Relevant Interested Parties

Who are the Interested Parties of your organization?

Interested parties encompass stakeholders, a person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity of the organization. Relevant interested parties are those that provide significant risk to organizational sustainability if their needs and/or expectations are not met. Interested parties may include:

• Suppliers
• Customers
• Partners
• Employees
• Investors
• Owners
• Bankers
• Regulatory bodies
• Unions
• Competitors
• Society
• Opposing pressure groups

When defining interested parties, organizations only need to determine interested parties that are relevant to their QMS. Once the organization has identified interested parties they will need to determine what their requirements are and have a system to monitor and review those requirements.

It is unnecessary for organizations to have a documented process for this or records capturing your interested parties and their requirements, although it is not a necessity it is highly advised to do so because it will help provide auditors with objective evidence that you are working to meet this requirement if you have documentation to support your process. Our All in One Package includes a documented procedure for meeting the requirements around the Context of your organization. This procedure can also be purchased individually or with our complete Procedures Package.