Process Interaction Matrix

Numerous management system standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO13485 and others require organizations to establish "… management system,including the processes needed and their interactions." As a rule, process interaction diagrams are either "big picture" flow charts showing relations between the main processes or unreadable detailed "octopus" type with dozens of links between the processes.

A typical management system has two types of processes: those that interact with all functions, such as management review, documentation management, non-conformity, CAPA, internal audit program, and others. These processes are interrelated. For example,management review receives inputs from all processes and provides output to all functions. The internal audit process may receive inputs from all processes and provides output into all processes.

Product realization processes may include market analysis, product design, product release, order processing, manufacturing and testing, and finally product delivery. These processes are more linear than system processes: one follows another.

To avoid limitations of the 'big picture' and the 'octopus' diagrams, one can use all-inclusive Process Interaction Matrix shown below.

Originally, this method was published in 2004 by the Quality Progress Magazine (A Process Interaction Matrix). Since then the model has received wide acceptance by large number of organizations in various industries. The matrix above is a revised and updated version to reflect on requirements of the latest ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 standards and other management systems. Feel free to download complimentary Process Interaction Matrix [PDF] as an example for developing one for your company.

If you realize that putting together your own matrix takes too much time (it is a very time-consuming spreadsheet), order our MS Excel editable template to save you a lot of time. Your purchase of the Process Interaction Matrix template includes one hour of on line consulting. We will walk you through the process to give you a jump start to create your own.