Association for

Project Management
Business
Management
System

December 2012
2 Association for Project Management

About APM
Formed in 1972, the Association for Project Management (APM) is committed to developing and
promoting professional project, programme and portfolio management across all sectors of industry
through raising awareness and standards in the profession. It enjoys the benefits of a large and
committed volunteer base, dedicated professional staff and outsourced specialist services.

Successful projects are integral to the development of the UK economically, socially and
environmentally. In response to the critical role project management plays in UK society, APM is
committed to developing the profession through its three strategic themes:
1 Development and maintenance of standards and knowledge.
2 The promotion and application of those standards and knowledge.
3 Development and maintenance of the APM infrastructure.
The association is a registered charity with over 19,500 individual and approximately 500
corporate members making it the largest professional body of its kind in Europe. As part of
its strategy to raise awareness and standards in the profession it is currently in the process of
applying for a Royal Charter.

The APM offers membership, qualifications, events, publications and much more.

Objectives
The APM Business Management System (BMS) is the management framework within which all
parts of APM operate.

The objectives of the organisation are established for the business by the APM Board and
devolved to the APM Executive. These objectives are disseminated through the management
group and cascaded throughout the APM’s operational and functional departments.

At the core of the BMS is a policy framework that defines how we operate. All management systems
operating across our business are part of the BMS. This enables us to manage our business and
meet the standards we have set ourselves whilst ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.

Embedded within the delivery of our services and products through the BMS is a commitment
to quality and continual improvement. This increases our probability of enhancing stakeholder
satisfaction and the satisfaction of other interested parties. It gives APM and its stakeholders the
confidence that the provision of services and products are delivered effectively and consistently
to the standards required.

We all share the responsibility for the delivery of high quality products and services and
developing long term relationships with our stakeholders, customers and suppliers in order to
achieve business excellence.
 Quality Manual 3

Standards
Quality policy, systems and processes
The policy framework, defining our policy commitments and standards within the BMS, is
managed and controlled by a formally documented, implemented and maintained governance
process.
Departmental/functional management systems form part of, and align with, the BMS. These
systems reflect the APM Quality Policy which embeds quality into the way we work.
Departmental application of the BMS is appropriate and proportionate to the nature of the
work of the department.
The BMS includes a Quality Policy with supporting Standards that are documented,
implemented and maintained.
Responsibilities, and supporting documentation, are defined within management systems.
Managers and staff are responsible for the quality performance of their individual departments
and outputs.

Quality achievement
APM employees are competent, with the necessary knowledge, training and experience, to
carry out the roles they are required to do.
Nominated quality representatives are identified at appropriate levels within the business
and have responsibility for ensuring the application of the BMS within their department. This
reflects quality requirements and ensures that quality performance is monitored and reported.
All externally provided services are selected, approved, sourced and managed in accordance
with the Contract and Procurement Policy. Provision of external services is subject to regular
review through the management review cycle.
Failings of our management system which have or could have resulted in non-compliance are
investigated and corrected at the earliest opportunity.

Certification and maintenance

APM management systems may be certified externally by a number of recognised awarding
bodies.
The scope, applicability and suppliers of external certifications are reviewed annually to ensure
that the scope of certifications/awards remains relevant and applicable to the business.
Section 7.6 of ISO 9001:2008 is excluded from the scope of the BMS because APM does not
use measuring equipment to verify the quality of its products.
Overdue corrective actions which may impact on the ability to maintain an accreditation are
escalated to operational/functional management to enable corrective or preventative action to
be taken and minimise the risk of a major system failure.
4 Association for Project Management

Stakeholder requirements
Service and Operational Level Agreements (SLA/OLA’s) are used to monitor third party
contracts to and maintain APM’s commitment to provide products and services which
continually meet stakeholders’ quality criteria.
Processes are defined to monitor stakeholder satisfaction and advocacy and to achieve
business objectives.
Processes are defined to manage the planning and implementation of new or changed
products/services to stakeholder requirements.
Processes are defined for handling stakeholder communications, including feedback, contract
changes, enquiry handling and stakeholder complaints.
Appropriate resources are made available to fulfil stakeholder requirements.
Where APM design, deliver and maintain services, processes are defined to manage these
activities to meet stakeholder requirements and defined quality criteria.

Policy communication
Quality, standards, systems and procedures within the BMS are communicated to all persons
working within the organisation so that they are aware of their obligations.
Internal communications support the promotion of the BMS, including changes and
improvement initiatives.
Lessons learned from process, audit and quality reviews are communicated within the
organisation at management and operational levels, to improve working practices.
Staff are actively encouraged to propose solutions to improve the BMS and the quality of
service we deliver to our stakeholders.

Monitoring, review and continuous improvement

Quality objectives are documented, regularly monitored and periodically reviewed against
actual performance.
Processes are defined to measure, monitor and improve process performance. These include
effectiveness and efficiency in order to drive continual improvement in the product/services
delivered to our stakeholders.
Managers ensure that quality assurance controls are established within the activities their
staff perform, to ensure the service/product requirements are achieved and to minimise the
risk of rework.
Corrective and preventative action taken, as a result of a service or product failure, are
documented and fed into the management review cycle to enable continual improvement of
our management systems.
 Quality Manual 5

Audit
Internal audits, reviews and assessments will take account of the quality of service we deliver
to our stakeholders and identify issues and risks requiring management attention.
The BMS, including departmental applications and associated controls, are periodically
audited to provide a planned, independent and documented assessment of the compliance,
effectiveness and adequacy of them.
All audits are completed in accordance with internal audit requirements.
All audits are planned and carried out by competent personnel.
The results of previous audits and BMS reviews will form part of the audit planning cycle.
Audit results are recorded and reported to APM Executive.
All actions arising out of audits, including changes in procedures, are documented,
communicated, followed up and completed.
Learning is shared across the organisation and with stakeholders and others as appropriate.
Where improvements have been identified, plans are in place to deliver them. Such plans are
reviewed in accordance with governance arrangements.
The BMS is periodically reviewed.

Document management
A process enables documents and records, including quality manuals and plans, to be
controlled, handled, stored, reviewed and disposed of appropriate to their security
classification, document type and retention period.
Documentation handled and stored but not owned by APM is managed in line with
stakeholder requirements.
Processes and responsibilities for the creation, review, approval, maintenance, disposal and
control of the various types of documents and records will comply with the APM Information
Security and Data Protection Policy and APM Document Retention as defined in the
configuration control documents.
BMS documents are reviewed in line with the governance process.
6 Association for Project Management

Responsibilities
All employees, suppliers and contractors
All staff, including anyone who is contracted either directly or through a third party, are
responsible for undertaking quality management activities in accordance with the Standards.
They are also responsible for its implementation within the framework of the BMS policies,
standards, processes and operating procedures.

Chief Executive
Ensures appropriate management systems, processes and procedures are designed,
developed, disseminated and regularly reviewed.
Defines and communicates quality policy and objectives.

APM Executive
Responsible for the achievement of this Standard.
Endorse the Quality Policy and Standard and communicate it within their departments/
functional areas.
Implement the Quality Standard and monitor its application.
Appoint an operational/functional representative with particular responsibility for ensuring
that the quality management system is properly implemented and is performing as intended.
Nominate a departmental/functional audit representative to ensure the compliance and audit
activities are undertaken in line with BMS standards.
Assign key quality objectives to managers within their department/function.
Review the department/function’s quality performance in consultation with the operational/
functional management team and departmental/functional quality representative.
Establish quality objectives and review performance against these at least annually.
Ensure results of audits are being managed as part of management review.
 Quality Manual 7

Operational/functional management
Endorse the Quality Policy and Standard and effectively communicate them to all staff.
Assign KPIs to staff including quality objectives and requirements defined within the BMS.
Ensure that staff carry out their functions in terms of their responsibilities, objectives and
performance.
Review audit results from sites or other workplaces and take corrective action where non-
compliance is identified.
Escalate to their Executive head any risks or issues which may conflict with APM standards or
objectives.
Ensure that the quality criteria for new or changed services or products are defined and
agreed with the stakeholder.
Where implementation is managed through a programme or project ensures that there is a
quality plan or similar document in place.

Programme and Project Managers

Development and maintenance of programme and project quality plans to meet stakeholder
requirements, including the quality criteria established with appropriate stakeholders as
applicable.
Ensure that quality assurance activities are carried out as part of the programme and project
management processes, e.g. design verification, project health checks and peer reviews.
Provide record of programme/project management review.
Ensure compliance with the group governance processes, e.g. Risk, Finance, HR,
Procurement etc.
8 Association for Project Management

Definitions

Term Definition

Business Management Controls for the business - also known as a quality

System management system.

APM Means all entities in the APM, including its subsidiaries,

business divisions, business units, contracts and joint
venture companies.

Quality Manual Defines the scope and structure of the management

system.

Quality Objectives Sets out how the business will ensure quality criteria
are met. May not all be measurable but still require
management review.

Quality Plan Defines the scope of the stakeholder’s requirements

and how quality criteria are met. The stakeholder usually
defines and agrees the quality criteria to be applied
which includes stakeholder sign-off during design,
implementation, verification and closure phases.
 APM Customers – internal and external

Requirements
towards
Satisfaction
knowledge
and education Ibis House

Develop knowledge and standards

Business as usual Deliver products
and projects Promote knowledge and standards and services

Maintain an infrastructure to support the above

Suppliers
Company IT Membership Customer Marketing Finance PS&K
secretary PMO development and
BMS Branches operational
and SIGS services

External
influences: Other stakeholders:
social, technical, investors,
environmental, competitors,
Quality Manual

economic, regulators, users

political
9
 Integrated management system model 10

Our stakeholders Our risks

Stakeholder Risk register

requirements
Association for Project Management

Compliance and continuous improvement Inspection,

audits and
Gap analysis reviews

Business Delivering
management Training and
stakeholder Stakeholders
system devlopment
results

Leadership,
mission, goals,
Continual review
values and vision
of results and
Sustainability and assurance
feedback

Resources - human, infrastructure, financial and knowledge

 Quality Manual 11

Business management system overview

Product definitions

Customer journey

Work instructions
Processes
Quality policy
Policies

Update
Customer
feedback Business Management System
and complaints Quality Manual
process

Efficiency
Deliver and business
improvements

Quality
Reduced risk
assurance Deliver and cost
process

Increased customer
Deliver satisfaction and
retention
Association for Project Management
Ibis House, Regent Park Telephone +44 (0) 845 458 1944
Summerleys Road Facsimile +44 (0) 845 458 8807
Princes Risborough Email info@apm.org.uk
Buckinghamshire HP27 9LE Web apm.org.uk

Version 1
BMS001