GENEVA-The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a combined book and CD giving organizations advice on how to make integrated use of management system standards.

“The Integrated Use of Management System Standards” distils the experience and expertise of an ISO task force comprising 16 members drawn from business organizations representing a range of countries and sectors, as well as from standards bodies and academia.

“The book provides a good mixture of theory and practice and will be useful for beginners as well as for the experienced,” says Petra Eckl, leader of the ISO task force. “It will form a bridge between the increasing number of ISO management system standards that meet specific concerns of organizations and their stakeholders, and the user organization’s own and unique management approach.”

The book acknowledges that there is a market need for separate management system standards addressing different aspects, issues or risks that organizations need to manage. It provides guidance on how organizations can apply the different standards in a combined way, integrated with their business processes.

Based on the practical experience of organizations that have successfully made integrated use of management system standards, the book identifies a variety of methodologies, tools and practices.

The accompanying CD contains real-life examples extracted from 15 case studies made in a variety of situations. Examples are included from companies in Asia, South America and the Middle East, as well as Europe and North America. Multinational companies are included as well as smaller ones, in different sectors of activity, for profit and not-for-profit, applying different sets of management system standards.