Asckey Data Services Ltd develops Web & Windows systems with ISO 9001/TickIT quality control

Asckey Data Services Ltd fully recognises the importance of quality in all aspects of its operation. Focusing on quality makes for a leaner, fitter organisation to better progress towards continual improvement of business performance. To fully embrace this philosophy, we have pursued and gained ISO 9001 certification in order to continually improve our business practices for the benefit of our clients. In addition we have also achieved TickIT certification to ensure best practices and high standards within our software development.

ISO 9001:2000
Awarded in 2005, this certificate is kept current by external annual audits, and a tri-annual re-certification audit. ISO 9001:2000 is based on eight quality management principles, all fundamental to good business practice:

Customer focus - organisations depend on their customers and therefore need to shape activities around the fulfilment of market need.
Leadership is needed to provide unity of purpose and direction.
Involvement of people creates an environment where people become fully involved in achieving the organisation’s objectives.
Process approach to achieve organisational objectives, resources and activities need to be managed as processes, with an understanding of how the outputs of one process affects the inputs to another.
Systematic approach to management: the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization depends on a systemised approach to work activities.
Continual improvement - adopting this as a part of everyday culture is a key objective for an organisation.
Fact based decision-making - effective decisions are based on the logical and intuitive analysis of data and factual information.
Mutually beneficial supplier relationships - such relationships will enhance the ability to create value.

TickIT
It is generally recognised that software development is very different to more traditional development activities. The development processes need to consider the complexity of software and the specialist nature of the development tools and techniques. Poor quality software impacts on efficiency, competitiveness and an ability to retain staff. It therefore makes good business sense to ensure consistently high levels of quality in software.

To this end, we have implemented a quality system to meet customers’ quality expectations. TickIT certification requires a company to formalise its design process, structure its thinking, and thus maximise its resource utilisation. TickIT certification is an independent verification of a software developer’s ability to design software in a structured manner bringing significant benefits such as:

Increased competitiveness by reducing software failure costs
Increased visibility, control and management of the software development process
Better traceability of processes and controls
Improved software deliverables
Reduced software maintenance costs
Increased ability to meet development milestones and budgets

Our quality processes were reviewed in depth in October 2008 and renewed for another three years, subject to the usual annual review process.
ISOWeb

ISO & TickIT