Clause 6 Planning
6.2 Organizational objectives and planning to achieve them
Clause Criteria
The organization shall establish objectives at relevant functions and levels.
The objectives shall:
a) be consistent with the policy;
b) be measurable (if practicable);
c) take into account applicable requirements;
d) be monitored;
e) be communicated;
f) be updated as appropriate.
The organization shall retain documented information on the objectives.
When planning how to achieve its objectives, the organization shall determine:
what will be done;
what resources will be required;
who will be responsible; when it will be completed;
how the results will be evaluated.
Explanation
The text is self-explanatory; readers should note links to Clause 5.1 Leadership and commitment and Clause 5.2 Policy.
Objectives should be specified in a way that allows determination of their fulfilment to be made.
By including the caveat “where practicable”, it is acknowledged that there may be situations when it may not be feasible to measure an objective.
The status and progress on objectives are periodically checked in accordance with the requirements of monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation (Clause 9.1) and updated as appropriate, consistent with the requirements of Continual improvement (Clause 10.2).
Objectives are communicated in accordance with the requirements of the Communication clause (7.4).
Documentation of the objectives is created and controlled in accordance with the requirements of Clause 7.5 Documented information .
The actions required to achieve the objectives (i.e., ‘what’) and the associated timeframe (i.e., ‘when’) are determined.
In addition, assignment of responsibility for doing it (i.e., ‘who’) is established in accordance with the requirements of Clause 5.3 Organization roles, responsibilities and authorities .
Any need for budgets, specialized skills, technology or infrastructure, for example, are determined and provided in accordance with the requirements of resources. (Clause 7.1).
A mechanism for evaluating the overall results of what was accomplished is determined in accordance with the requirements of monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation (Clause 9.1) and reported in accordance with Management Review (Clause 9.3).
Chief Explainer:
Phil Byrne