Building the airplane in flight: an auditing approach to quality management system development

In June of 2000, Maine DEP (in company with the other five New England states) found itself under EPA pressure to develop and document a quality management system by the end of the calendar year. In the frenzy that followed, the Department decided to use a private sector model for system development that called for a prospectively-focused QM plan that would be implemented through formal auditing. That is, instead of trying in advance to identify all the deficits in departmental quality management, and then assigning individuals and task groups to create structures to fill the gaps, Maine's QMP specifies the future desired system in broad terms. ME-DEP then uses its own cadre of trained auditors to assess current practice against the "condition expected" in the QMP, knowing that in many cases basic quality management practices will need to be developed. This approach assists program managers, particularly (but not exclusively) in areas sensitive to environmental data standards, in creating systems and practices that are rooted in reality, and that are perceived to add value to the Department's core work instead of just additional paperwork. Audit reports create a continuous feedback loop assuring that written procedures document actual operations. Finally, the results of auditing identify areas in which the QM system (and its plan) should be elaborated or refined, which leads to an iterative process by which quality approaches are infused in all areas of DEP operations. In the twelve months following EPA-Region I's initial approval of Maine's QMP, a total of seven audits were completed at various program levels, including two focused on critical QMP elements: Documents and Records; and Computer Hardware/Software. This paper will briefly describe the background and implementation of this approach; identify some of the factors which led to success; and describe, using selected examples, some of the early outcomes of the program.