PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)
PDCA — Plan, Do, Check, Act — is the continuous-improvement cycle behind every ISO management system: plan objectives and controls, implement them, monitor and audit the results, then act on findings and repeat.
How it maps to the ISO clauses
In the Annex SL structure, clauses 4–6 are Plan (context, leadership, planning — including risk assessment), clauses 7–8 are Do (support and operation), clause 9 is Check (performance evaluation: monitoring, internal audit, management review), and clause 10 is Act (improvement: nonconformity and corrective action). One lap around the wheel is roughly one year of management-system operation.
The cycle is what separates a management system from a documentation exercise: auditors look for evidence the loop actually turns — metrics reviewed, audits held, corrective actions closed — not just that procedures exist.
Origin
PDCA descends from the Deming (Shewhart) cycle of statistical quality control. It applies equally to a QMS improving defect rates, an ISMS hardening controls after incidents, or an AIMS updating AI risk treatments as models drift — which is why integrated management systems share one improvement loop.
Related Standards
- •Annex SL high-level structure — clauses 4–10
- •ISO 9001:2015 — quality management principles
Further Reading
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