USING PQASSO FOR BETTER ENTERPRISE QUALITY OUT PUTS

Using PQASSO For More In-put And Out-put
By James Achanyi-Fontem, Cameroon Link
An Account Expert of NSTechnoMed, Mrs. Ngechop Claire Ndi told Fine Forest Foundation Cameroon managers that policies of organisations are environmentally and organizationally influenced and independent. She wss delivering a lecture on PQASSO, which stands for Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations, at the Sickle Cell Society’s Head Quarters in London, UK.
Three managers, Ursula, Anastasia and James from the FFF Cameroon and Cameroon Link were treated to lectures within the frame work of the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship Awards 2008. The managers were told that in the developing countries, international funders look for quality in good governance , since most of the small NGOs and charity organizations are considered as not-for-profit entities.
It was also observed that most of the third world country organizations lacked the knowledge of book keeping and their records of activities are often not traceable. Even where the records exist, the elements used are not standardized. Mrs. Ngechop explained that if the services rendered by t6he organizations are of good quality, this would propel and expand the impact of the organization’s work within the communities, at national and international levels.
She told the Cameroon managers that PQASSO is a straight forward tool, that is user friendly with a quality assurance system, which offers a flexible approach which allows the organization to work at its own pace. It also helps managers to take a systematic look at what is happening within the organization, and to identify areas where staff are doing well or not so well.
This also guides the decision makers and stake holders on planning new changes and orientations where there are weaknesses, while encouraging staff in areas which are doing very well. It helps in the planning and allocation of resources for making improvement over a realistic time frame.
Quality is dependent on the organization and this helps staff to try to always strive for excellence. QUALITY Assurance is a systematic way of implementing regulations within an organization. According to Ngechop Yvonne Claire Ndi, PQASSO is an evidence systematic insurance of quality, because records of activities are traceable.
She encouraged the managers to keep notes and minutes of all meetings including receipts of expenses for traceable justification, Income should lso be logged on paper and the computer.. This means that with PQASSO, a manager can easily locate resources in a quality manner. In other words, the strength of an organization can be judged from the level of usage of PQASSO and that is why some people see the system as an audit oriented system during which all levels of an organization are scrutinized during monitoring.
By looking at every aspect in the organization, it is easier to identify problems and review the regulations in order not to accumulate mistakes. With the usage of PQASSO, all withdrawals from a bank account or savings scheme are authorized by two signatories or more.
Addressing the issue of who benefits from such a system, Mrs. Ngechop Claire Ndi observed that from research findings, organizations using PQASSO gain in various ways. By becoming more effective and efficient, the turn over increases as the organizational system and procedures improve.
On the other hand, the quality of the users get better and communication among staff and other stake holders is enhanced with board members and volunteers. While the staff is motivated the benefits create credibility at all levels and funders see an interest to continue to support on-going activities. The manager becomes creative in solving problems within the organization.
It should be noted that review and monitoring sheets in an organization are PQASSO tools that encourage efficiency and this often lead to a change in attitude. Talking about principles and values of PQASSO, the accounting expert said, it is designed for organizations and people who are motivated by strong values. THE DESIGNERS PUT THE USERS AT HEART. And this brings added value to the system for permanent staff and volunteers.
PQASSO was created to promote equal opportunities and diversity, which encourages environmental and ethical responsibility, effective communication learning opportunities for all. The commonwealth fellows were told that during monitoring the inspector looks for evidence and impact which assist in a review of the policies of the organization
There are seven achievable areas in PQASSO which are looked upon as the seven quality areas. These include: Planning, governance, leadership and management, user-centred service, managing people, learning and development. These qualities cannot be achieved in a short limit of time, mastery comes with time.
The five quality areas are managing resources, communication, promotion, working with others, monitoring and evaluation and results. When an organization covers all these areas, it can consider itself to be up to date like the Domain of Silence visited at Greenwood Gate, Black Hill in Crowborough on the 2nd December 2008. Going through the installations and discussing with GM Sven Johannson, it became obvious that the success of an organisation does not depend on the size of the staff, but on its quality. The domain of silence at Greenwood Gate has very few staff, but operates will well defined objectives and strategies that assist the organisation to reach its annual target.
From what was discovered, GM Sven Johannson applies the Practical Quality Assurance for Small Size Organisations policy to achieve target objectives. Like in most humanitarian organizations, volunteers play a very important role, though their in puts are also acounted for. This is what was taught to the managers from Cameroon about PQASSO, which has to be transfered to other non governmental organisations in Cameroon within the frame work of the action plan adopted at the end of the training at the Sickle Cell Society. It would be recalled that this training was supported through the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship Awards 2008. To get more on video about the training, click on this link: http://uk.youtube.com/user/camlink99