Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

Implementation of Quality Management System ISO 9001 in

A Telecom Network Operation Centre – A Case Study
Diana Ortiz-Rangel and Luis Rocha-Lona
ESCA Santo Tomas, Instituto Politecnico Nacional
Mexico City, Mexico
[email protected], [email protected]

Lila Margarita Bada-Carbajal

Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Alamo Temapache
Veracruz, Mexico
[email protected]

Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, Simon Peter Nadeem

Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, University of Derby
Derby, U. K.
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present the implementation and results of the Quality Management
System (QMS) based on ISO 9001:2015 in the Failure Support Process reported to the Network
Operation Centre (NOC) in a telecommunications company. The methodology used was Action Research
proposed by Borroto and Aneiros (2002) and Latorre (2005); whose phases are aligned with the Deming
cycle and ISO standard requirements. Two cycles were carried out: implementing and obtaining the
certification of the system. QMS involved stakeholders and it made the staff partake critical reflection in
the process and the results. Once the company obtained the NMX-CC-9001-IMNC-2015 / ISO 9001:2015
certificate, it was able to accredit new contracts from the government sector. Other benefits obtained
were: defining indicators, agreements reached with providers to improve time response, risk response
planning definition, increased staff motivation, escalations decreased, established corrective actions for
non-conforming outputs, and improved internal and external communication. The study evidenced
resistance to change from some staff members at the early steps of the implementation and the lack of
communication between internal areas. This study can be useful for those companies interested in
implementing a QMS.

Keywords
Action Research, ISO 9001:2015, Implementation, Telecommunications and Quality Management System.

1. Introduction
Conventional wisdom suggests that quality is an important component for the survival of an organization (Saraf,
2019). Quality influences companies to compete and demonstrate that they meet customer´s requirements. The
companies demonstrate this through the implementation of Quality Management Systems (QMS), the revision and
adaptation to national and international standards, and the search for certifications such as ISO 9001. The
implementation of a QMS based on the requirements of ISO 9001 must be a strategic decision oriented to face the
challenges of the global economy (Alzate-Ibañez, 2017). Adopting the quality philosophy is not easy; it requires a
cultural transformation not only in people but also in the entire organization (Vanova et al., 2017).

ABC Company operates in a competitive environment since new operators have appeared on the
telecommunications market. Some other competitors have been merged to provide services to a higher percentage of

© IEOM Society International 81

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

the population; for example, ATT bought Iusacell-Unefon and Nextel companies in 2015 (Castañares, 2018). The
ABC Company expanded its market to provide services not only to operators but also to clients from the business
and government sectors. The government sector requested to have ISO 9001 certification to participate in biddings
for new contracts.

Some authors have analyzed and proposed different methodologies to implement a QMS based on ISO 9001. For
example, the best Project Management Practices could be applied (Ingason, 2015). It is based on the Deming cycle
too and it states the commitment and direct participation of management, employees’ participation and engagement,
good preparation and goal setting to be successful. Cabero et al. (2018), used steps similar to those proposed in this
work to implement a QMS in a pediatric hospital.

In Mexico, the works that evaluate the results of ISO implementation are few. Nava and Rivas (2008), reported in
their investigation “Performance in implementation of ISO 9001:2000 in Mexico certified organizations”, that ISO
implementation improved the performance of the organization. In this sense, this research paper validates the
benefits of having the system implemented and certified.

Some factors that motivate companies to implement ISO 9001 are: participation in biddings, customer requirements,
reduction of customer complaints and operating costs, among others (Juanzon and Muhi, 2017). In consequence, the
benefits obtained by ISO certified companies are: productivity improvement (Gómez et al., 2013; Martinez et al.,
2018), relations with suppliers improvement, production of products and services with the quality requested by
customers (Gimeno et al., 2015), process variability reduction, costs and waste reduction, profitability improvement
and customer satisfaction increase (Carmona-Calvo et al., 2016), sales increase and accreditation of a significant
number of new contracts, which would not have been achieved without certification (Chen et al., 2016).

Some issues or limitations could happen during the implementation. If during the early stages, the organizations do
not realize that the staff participation takes time; it means that if training is not included in planning, they are bound
to be disappointed and attain their ISO 9001 certification later than they expected, and a higher cost (Knežević et al.,
2017).

Considering the aforementioned facts, this document presents a detailed proposal for the QMS implementation. Two
cycles were considered: the first cycle covers the implementation steps of the QMS and the second cycle covers the
steps to obtain the certificate.

1.1 ABC Company

The name and any details of the company are anonymized due to security reasons, in this paper we will refer to as
ABC Company. ABC Company is located in Mexico. It belongs to the TIC sector and it is a medium-size company.
The main products and services provided are related to connectivity, security solutions, business communications,
mobility and cloud, among others. Customers are categorized into the following groups: Operators, Government and
Business.

ABC Company has more than 10 thousand kilometers of optical fiber and six border interconnection points between
Mexico and the USA. The network allows offering and delivering services in time and quality under international
standards on the following platforms: long distance, voice services, Internet services, and optical fiber.

1.2 Objective
The objective of this paper is to present the implementation and results of the Quality Management System (QMS)
based on ISO 9001:2015 in the Failure Support Process reported to the Network Operation Centre (NOC) in a
telecommunications company. To achieve this objective, the following steps are defined:
• Define the cycles to implement a QMS based on ISO 9001:2015 and get the certificate NMX-CC-9001-
IMNC-2015 / ISO 9001:2015 through utilization of Action Research.
• Identify all the processes, work instructions and formats for the QMS according to ISO 9001:2015
requirements.
• Present the results of the QMS implementation.

© IEOM Society International 82

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

2. Literature Review
In the development of quality management in business organizations and organizational practice, the influence of
three fundamental approaches to carry it out is identified (Tamayo et al., 2011): quality gurus who refer to main
contributions they made to quality; models and awards of excellence that expose the approach towards integral and
strategic management; and ISO 9001, which is based on the requirements of this standard. This article considers the
approach of ISO 9001.

ISO 9001:2015 is an international standard that focuses on the process-based approach and risk-based thinking. The
management principles are seven: customer focus, leadership, people commitment, process approach, improvement,
evidence-based decision-making and relationship management. Point 4.4.1 of the standard describes what the
organization must achieve, among others: determining the expected inputs and outputs, the sequence and interaction,
the criteria and methods to ensure the effective operation and control from these processes (International
Organization for Standardization, 2015a).

Petnji et al. (2014), found that ISO 9001 certification is more likely to encourage satisfied customers to remain loyal
to the company than those in which there is no certification. Furthermore, companies that are ISO certified perform
better financially than companies that are not (Khalid et al., 2014). Since customer needs vary over time,
organizations should review quality requirements periodically to ensure a good fit to market demand (Aguilera-
Luque, 2017). In 2017, the number of companies that have implemented an ISO 9001 quality management standard
remains stable in the world (International Organization for Standardization, 2015b); however, Mexico obtained less
than 1% of the total certificates issued, although there was a growth of 2.18% compared to 2016. Related to the
information technology sector, the number of certificates decreased by 4.54% compared to 2016 (Charlet, 2018).

The implementation of the ISO 9001 standard is carried out as an improvement strategy to meet quality objectives,
obtain process traceability, generate greater productivity (Carmona-Calvo et al., 2016), increase value and avoid
rework, reduce the impact of risks, identify opportunities, and apply knowledge management (Ciravegna et al.,
2019). In this way, the company is able to compete and satisfy its customers, in addition to guaranteeing its products
and services (Cabero et al., 2018). The implementation of a QMS demonstrates its effectiveness through better
organization of records and formality for the services it offers; it also brings significant benefits for the
competitiveness and success of organizations (Fonseca and Domingues, 2018). The effectiveness of the QMS
consists of three dimensions: prevention of nonconformities, continuous improvement and focus on customer
satisfaction; and five critical factors for its effectiveness: external environmental pressure, quality system attributes,
internal motivation, company attributes, and employee attributes; where the last three have a significant impact on
the effectiveness of the QMS (Psomas and Antony, 2015). Meanwhile, Del Castillo-Peces et al. (2018) found that
the type of internal or external motivation to implement the norm, as well as the age of compliance, are significant
variables for the achievement of the positive results that can be derived from it. The barriers to implementing the
standard are mostly organizational, where resistance to change is the main one, followed by lack of communication,
poor commitment from senior management and insufficient training (Bounabri et al., 2018).

In recent years an important phenomenon has also been observed, companies have ceased to be certified in ISO
9001. The empirical study carried out in Spain on the reasons for decertification of ISO 9001 in 2012 and 2013
(Simon and Kafel, 2018), identified internal and external factors as the main reasons. Internal factors are: financial
problems, low perception of the added value granted by certification, and some organizational changes (such as
internal restructuring). External factors are mainly related to the decisions made by customers.

To achieve the expected results in accordance with the Quality Policy and the strategic direction of the organization,
the standard suggests using the Deming cycle with a global approach based on risk, oriented to take advantage of
opportunities and prevent unwanted results. The risk register provides information on threats and opportunities that
could have an impact on execution or that have already occurred during the execution of activities (Project
Management Institute, 2017). In this investigation, the risk analysis and the response to them are described in the
Quality Plan.

3. Methods
The methodology applied was the Action Research proposed by Borroto and Aneiros (2002) and Latorre (2005),
which corresponds to the qualitative type due to its practical nature (Lewin, 1946; Susman and Evered, 1978). It has

© IEOM Society International 83

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

a methodical and interactive approach (Altrichter et al., 2002) and it provides the ability to intervene and improve
the system where it is applied as lessons are learned (Kohli and Kettinger, 2004). Latorre (2005) proposed a cycle
composed of four phases: action plan, action, observation of the action, and reflection. The process improvement is a
second cycle that takes the output of the previous one to make changes. Figure 1 represents the two cycles
considered in this work. The first one shows the steps to implement the QMS and the second one shows the steps to
obtain the certification. Cycle 1 includes an additional step called “initial reflection or diagnosis”.

Figure 1. Cycles of the Quality Management System for the ABC Company

3.1 Data Collection

For the QMS’ implementation and certification, the data was obtained in different moments. During the initial
reflection, a closed questionnaire of 37 questions was applied to determine compliance with the requirements of the
standard ISO 9001:2015 and it was complemented with open questions to clarify doubts. In the planning phase,
observation was applied to know the NOC’s activities, open questions, one-to-one, and group interviews were also
carried out to define processes, work instructions and formats. During the internal audits, questionnaires with open
questions and observation were applied. Finally, brainstorming was used to define actions to attend the issues. More
information was collected from ticket system (logs), monthly reports, and internal and external audits results.

3.2 Data Analysis

The results obtained in the diagnostic questionnaire were used to define the responsibilities and commitments of the
Quality Committee, in addition to the roles and responsibilities. With the information obtained in the one-to-one and
group sessions, the schedule was defined; the documents were made, in addition to updating the ticket system.

The information was collected from the Ticket System in Excel format to generate the corresponding histograms.
KPIs were defined (see Table 1) to measure ticket assignment time, service restoration time, internal and external
technical support response time, and ticket closing time. In addition, the responses to the questionnaire were
processed to measure customer satisfaction. For cases where the proposed KPIs were not met, the RCA and
subsequently the Pareto chart were used to attack the main causes of non-compliance.

To carry out the first internal audit, three-month records were collected with the above information. The results of
the audit were analyzed to determine if the QMS staff was following the documents and if they were aware of the
system. The results were classified as Non-conformities, compliance and opportunities for improvement.

With the results of the internal audit, a new cycle was started in order to improve the QMS prior to the execution of
the certification audit. This method allows achieving continuous improvement in accordance with the requirements
of the ISO 9001 standard. The research work was carried out during the period from October 2017 to May 2018, at
the ABC Company.

© IEOM Society International 84

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

3.3 Cycles description

3.3.1 Cycle 1: QMS implementation.
Phase 0: Initial reflection (diagnosis). This phase begins with an interview with the Engineering and Operations
Director and the NOC manager, where the Failure Support Process reported to the NOC was considered as the scope
of the implementation. Figure 2 represents this process that comprises five activities that are carried out sequentially,
its also shows its input, output, and the expected result of every activity. Every customer’s service has a unique
identifier.

Figure 2. Failure Support Process reported to the Network Operation Centre

When NOC staff receives an e-mail or a call from customer, a report number is assigned in the Ticket’ System, it
indicates the severity of the fault and the number assigned is used to follow up the case throughout the whole
process. After that, the NOC’ staff carries out some tests according to the work instruction of the corresponding
platform and provides an answer. The KPI established to identify the failure is 25 minutes. If necessary, they involve
internal or external technical support in their solution. Where possible, a workaround is applied to restore the
service. The target time to restore services depends on the affected platform and the severity of the failure; it is
documented in the Quality Plan. If possible, NOC staff makes some tests; otherwise they call the customer to
confirm service restoration. The output of the process is the restoration of the service as defined for the QMS.
Finally, if the fault is solved, the NOC staff requests authorization to close the ticket.

In order to know the elements to be developed in the implementation plan, as it is the first time that the company has
implemented a QMS, a set of 37 questions was applied, indicating the requirements established by the ISO 9001
standard. The result showed 21.62% of compliance. Based on the results, the participants of the system and the
Quality Committee were determined; roles and authorities were defined, as well as the documents (procedures,
instructions and formats) to be developed.

Phase 1: Action plan (system planning). This phase includes the generation of the activity plan for the system
implementation. The plan specifies the time required for each activity to be carried out, the person responsible for it,
in addition to the expected result. The time plan was estimated to last 7 months from the beginning until obtaining
the certification for this project.

Phase 2: Action (design, development and implementation of the system). It includes the training of personnel
involved in the QMS and the preparation of the Quality Manual, the generation of documents and records. Two key
points made by senior management at this point are quality policy and quality objectives definition. The documents
generated for the system were: a Quality Plan, 10 procedures, 10 instructions and 18 formats, according to the
Control Procedure document. The documents are updated and communicated accordingly. All the documents are
focused on supporting the quality policy and objectives. The way in which the processes, requirements and
documentation of the QMS interact is shown in Figure 3. It also describes the inputs, output and responsible of every
process and requirement.

© IEOM Society International 85

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

During this stage, NOC staff must review that the Customer Trouble Ticket contains the information indicated in the
work instructions and it is validated that the documents related to the corresponding platform were followed (voice,
internet, optical fibre, or internet). The same is applied to the rest of the processes. In cases where inconsistencies
are detected or process improvements are found, they are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the
Document Control Process.

Figure 3. Interaction of processes, requirements and documentation of the QMS of the ABC Company

The KPIs of the core process are measured and reported according to the information established in the Quality Plan.
Deviations to the process involved in the QMS are reported in the Management Review Meeting.

The Quality Plan establishes resources (human, materials and infrastructure), activity verification (method,
measurement frequency and responsible), risk plan (risk and action plan), document to be used in each of the
activities of the main process and the output of the activity.

Phase 3: Observation of the action (internal audits). An audit is a systematic, independent and documented process
to obtain objective evidence and evaluate them objectively in order to determine the degree to which the audit
criteria are met (International Organization for Standardization, 2015b). The audit also seeks to identify the good
and best practices implemented, nonconformities, gaps and defects and, offer proactive and positive assistance to
improve process implementation in order to help the team to increase their productivity (Project Management
Institute, 2017). The audit was carried out according to the audit plan, indicating the nonconformities and the
corresponding observations in the audit report.

Phase 4: Reflection (corrective actions). In this phase, the results obtained in the internal audit are analyzed,
synthesized, interpreted and explained. Corresponding corrective actions are generated in accordance with the
corrective action procedure to ensure that the nonconformity or observation found does not occur again. Other inputs
to generate corrective action are: customer complaints, non-compliant outputs, management review, and results of
customer satisfaction measurement.

© IEOM Society International 86

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

3.3.2 Cycle 2: QMS certification

In this case, the corrective actions, from the previous cycle, are reviewed to generate a new action plan and carry out
an improvement in the QMS. This cycle includes the following phases:

Phase 1: Action plan (system improvement planning). Those responsible for monitoring the corrective actions, hold
meetings with people involved in the non-conformity to identify the root cause of the issues. Brainstorm and Rout
Cause Analysis are used for this activity. The defined actions to solve the issues are documented in the corrective
action format indicating deadlines and responsible parties.

Phase 2: Action (execution of improvements). Once the activities are completed, the corrective actions are closed
and the internal auditor is informed in order to obtain their approval. After that, the corrective action is closed.

Phase 3: Observation of the action (external audit). It describes the activities related to the certifying bodies and the
certification of the QMS. According to the Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación (2019), there are 27 accredited bodies
to carry out the certification of Quality Management Systems in the technological information sector in Mexico.
External audits consist of documentary review, pre-audit and, certification audit.

Phase 4: Reflection (corrective actions). In this phase, the results obtained in the external audit are analyzed,
synthesized, interpreted and explained. With the data obtained, the corresponding corrective actions are generated to
meet the observed deviations and carry out a new improvement to the system. If the actions are resolved within the
time established with the certifying body, the company obtains the corresponding certificate.

4. Results
The QMS implementation through action research was successful. It was noticed that action research contributes to
the professional development (Eilks and Markic, 2011; Laudonia et al., 2018; Klima Ronen, 2020) of all the staff
involved in the system.

Scope and time plan definition were important to establish responsibilities. According to the Action Research, two
cycles were defined, one to implement the QMS and the second one to get the certificate. A key to accomplish the
implementation according to the time plan was monitoring activities in a timely manner. As a result, a total of 10
procedures, 10 work instructions, 18 formats and a Quality Plan for the QMS were defined and documented.

Trouble tickets and activity log are recorded in a database. The information recorded is obtained in excel format for
the following points: fault identification, technical support, service restoration, ticket closure, and results of the
customer satisfaction survey. Subsequently, the data is analyzed to generate the reports according to the information
established in the Quality Plan. The database is also used to identify the non-compliant outputs and to send customer
satisfaction surveys. QMS implementation improvements and results could be summarized in Figure 4. It shows the
KPIs established to measure the five activities of the main process and the corrective actions taken. The figure is
described below.

Customer Trouble Ticket assignment. In this step, it is important to fill the trouble ticket template without errors,
otherwise it will be sent to the wrong area or the staff could use wrong work instruction. To avoid mistakes, severity
criteria for the failures reported were defined and a training plan was scheduled. The work instructions to fill the
trouble ticket templates were updated. The ticket´s system was updated accordingly. Process definition and work
instructions helped to standardize the ways of working.

Fault identification. A period of 25 minutes was established to make initial tests. For February and March 2018, the
KPI was not met (see Table 1). The analysis showed two issues: on the one hand work instructions were not
followed properly or fault required more testing time; on the other hand, staff was not following the main process,
some of them made tests and after that opened the customer trouble ticket. As a result, some negative values were
shown in the report measurement. Corrective actions were taken to improve the KPI. In this step, a better diagnosis
was made and the number of cases sent to technical support was reduced.

Technical support. In this point, internal o external technical support was involved. KPIs were oriented to identify
the main causes of network failures: regions (network is divided into four regions), equipment (microwaves, routers,
voice equipment, fiber among others), external providers from equipment and services like Telmex, ATT, Infinera,

© IEOM Society International 87

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

etc. It also helped to define if spare parts were needed and where or if it was possible to apply a work around. Once
the main causes were identified, it was possible to take actions to reduce failures (this included updating the risk
action plan). In this part of the process, there was also evidence of a lack of communication between regions and
NOC staff and the lack of updating the single database assigned to the internal support. The corrective actions taken
consisted of extending the internal support work hours that helped to reduce the recovery time for failed services and
updating the ABC network maintenance plan to reduce network issues. In general, KPI measurements are within the
objectives, except for those major failures like a fiver cut due to natural disasters. Table 1 shows (in bold), the
months where the KPI was not met.

Figure 4. QMS implementation improvements

Confirmation of service restoration. The KPI was intended to validate the effectiveness of the solution so that the
problem did not recur. Communication between the customer and the NOC staff improved so that feedback was
carried out proactively.

Finally, the Customer Trouble Ticket closure. KPI was not met (see Table 1). As a consequence, the sending of
satisfaction surveys was delayed. The root cause analysis showed two main problems: the lack of follow-up of the
process and the lack of customer consent.

The number of satisfaction surveys received was very low compared with those sent. As part of the corrective
actions, the process was modified, an English format was generated, telephone follow-up was mandatory, personal
meetings with clients were scheduled to inform them about the QMS. This point is important since customer
satisfaction is key to increasing revenue (Carmona-Calvo et al., 2016). The customer satisfaction survey gets
information on: communication, customer perception of fault tracking, service restoration time, and fault service
provided by ABC company.

Table 1 shows the results from January to July 2018 for the established objectives. During the implementation
period, it is possible to see the adaptation to the new ways of working (January to April), after that period most of
the activities were normalized. More work has to be done for the ticket closure to reach the objective. In order to
improve the KPIs, Root Cause Analysis and Pareto principle were used to identify and eliminate the main non-
conformities.

© IEOM Society International 88

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

Table 1. Results of the objectives from January to July 2018

(a) KPI definition Implementation period QMS certified

Failure Platform KPI Month (Data is in %)
Support
Process J F M A M J J
(b) Fault 0 – 25 minutes in 80% of
cases 84.9 75.4 68.3 91.9 89.6 92.95 94.3
identification
Optical
75.0 75.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 88.4 100.0
fiber

Internet According to the severity 81.3 83.4 100.0 100.0 90.3 100.0 87.0
(c)
and time definition in
Restoration
Private Quality Plan in 80 % of
Time 72.8 63.0 62.5 88.9 88.4 78.4 100.0
Line the cases
Long
56.3 64.0 96.7 92.8 85.7 81.8 88.2
Distance
Within 24 hours after
(d) Ticket
service restoration in 80% 52.6 46.5 63.9 55.4 32.6 26.5 35.2
closure
of the cases

Bold: KPI achieved

The activity log and lessons learned helped to generate knowledge and reduce the risks in the attention of activities
due to staff turnover, lack of knowledge or training period for new members involved in the core process. In general,
the personnel involved in the QMS had an excellent disposition to participate in the system. It was clear that
management positions commitment was the key to implement the QMS in the planned time, which is in line with the
results obtained by Ingason (2014). Once the QMS was implemented and all ISO standard requirements were met
the certificate was obtained. Non-conforming outputs were analysed and solved in accordance with the
corresponding processes.

5. Conclusion
The implementation of the QMS based on ISO 9001:2015 to the Failure Support Process reported to the Network
Operation Centre (NOC) introduced important benefits such as obtaining the certificate. It allowed the company to
participate in biddings and accredit new government contracts (Secretaría Función Pública, Instituto Mexicano del
Seguro Social, and Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado).

The proposal presented in this document offers the possibility of improving timely detection and attention to
failures. Defining process and work instructions helped to increase the staff knowledge, reduce the impact of
services and reduce mistakes, which is in line with the results explained by Zimon et al. (2016). Other important
achievements were the creation of the internal escalation plans and training plans for NOC members. This agrees
with the study carried out by Martinez et al. (2018), where the implementation of the QMS allowed the correct
management of the infrastructure to develop the activities, and with Petnji et al. (2014), who took into account that if
there are failures in the services, the strategy must be aimed at improving customer satisfaction, which in turn will
help increase their loyalty.

Finally, this document shows the benefits of the QMS through Action Research; it focuses on a practical aspect in
order to change it. In that sense, most of the staff realizes that their work is professionally relevant and important, so
they get involved and commit to the system. Action Research states the commitment and direct participation of
management, employees’ participation and their engagement, and good preparation and goal setting to be successful
(Ingason, 2015). The implementation and certification were carried out according to the time plan.

On the other hand, ISO 9001:2015 also demands an action to address risks and opportunities, so that more work is
on prevention than on correction. ISO9001:2015 represents a major opportunity to forge an integrated system of
performance management, through the creation of significant ties between quality management and continuous

© IEOM Society International 89

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

improvement, on the one hand, and corporate risk management on the other hand (Sitnikov et al., 2017). The
certification audit showed that the activities carried out by the ABC Company, in terms of fault management, are
homogeneous; however, it is important to keep the work pace constant.

5. 1 Limitations of the investigation

Regarding the background, the main limitation were the few data, in magazines or theses published, on
implementations of a QMS in telecommunications companies in Latin America and Mexico. Another limitation was
the low response rate to know the customer satisfaction; in the first months, customers did not respond to the survey.
Finally, the resistance of some staff members to follow the processes and work instructions was a limitation. It was
one of the root causes of target failure along with the workload presented by the NOC.

5.2 Recommendations for future research

A study of the implementation of the QMS under the ISO 9001 standard and its impact on costs or productivity in
the telecommunications area is recommended, in this case, it is necessary to know the cost of the man-hour and the
number of cases or activities that one engineer can attend in the course of a shift, remembering that in the NOC
follow-up calls, support request, test conferences and reception of new services are made. Another study that can be
carried out is to know the feeling and vision of telecommunications companies in the resources that participate in the
QMS since the present work did not contemplate any activity to measure the work environment.

References
Aguilera-Luque, A. Gestión y control de la calidad en las empresas del siglo XXI, Primera Edición., Ana María
Aguilera-Luque, 2017.
Altrichter, H., Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R., and Zuber-Skerritt, O., The concept of action research, The Learning
Organization, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 125–131, 2002.
Alzate-Ibañez, A., ISO 9001:2015 base para la sostenibilidad de las organizaciones en países emergentes, Journal
Venezolana de Gerencia, vol. 22., no. 80, pp. 576-592, 2017.
Borroto, R. and Aneiros, R., Action research, National School of Public Health of Habana, 2002.
Bounabri, N., Eloumri, A., Saad, E., Zerrouk, L., and Ibnlfassi, A., Barriers to ISO 9001 implementation in
Moroccan organizations: Empirical study, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, vol. 11, no. 1,
pp. 34–56, 2018.
Cabero, M., Guerra, J., Gaite, L., Prellezo, S., Pulido, P., and Alvarez, L., La experiencia de implantar la norma ISO
9001:2015 para certificar una unidad hospitalaria de urgencias pediátricas, Journal of healthcare quality
research, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 187–192, 2018.
Carmona-Calvo, M., Suarez, E., Calvo-Mora, A., and Periáñez-Cristóbal, R., Sistemas de gestión de la calidad: Un
estudio en empresas del sur de España y norte de Marruecos, European Research on Management and Business
Economics, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 8–16, 2016.
Castañares, I., 2 años después, AT&T apenas comienza a ver la luz, El Financiero, Available
https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/empresas/a-2-anos-de-su-llegada-at-t-empieza-a-ver-la-luz-en-mexico,
February 7, 2018.
Charlet, L., ISO Survey, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2018.
Chen, C., Anchecta, K., Lee, Y., and Dahlgaard, J., A stepwise ISO-Based TQM implementation approach using
ISO 9001:2015, Management and Production Engineering Review, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 65–75, 2016.
Ciravegna, L., Domingues, J., Machado, P., and Harder, D., ISO 9001:2015 Adoption : A Multi-Country Empirical
Research, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 27–50, 2019.
Del Castillo-Peces, C., Mercado-Idoeta, C., Prado-Roman, M., and del Castillo-Feito, C., The influence of
motivations and other factors on the results of implementing ISO 9001 standards, European Research on
Management and Business Economics, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 33-41, 2018.
Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación A.C. Lista de organizaciones para la certificación, México, Entidad Mexicana de
Acreditación A.C., May 6, 2019.
Eilks, I., and Markic, S., Effects of a long-term participatory action research project on science teachers’
professional development, Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 7, no. 3,
pp. 149–160, 2011.
Fonseca, L., and Domingues, J., Empirical research of the ISO 9001:2015 transition process in Portugal:
Motivations, benefits, and success factors, Quality Innovation Prosperity, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 16–46, 2018.

© IEOM Society International 90

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

Gimeno, C., Cuerda, C., Alonso, A. Frías, L., Camblor, M., Bretón, I., Plá, R., Izquierdo, I., and García-Peris, P.,
Implantación de un sistema de gestión de calidad en una unidad de nutrición según la norma UNE-EN-ISO
9001:2008, Nutrición Hospitalaria, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 1386–139, 2015.
Gómez, J., Fontalvo, T., and Vergara, J., Impact of certification ISO 9001 on productivity indicators and financial
benefits of companies in the Mamonal industrial zone in Cartagena, Estudios Gerenciales, vol. 29, no. 126, pp.
99–109, 2013.
Ingason, H., Best Project Management Practices in the Implementation of an ISO 9001 Quality Management System,
Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences. Elsevier B.V., vol. 19, pp. 192–200, 2015.
International Organization for Standardization, Norma Internacional ISO 9000:2015 Quality Management Systems –
Requirements, Fifth edition, ISO copyright office. Geneva/Switzerland, 2015a.
International Organization for Standardization, International Standard ISO 9000:2015 Quality Management Systems
– Fundamentals and vocabulary, Fifth edition, ISO copyright office, Geneva/Switzerland, 2015b.
Juanzon, J., and Muhi, M., Significant Factors to Motivate Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Construction Firms
in the Philippines to Implement ISO9001:2008, Procedia Engineering, vol. 171, no. 12, pp. 354–361, 2017.
Khalid, S., Fiaz, M. and Shoaib, M., Impact of ISO Standards, a Tool of Total Quality Management, on Financial
performance, Journal of Basic and applied scientific research, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 265–274, 2014.
Klima, I., Action research as a methodology for professional development in leading an educational process, Studies
in Educational Evaluation, Elsevier, vol. 64, no. 11, p. 100826, 2020
Knežević, M., Čerović, S., Džamić, V. and Radojević, T., Total Quality Management implementation and guest
satisfaction in hospitality, Amfiteatru Economic, vol. 19, no. 44, pp. 124–143, 2017.
Kohli, R., and Kettinger, W., Informating the Clan: Controlling Physicians’ costs and outcomes, MIS Quarterly, vol.
28, no. 3, pp. 363–394, 2004.
Latorre, A., La investigación-acción. Conocer y cambiar la práctica educativa, Third edition, Graó,
Barcelona/España, 2005.
Laudonia, I., Mamlok-Naaman, R., Abels, S., and Eilks, I., Action research in science education, Educational Action
Research, vol.26, no. 3, pp. 480–495, 2018.
Lewin, K., Action Research and Minority Problems, The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, vol. 2,
no. 4, pp. 34–46, 1946.
Martínez, A., Laguado, R. and Flores, E., Success factors of the ISO 9001 certification in companies of Cucuta and
its metropolitan area, Journal Estudios Gerenciales, vol. 34, no. 147, pp. 216-228, 2018.
Nava, V., and Rivas, L., Performance in implementation of ISO 9001:2000 in Mexico certified organizations.
Estudios Gerenciales, vol. 24, no. 108, pp. 107-128, 2008.
Petnji, L., Marimon, F., and Casadesus, M., The revitalising effect of ISO 9001 on dissatisfied customers, Total
Quality Management, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 856-864, 2014.
Project Management Institute, A guide to the project management body of knowledge, Fifth edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., Pennsylvania/USA, 2017.
Psomas, E., and Antony, J., The effectiveness of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System and its influential
critical factors in Greek manufacturing companies, International Journal of Production Research. Taylor &
Francis, vol. 53, no. 7, pp. 2089-2099, 2015.
Saraf, A., Efficacy of ISO 9001:2015 to support operational performance, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global,
2019.
Simon, A., and Kafel, P., Reasons for Decertification of ISO 9001. An Empirical Study, Gestión y Organizaciones,
vol. 28, no. 70, pp. 69-80, 2018.
Sitnikov, C., Laudonia, I., Mamlok-Naaman, R., Abels, S., and Eilks, I. Risk management model from the
perspective of implementing ISO 9001:2015 standard within financial services companies, Amfiteatru
Economic, vol. 19, no. 11, pp. 1017–1034, 2017.
Susman, G., and Evered, R., An Assessment of the Scientific Merits of Action Research, The Administrative Science
Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 480-495, 1978.
Tamayo, P., Moreno, M., Ochoa, M., De León, I. and Arteta, Y., Los enfoques mundiales de la gestión de la calidad.
Una mirada desde los modelos y premios de excelencia, Ingeniare, vol. 6, No. 11, pp. 99-113, 2011.
Vanova, J., Paulova, I., Rusko, M., and Hekelova, E., Creating corporate culture in context with standards ISO 9001:
2015, Annals of DAAAM and Proceedings of the International DAAAM Symposium, pp. 274–279, 2017.
Zimon, D., Gajewska, T., and Bednárová, L., An Influence of Quality Management System for Improvement of
Logistics Distribution, Quality - Access to Success, vol. 17, no. 155, pp. 68-70, 2016.

© IEOM Society International 91

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Singapore, March 7-11, 2021

Biographies

Diana Ortiz-Rangel is a student of the PhD in Administrative Sciences with focus on Sustainability. She is a
Master of Science in Business Administration from Instituto Politecnico Nacional. She is Project Management
Professional certified since 2009 and Scrum Master Certified since 2018. Over the past twenty years she has held
various roles in the field of telecommunications and project management. Her research interests include quality,
project management, sustainability and Quality Management Systems.

Luis Rocha-Lona is Senior Lecturer of Operations Management at Instituto Politecnico Nacional de Mexico. He
has led international research projects sponsored by the Mexican Government, the British Council and the British
Academy. He has published papers in journals such as the International Journal of Engineering and Technology
Innovation, International Journal of Business, Management and Social Sciences, Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, International Journal of Productivity
and Quality Management and International Journal of Lean Six Sigma. Dr. Rocha-Lona has also published two
books and delivered conferences and published in more than 20 international conferences. Dr. Rocha-Lona is also
active reviewer for international conferences and journals such as the International Journal of Supply Chain and
Operations Resilience, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, International Journal of Cleaner Production
and Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.

Lila Margarita Bada-Carbajal is a Senior Lecturer of Management at the Department of Postgraduate Research
and Department of Engineering Administration at the Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Alamo Temapache,
Veracruz, Mexico and Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Postgraduate Research at the Instituto Politecnico
Nacional, Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administracion in Mexico City. She has led projects of quality
management to help organizations in implementing a Quality Management System and research projects funded by
Program for Professor Professional Development for the Superior Type (PRODEP). Dr. Bada-Carbajal has
published over 18 articles in scientific journals and international conferences. Her research applies in the areas of
management, competitiveness, supply chain, value chain and clusters.

Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes is a Professor of Operations Management and Head of the Centre for Supply Chain
Improvement at the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, University of Derby, UK. He is actively involved
in industrial projects where he combines his knowledge, expertise and industrial experience in operations
management to help organizations achieve excellence in their internal functions and supply chains. He has also led
and managed international research projects funded by the British Academy, British Council and Mexico’s National
Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). As a leading academic, he has published over 100 articles in
leading scientific journals, international conferences and five books in the areas of operations management and
innovation, manufacturing performance measurement and Quality Management Systems. Areas of expertise and
interest for Professor Garza-Reyes include general aspects of operations and manufacturing management, business
excellence, quality improvement, and performance measurement.

Simon Peter Nadeem is a PhD at the University of Derby. He is a Lecturer in the College of Business, Law and
Social Sciences, and is associated with Centre for Supply Chain Improvement at the University of Derby, U.K.
Simon has published in high ranking peer-reviewed scientific journals such as International Journal of Production
Research (IJPR) and Production Planning and Control (PPC). He has presented and published in International
Conferences such as POMS, APMS, INCOM, IEOM and has contributed chapters and case studies in academic
books. Simon’s research focus and expertise are in the areas of Circular Economy, Lean, Operations Management,
Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, and Innovation.

© IEOM Society International 92