISO Committee led the way.

III. The Implementation Phase

QMS Awareness and FamiliarizationPrograms

The implementation of the Quality ManagementSystem (QMS) at the University went throughvarious stages. The programs were coordinatedby the Central ISO Committee. By May 2002,there was a Restructuring of Quality DocumentsWorkshop held by the Central ISO Committeeand as a result of that, the core processes anddocumentation for the University QMS saw areorganization. Some core processes weremerged and consequently, the number of qualityprocedures were reduced, and what remained afterthe reorganization were 10 core processes. Asfor Library Management, it became known asPT08 instead of PT14, and its quality procedureswere reorganized to 3 quality procedures (PK),42 work instructions (AK) and 10 Guidelines (GP).The Library Management also appointedPauziaah Mohamed as Documents Manager/Controller (OM) and Sossamma George asQuality Manager (QM), appointments that neitherreadily accepted. The QMS for the whole of theUniversity may be summarized as follows:

Table 1 : University of Malaya Quality Documents

Document Type No

Quality Manual

Quality Procedures 29

Work Instructions 426

Job Specifications 21

Guidelines 17

Total 494

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Kekal Abadi 21 (2) 2002

The University ISO Committee also held aworkshop entitled 'Bengkel PenghayatanSistem Pengurusan Berkualti (QMS) dan AuditBerlandaskan Budaya Kekitaaan (Workshopon Internalizing the Quality ManagementSystem (QMS) and Auditing Based on TeamCulture) from 10 to 12 May 2002 in Tekam,Pahang. This was attended by Dato' Dr. ZaitonOsman and Mrs Zuraidah Ibrahim, Head of theLibrary's Nadi group. The participants wereintroduced to the concept of auditing throughsimulation exercises.

Realizing the paramount importance ofparticipation of all levels of staff in theimplementation of the QMS, the Library ISOCommittee held a number of briefings andworkshops with the objective of making theentire staff force aware and familiar with theQuality Management System (QMS). The firstactivity of the awareness program began witha workshop entitled " Bengkel PenerapanBudaya Kualiti Dalam PerkhidmatanPerpustakaan" (Workshop on Developing theQuality Culture in Library Services) held on20 May 2002 for all Library staff. To achieveits objective, the Library had to be closed for aday during the semester break so that staffworking on shifts could be included. Thisworkshop was presented by Dato' Dr ZaitonOsman who not only covered the QualityManagement System in great detail (the vision,mission, quality policy, manual quality etc) butalso related it to the core activity of theUniversity, which is the" Learning experienceof the student" and the link to the varioussupport services which included the Library.The emphasis of the workshop was theimportance of customer focus in the QMS. Thisworkshop also required the participants to beinvolved in the activities of the session whichconsisted of a number of scenarios createdbasedon the problem-based learning approachwith a customer focus.

The Library ISOCommittee also held a numberof familiarization of quality procedure sessionswhich aimed to get the staff and processowners involved in a particular quality procedureandwork instruction guideline. These sessionsinevitably resulted in refinements, changes anderror corrections to quality procedures andwork instruction guidelines. To deal withdocument control, the ISO Central Committedecided to convert the QMS documentation toa CD-ROM format. All core processes (PTs)were issued with the complete set of QMS

documentation in the new format by 10 June2002.

Adequacy Audit

With the documentation in place, the Universitywas ready to forge ahead to the next stage,i.e. the Adequacy Audit, which was held on 8July 2002. Three auditors from SIRIM QAS Sdn.Bhd.were at the University to ascertain whetherall documentation 'i'ri relation to MS ISO9001 :2000 was in order. There were 6observations/comments regarding thedocumentation from the auditors during theAdequacy Audit and these were rectified by theCentral ISO Committee. The auditor'srecommended unconditionally, that theCompliance Audit be conducted from 11to 13November 2002.The Central Committee toowasreorganized and officially set up on 7 August2001 with a new name, QAMU (QualityAssurance Management Unit). QAMU madethe relevant corrections to the qualitydocuments and these were updated for all theresponsibility centers (PTjs) -17 academicresponsibility centers and 7 non-academicresponsibility centers.

Internal Auditing

The next necessary condition before theUniversity could go for the Compliance Auditwas to carry out the Internal Audit. TheUniversity had to build its team of auditors andfor that purpose several workshops were heldfor recruited selected staff across the wholeUniversity. The participants had to go througha grueling exercise of understanding thetechnical jargon of the MS ISO 9001 :2000 andrelatingstrange jargon such as " non-conformingproducts", " product realization", "verification,validation, monitoring, inspection and testactivities" to the their own work processes. Forexample, who would think of a student owingfines or a wrongly shelved book as a " non-conforming product". Nevertheless a team ofsome 97 certified internal auditors were trainedand the first internal auditing session wascarried out from 23 to 25 July 2002. The secondfollow-up internal auditing session was carriedout from August to October 2002.

As for the Library, Dato' Dr. Zaiton conductedbriefings for all the Library staff from 17-19 July2002 to prepare the staff for the internal auditingsessions. Additionally, QAMU too conductedQuality Briefings and talks throughout the

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Kekal Abadi 21 (2) 2002

University. To quote from a report by Brophy"It is impossible to communicate too much.Staff overwhelmed by day to day tasks needconstant motivation and constantcommunication if they are to be committed tothe system" [2, p.6].

The first internal auditing session which coveredthe core processes of teaching and learning,research and all related support servicesbrought up a total of 417 Non-conformanceReports (NCRs) and 418 Observations. TheNCRs that related to the Library totalled 31,and these were promptly closed. Some 65observations were taken note of. The massivescale of the auditing undertaken was again afirst for QAMU and everyone involved. Thegeneral opinion about the whole exercise wasthat auditing could and should have been donemore thoroughly.

The follow-up internal auditing session whichwas carried out much more professionally bysome 27 Auditors, covered teaching andlearning for undergraduate and postgraduateprogrammes and again related supportservices. In the case of the Library, the auditingprocess began with the Main Library followedwith randomly selected branch! speciallibraries, in relation to teaching and learning.In that audit, the Library was issued 20 NCRs.The NCRs receivedwere related to the followingclauses of the standard:- clause 4.2.4 (Controlof documents), clause 7.6 (Control ofmonitoring and measuring devices) and clause8.2.3 (Monitoring and measurement ofprocesses). These NCswere also closed withinthe time limit given.

The Compliance Audit

Havingcompleted the internal auditing process,the next phase was the Compliance Auditscheduled from 11to 14November 2002. Therewas much prepartion to be done. Moreinformation had to be conveyed to the staff toget them ready for the audit. That was donethrough briefings, meetings, and discussionsat both the University and Library levels. Staffwere briefed on what to expect during the fourdays of auditing, what to have ready in termsof records, checklists, files etc, to be preparedto be audited by being familiar with the qualitydocuments, and to be open and positive whenqueried. Meetings were held with the solepurpose of going through their qualityproceduresat each unit level and to ensure staff

were abiding by their work instructions andguidelines so that "we were saying what wedo, and doing what we say". As part of the ISOFestival that the University held, bannersannouncing the QMS and the ComplianceAuditwere strung up in the Library and the campus.The Nadi group of the. Library also put up anexhibition with the theme "Universilty of MalayaLibrary: Towards ISO 9001:2000 Certification".This exhibition, held within the Librarypremises, publicized the QMS and theimminent Compliance Audit.

In terms of document control, each departmentor unit in the Library system received a currentversion of the quality documents (QMS) in bothCD-ROM and print formats for their referenceand use. Amendments and changes that weremade or suggested were recorded onamendment proposal forms which weresubmitted to QAMU to be incorporated into thequality documents. As QAMU could not makeamendments immediately, these were recordedinto an errata log and later made availablethrough the Web and in print format.

Complaints received through the complaints!feedback! proposal system instituted byQAMUwere also monitored and acted on. The Libraryreceived 33 complaints! feedback!proposalsbetweenAugust and September 2002. Of these7 were resolved while the rest were acted onand monitored.

Other preparations included updating theorganization chart for the whole Library as wellas for each department/unit; putting up clientcharters and posters on the vision, missionand quality objectives of the University and theLibrary; improving the signage of the Library;carrying out general cleanliness campaigns;updating inventory and tagging records;updating staff names, qualifications andcompetencies lists; conducting fire drills, andimproving filing systems and quality records forthe various quality procedures. A great deal ofteam work, cooperation, patience, andmonitoring was required during this time.

For the Library 14 November 2002 wasjudgement day. One auditor was at the MainLibrary for a whole morning and she wentthrough our quality procedures in general. Theauditor picked the acquisitions qualityprocedure specifically and carried out the audit.It was indeed a tense morning and by the endof the audit, the relief experienced was shared

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by all in the campus. The results of theCompliance Audit were announced on the lastday of the audit. The University received arecommendation for certification conditionalupon satisfactory resolution of 8 minor non-conformance reports. These were duly attendedto and closed by the respective people involved.Corrective actions taken were reported to SIRtMby QAMU. During the post audit ManagementRep'resentative (MR) Meeting with QualityManagers (QM) on 25 November 2002, theactual corrective action plan and the requiredrecords were discussed and finalized. On 23December 2002, we received an email fromQAMU that the Chief Auditor of SIRIM QASSdn. Bhd., acknowledged receipt of thedocuments sent and that all the NCRs wereresolved and closed.

Benefits of the QMS

Throughout the whole experience of planningand developing the QMS and documenting thework procedures, everyone had his share offrustration and doubts, questioning therelevance and benefits of being ISO-certified.Having gone through the laborious process,we admit to the following benefits:

1. We now possess a full set ofdocumentation of core procedures that arebeing carried out at the Library.

2. We have a complete and ready madetraining tool for all work procedures.

3. We have now established acommunication system with our usersthrough the Complaints/Feedback/Proposal form that is available to all. Weare now in a better position than ever to beconstantly in touch with our customerneeds through this system.

References:

4. We are better able to monitor and takecorrective action and improve on ourmethods and processes as with the QMSin place, we are in a better position to beevaluated and to carry out self assessmentthrough Management Reviews.

5. Due to the QMS, we, as anorganization, are more aware of otherprocedures outside our own work scopeand the links between the core...processes.

Conclusion

Thus the Library has obtained ISO certification,not in isolation, but in support of the Universitycore activities of teaching, learning andresearch. However, the real question is whatwe have learnt from that and where -dowe gofrom here.

To a large extent the answers to the abovequestions were given by the Vice-Chancellorduring his recent 2003 New Year Message."What next?" he asked. The answers that rangthrough were continuous improvements whichrequired benchmarking, collaborativemanagement, good governance, selfassessment and a commitment from everyoneinvolved towards quality [7].

In conclusion, to quote Confucius "Ajourney ofa thousand miles begins with a single step"and as far as the University of Malaya Libraryis concerned, the first step has been taken but,more importantly, the journey, as in the pursuitof quality, continues. The destination is for timeto tell.

1. Prof Dato' Dr.Anuar Zaini. Perutusan Tahun Baru 2002, 16 Januari 2002, Auditorium KompleksPerdanasiswa. [Internet http://www.um.edu.my/darimejanc/utusan2002.htm; 17/12/2002]

2. Johannsen, Carl Gustav.' ISO 9000 -a managerial approach". Library Management, vol, 17 nO.51996,pp.14-24.

3. Laporan Prestasi Sistem Pengurusan Kualiti Unit Pengurusan Penjaminan Kualiti (QAMU) UniversitiMalaya BiI.1/2002.

4. Laporan Audit Dalaman Bil. 1/2002 Universiti Malaya.5. Laporan Audit Dalaman Susulan Universiti Malaya Ogos - Oktober 2002.6. Laporan dari Perpustakaan Mesyuarat Wakil Pengurusan Bersama Pengurus Kualiti PTj (various

reports).7. Prof Dato' Dr.Anuar Zaini. Perutusan Tahun Baru 2003, 7 Januari 2003, DewanTunku Canselor.

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