Q: What is ISO 9000?

A: The ISO 9000 series is a set of international standards and guidance documents for quality management developed by the International Organization for Standardization.

Strictly speaking, "ISO 9000" is the catalog number of one of the standards in this series. But since this standard describes the fundamental principles that are the basis for the other documents, the term "ISO 9000" is often used to refer to the series as a whole.

"Quality management" is the practice of ensuring customer satisfaction by consistently meeting customer expectations. The ISO 9000 series provides organizations with a set of tools for determining customer needs and expectations, establishing goals and targets for meeting those expectations, evaluating how well those goals and targets are being achieved, and continuously improving performance.

The series includes documents dealing with fundamentals and vocabulary, quality management systems, auditing and performance improvements.