Systems within your business
To develop an effective business you need to work ON your business rather than IN it. It doesn’t matter if it is an RTO, or any other small business.
To successfully develop a serious business you need specific information that has been put into systems. To successfully develop a serious RTO business you need systems; a process, a practice by which to obtain that information and once obtained, a method with which to put that information to use in your business productively.
A System
A system is one or more detailed processes where every step of the process is defined and the application or person using those processes performs each step every time the process is executed.
Therefore in order for a system to be beneficial to a business the processes must be very detailed in regards to the tasks that make up the process. Flow charts and checklists work well to describe the processes involved.
Why do you need systems and a quality process?
Consistency wins.
Creating a system and quality process allows you achieve that consistency. It:
- Communicates the organisation’s quality policy and procedures
- Provides improved control of practices and facilitating assurance activities
- Provides the documented bases for auditing the RTO
- Provides continuity of the RTO system and its requirements during changing circumstances
- Provides a basis for training new personnel
- Provides a basis for external purposes (tenders, contracts);
- Demonstrates compliance of the RTO with quality requirements
The essence of any Quality Assurance (QA) system is basically the encouragement of good management. The standards for RTOs are based on ISO 9000 series that requires that a company develop its own formal documented system in which it declares its processes and then ensures that it follows what has been declared. To show that it is in fact doing so, processes carried out have to be properly recorded and be available for inspection, or ‘audit’. Commitment to quality has to come from the top. Management has to get everyone involved with the company to understand corporate objectives and participate actively in achieving them.
To develop an effective business you need to work ON your business rather than IN it.
The RTO Standards are a system
The Standards for RTOs is a management system that gives a measure of confidence that a certain level of quality is being achieved in the service being provided. You are trying to achieve an approach of “get it right every time” which is based on
- clearly stated corporate and service objectives,
- policies developed to meet these objectives,
- good knowledge of how the customer is to be kept happy,
- using the correct material and manpower for the work,
- staff performing at their best through correct information and training and under proper levels of supervision.
This performance is required to be verified and evidence of achieved standards has to be not only collected but properly kept.
Being your own RTO involves the development of your internal documentation including:
- Quality manual, Policies, procedures, Processes
- Staff information and Candidate information
These provide you with the systems that will provide your RTO with ….a foundation that provides a structured approach to all the steps you do. This structure will enable the steps to be repeated time and time again.