Management Evaluation – How to Ensure Effectiveness?

Management Evaluation is a comprehensive, systematic, documented review by the management of the quality system, operational policies and procedures, and the results of quality inspections, audits and any other indicators. It measures the overall effectiveness of the management organisation in achieving stated objectives.

Management Evaluation is also an essential element of a fully working EASA Compliance Monitoring system marked with the introduction of the management system concept by Regulation 965/2012. It is related to the importance of ensuring full awareness of any non-conformities together with an effective process for follow up and closure.

The primary objective of the management review is to identify and correct trends, plus to prevent, where possible, future non-conformities.

Conclusions and recommendations made as a result of an evaluation should be submitted in writing to the responsible manager for action.

Typical Content of the Management Review:

a) The status of the quality system in respect of the number of findings and any trends which are evident.

It is necessary to prepare this information in order to show the various trends within given business areas – however, note the importance of ensuring that we compare like with like. This means that abstract comparisons are of only limited use.

We can also consider the overall effectiveness of the quality system. Remember that any external regulatory-driven audit should not show many discrepancies if our in-house system is doing a good job.

Consider the way we structure our audits - this is relevant as well. 

b) A summary of all internal and external audits with an overview of the status of major findings. 

c) Any other trend information, for example, from the Safety Management or other reporting systems.

Essentially, we want to make sure we consider as many active elements as possible in order to make a comprehensive assessment regarding the effectiveness of our Compliance Management System.

d) The management review will also identify the progress made in the case of actions which have already been taken as well as an estimation whether such actions have been successful or not.

e) Any issues which have been raised by the quality system or through other avenues may be part of the review.

f) In detail any MOR or other mandatory reports will also be considered for satisfactory closeout to ensure in each case the appropriate action has been taken.

What is the ideal frequency of the Management Review meeting?

The meeting is mandatory and typically a full and detailed Management Review is carried out annually – in most cases it is a minuted and documented meeting which lasts a full day.

However, a measure of the strength of the Compliance System relates to what happens between these annual meetings.

As a recommendation, consider shorter onsite quarterly meetings (every 3 months) which are also formal and documented. They are essentially aimed at follow-up and confirmation that the system is fully on track. Such meetings could typically last 2 to 3 hours.

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