OREANDA-NEWS. On August 09, 2007 Interregional Distribution Grid Company of the Center was the only one among the IDGCs of Russia to be awarded the Certificate of Quality Management System Conformity to the Requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 International Standard. The Certificate was presented by BSI Management System, reported the press-centre of IDGC-1.

“We aimed not only to obtain the Certificate, but to receive an effective company management system”, Evgeny Makarov, General Director of IDGC-1 says. “We needed such an IDGC management, which would provide us with leadership. Today we have made the first step, and the management system, designed as a task management system, which combines it with the management of functional blocks, projects and processes, shall operate effectively”.

“The certification of JSC IDGC of the Center is an important event not only for the IDGC, but for those 80 power companies, which are involved in the QSM project, as well”, Vladimir Andronov, Chief Expert of the Project Group of Technical Controlling Service of OAO RAO UERS. “The most important thing is that the company management understands ISO 9001 high potential and considers it to be an effective management tool”.

The project on QMS development and its introduction in the central office of the Company was started in March 2006. The reason for the project was the Action Program for UERS Reliability Growth, stipulating the requirements for the management system of distribution grid companies, which was approved by OAO RAO UERS. According to this Program Order No. 788 “On the  Introduction of Quality Management Systems in the Power Grid Companies of OAO RAO UERS” was issued on 05.12.2005.

“The most important prerequisite for QMS introduction was understanding the current market requirements by the Company’s management”, Dmitry Aleshin, Chief of Process and Project Management Center of JSC IDCG of the Center, said. Such systems as task management, balanced scorecard management and others are important for successful company development”.

QMS is one of the company management subsystems, the introduction of which will allow to optimize its activities, increase its transparence for management, and reduce risks of the whole business as a whole. The introduction of QMS in JSC IDGC of the Center is one of the most important steps for the establishment of a single operational company with a high capitalization growth and integrated high-tech management system. The increase of investment attraction is a significant result of QMS introduction.

“Practice shows that the brand cost increases in average by 5-6% after certification”, Evgeny Shipilov, Director on Business Development of BSI Management Systems Ltd, said.

The Single Complex Program, stipulating the sequence and duration of work, planned results and executives, responsible for the implementation of the stage-by-stage project, was designed for the effective realization and management of the QMS project.

The QMS development and introduction were carried out in several stages:
1. The first stage determined the goals and tasks of the program as well as a target concept of its realization. The Bylaws and standard documents on the project management were drawn up.

2. The training stage included QMS seminars for the top and middle management, the establishment and training of a QMS group. Members of the QMS internal audit group were not only trained, but also certified in accordance with the ISO 19011:2002 international standard. A staff qualification improvement course on quality management was also developed.

3. The level of correspondence of the current management system to the ISO 9001:2000 requirements resulted in the report to the top management on the diagnostic audit of the IDGC Management System. Besides, recommendations on QMS establishment, development and approval of Quality Policy were included.

4. One of the stages of the QMS introduction project is the stage of identification and description of the Company’s business processes, which was the first step to the process approach. ARIS software products were used as tools of business process visualization. 

The introduction project for ARIS Process Performance Manager (PPM) software product was realized in order to develop the systems of controlling and business process management. ARIS PPM is a flexible and effective tool, which provides information monitoring, displays the condition of process key figures at special control panels, makes it possible to detect “problem points” due to the scale presentation of business processes of different levels, as well as detecting “bottle-necks” in the processes and optimizing execution time.

5. Subsequently, the company worked out and introduced obligatory QMS procedures, Quality Guidelines, carried out an internal QMS audit. The main task of the company’s top management is organizing activities on regular QMS monitoring.

6. The certification audit was carried out by BSI Management Systems CIS Ltd Certification Center in order to confirm the correspondence of QSM of JSC IDGC of the Center to ISO 9001:2000 requirements taking into consideration ISO 10006:2003 at the project management. BSI was chosen as the certification center for its QMS Certification leadership credentials recognized all over the world with its considerable experience and highly professional auditors.

The resolution on the conformity of the Quality Management System of JSC IDGC of the Center to ISO 9001:2000 requirements taking into consideration ISO 10006:2003 Regulations (Quality Management Guidelines at the Designing Stage) was a result of the audit. It is necessary to mention, that JSC IDGC of the Center is the first company in the world to be certified by this standard. This fact is a real advantage of the forthcoming certification on technological maturity level in the field of project management according to the International Project Management Association (IPMA).

It is necessary to mention, that QMS introduction projects are realized in DGCs of the Company’s service area. JSC Tverenergo, JSC Bryanskenergo, JSC Kostromaenergo, JSC Lipetskenergo are the pilots of QMS introduction in DGCs. The certification of the pilots is planned for the end of 2007 – the beginning of 2008, and the certification of other DGCs – for the middle of 2008. The next task shall be the realization of projects on management system introduction on the base of ecological and industrial safety standards (OHSAS 18000, ISO 14000), business process controlling automation by means of high technology (ARIS PPM), as well as the integration of Quality Management Systems and establishment of a QMS single operational company.