An interested party is a person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity.
Management system standards require the organization to determine its interested parties and their relevant expectations. The key word here is “relevant”: not every expectation of every party, but those that fall within the scope of your management system.
Typical interested parties
- Customers and end users
- Employees and their representatives
- Suppliers and business partners
- Regulators and supervisory authorities
- Shareholders and financial institutions
- The local community and neighbouring facilities
- Insurance and certification bodies
How does an expectation become a requirement?
An expectation becomes binding when it is adopted through legal regulation, a contract or the organization’s own decision. In environmental management systems these binding expectations are defined as compliance obligations. In automotive, customer-specific requirements are the most concrete example of this category.
Updating
The list is expected to be reviewed annually, with changes reflected in the context analysis and the risk assessment.
Interested party analysis is constructed with the same logic in all management systems; what differs is which parties come to the fore. In the environmental management system training, for example, the local community and regulatory authorities carry more weight, while in the ISO 9001 training the customer and supply chain do. All our topics are on the Academy page.