Daniela Lampert, the secretary of Rybnik city and commissioner for quality control talks to Wojciech Jankowski.

Why should a local government administration need the ISO 9001 certification?

One of the basic tasks of the local government administration is providing public services, ranging from issuing certificates to ensuring appropriate infrastructure, to the residents. We try to make sure that the services we provide meet the needs of the city residents-both direct recipients of the services and local communities as a whole. On the one hand, services of good quality increase the satisfaction of the residents who have more confidence in the administration and, on the other hand, also contribute to the satisfaction of local government employees who are pleased with the results of their work. If you focus on quality you also pay more attention to the effective use of existing resources. In the case of local government bodies, these resources, especially financial, are limited. Their better use may lead to improved results, even if the outlays remain at the same level.

The ISO certificate also plays an important promotional role, improving the public image of a city administration and creating a better position for the municipality in its efforts to attract investors.

How did the city administration prepare for the introduction of the ISO system?

In August 1999, we received an offer from the Warsaw-based consulting company Umbrella Project. The company proposed that we take part in a program, financed partly by the Japanese government and conducted in cooperation with the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, which was just being launched. The program was aimed at implementing modern management solutions in a pilot group of 30 Polish public administration units in order to improve the quality of providing public services and the management system. Rybnik exploited this opportunity and decided to implement the ISO 9000 system. The whole process took over a year-until June 2001 when the Rybnik City Administration received an ISO 9001:2000 quality assurance certificate. Initially, the implementation process took place in line with the ISO 9000:1994 norm. Then, the requirements were raised and the city administration decided to adjust the implemented system to the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 norm which came into force on Jan. 1, 2001. The people responsible for the process of system implementation-the commissioner for quality, a four-member committee controlling the process of system implementation and a dozen or so task teams-were appointed in the preparatory stage of the project.

Later, the management staff and employees selected by the heads of individual departments received training. An initial concept for the quality system documentation was prepared. Task teams selected, prepared and described draft procedures and instructions related to processes taking place in the city administration. In the active phase of the system's implementation, authorized and delegated employees examined the effectiveness of the 36 procedures and four instructions and proposed indispensable changes and corrections designed to improve them. Then, the procedures and instructions were put into practice.

What about the selection of the certifying body?

We invited tenders for conducting the quality management system certification procedure and supervision over the awarded certificate twice. First, we had to cancel the tender because only one of the four submitted offers was valid. The second tender, organized a month later, enabled us to select the certifying body. We decided to choose a professional unit, well established in the market. As a result, the price accounted for a mere 40 percent of the essential conditions posed to the certifying bodies and their credibility-for as much as 60 percent. We selected the Polish Center for Testing and Certification (PCBC) because they proposed the best conditions.

What was the total cost of the certification process?

Receiving an ISO certificate is neither easy nor cheap. But the certificate gives you a guarantee of quality which is indispensable to starting cooperation with European Union countries. It also gives you self-esteem and awareness that you render services which meet world standards. The cost of the whole system implementation process, including the cost of services rendered by the consulting company, the training of in-house auditors, system certification and supervision over the awarded certificate, reached around zl.70,000. The total cost is not small but I believe it was worth investing in something which benefits everybody-both the employees of the city administration and residents.
The finances for the system implementation process came from the city budget.

What difficulties were associated with the implementation of the system?

Opinions of individual employees differed. The employees were mostly worried that the system might contribute to increasing red tape. Red tape is probably the most serious problem connected with documentation and system entries. Most of us associate the ISO with forms, instructions, procedures, signatures and a few other products of bureaucracy. And one has to admit that this is just the case. The system is based on procedures and instructions which describe activities and processes taking place in the city administration. You have to take all this into consideration and we never tried to conceal this fact. I must admit myself that I was initially scared of the huge amount of work we had to do and I frequently asked myself whether we would manage to cope with it. However, as the time went by and we progressed from one level to another we became convinced that the implementation of the ISO system is not so difficult and that the system may be helpful to us in many areas. We managed to standardize the ways of action and prepare working routines. Our employees no longer make unnecessary phone calls to ask what they should do in a given situation and what are the successive steps. Everything is included in the procedures where one can clearly find out about what should be done and in what order. It's impossible to become completely liberated from the "ISO-skeptics." But it's important that their number is as small as possible.

What benefits result from the implementation of the quality management system in the city administration?

The benefits are numerous. These include the introduction of transparent procedures, identical in every case and for every petitioner, the shortening of waiting time for the implementation of a service, increasing the prestige of the administration, an improvement in the system of information flow among individual departments and raising the knowledge and qualifications of our employees.

Did you receive any signals from the residents related to the new model of the city administration's work?

In a recent poll, the residents were asked about their opinion on the city administration's work after receiving the certificate. Over 36 percent of those polled expressed the opinion that petitioners are now served better than was the case before the ISO system was implemented. Over 25 percent of those polled could see no difference in the administration's approach to the residents. We received a B for our visual information-information boards, signs on individual rooms and departments-and for our service as a whole. We are aware that there remains a lot for us to improve. On the other hand, we're pleased that the city residents have appreciated our efforts and the ongoing improvements.