The organization shall review the requirements related to the product. This review shall be conducted prior to the organization's commitment to supply a product to the customer (e.g. submission of tenders, acceptance of contracts or orders, acceptance of changes to contracts or orders) and shall ensure that

Records of the results of the review and actions arising from the review shall be maintained (see 4.2.4).

(from BS EN ISO 9001:2000)

This clause gets to the heart of customer satisfaction and can be thought of in general terms as preventive action. The key to this clause is the second sentence, which states that the requirements review "shall be conducted prior to the organization's commitment to supply product to the customer." In other words, before that eager sales manager commits to manufacturing a new product for your organization that will supply him with a great year-end bonus, he needs to make sure that top management is aware of the commitment to the customer and that a plan is in place (resources, distribution, etc.) to ensure the product can be delivered.

This can be a difficult requirement for many organizations because, obviously, everyone wants to bring in new business and increase the bottom line. Indeed, it's hard to imagine a salesperson saying to a new customer, "No, I'm sorry, we can't possibly do that." The intent of this clause is not to deny new business but to ensure that the business can fulfill customer expectations. In reality, sometimes expectations can't always be met. But proper planning and communication can minimize that from happening in the long term. Research shows that the company that figures out how to plan for these issues and manage risk will grow its business in a sustainable manner.

To meet the clause requirements, you might want to create documented procedures to ensure that:

• Everyone understands what is expected.
• Any differences between what the customer is asking for and what can be delivered are resolved between the two parties before acceptance.
• The company can actually deliver what is being asked for.

Additionally, a system for any changes to a contract must be established as well as how the change information is to be passed to the affected departments within the company's organization. Records of these requirements must be kept and classified as quality records. It also is recommended that organizations have a documented procedure for this to avoid trouble.