THE APPLICATION OF THE ISO 9001 AT THE SUPPORT FOUNDATION EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND AGENCY IN LITHUANIA: ADVANTAGES AND ISSUES ARISING Jurgita Sakalyte SF ESFA Lithuania

About the Agency Support Foundation European Social Fund Agency was established on 22nd  August, 2002 by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and the Ministry of Education and Science.

Programmes administered by the Agency Phare Economic and Social Cohesion Programme (is over); European Community initiative Equal; European Refugee Fund; European Social Fund measures.

Necessity for quality management system in the Agency Number of people in 2005 increased twice in comparison to 2004;

Necessity for quality management system in the Agency Due to the increased number of people the necessity for detailed procedures arose; Due to quite complicated organisational structure the necessity for better management arose; Necessity for performance review tool arose.

Quality management experience in the ESFA April 2005: Quality assurance and control division was established July 2005: Procedure manual was approved. August 2005: Quality manual, quality policy and quality objectives were approved. August 2005: Annual plan of quality audits was approved 18th of May 2006: the Agency was certified with the ISO 9001 Quality management system certificate for the activity “Administration of ESF measures”.

Advantages the Agency perceived with ISO 9001/2000 The system of doing things became formal, consistent; All key processes were documented, it was determined what kind of procedural documentation was required; A vehicle for training new employees was provided;

Advantages the Agency perceived with ISO 9001/2000 The Agency began applying process approach: plan, do, check, act: Plan: the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with customer requirements and the organization‘s policies are established; Do: the processes are implemented; Check: processes and products are monitored and measured against Agency’s pollicy, objectives and requirements for the product and the results are reported; Act: actions to continually improve process performance are taken.

Advantages the Agency perceived with ISO 9001/2000 Customer focus was strengthened: The Agency monitors information relating to customer’s satisfaction.Customer satisfaction is measured by the number of written complaints (at the moment). Complaints are treated as nonconformities, analysed, corrective actions are foreseen; It is planned to prepare questionnaires and use them for the measurement of customer and end user of the services (applicants / project promoters) satisfaction.

Advantages the Agency perceived with ISO 9001/2000 With ISO 9001 the Agency began controlling quality documents – better document traceability and management appeared: a) documents are approved for adequacy prior to issue; b) documents are reviewed and updated as necessary and reapproved; c) everyone in the Agency has access to up-to-date documents; d) it is prevented the unintended use of obsolete documents.

Issues arising The Agency began applying this system only for the administration of ESF measures at the very beginning (only this process was certified), therefore, some kind of inconsistency appeared; The was a disagreement about the ‘customer’s’ concept; It was difficult to implement, not enough attention was given ensuring that the concept was ‘sold’ to staff across the Agency;

Issues arising The Agency encountered with the organisational and staff resistance to change; It is still hard to maintain enthusiasm for the system; More documentation appeared (for internal audits and nonconformances, different registers, etc.). For some people, the quality system seems overloaded by the documents. It is often thought that very detailed procedures, many checklists, etc. are needed for the ISO and this is accepted as unnecessary bureaucracy, however they are influenced by Lithuanian general rules for EU funds administration.

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