The primary aim of ISO 9001: 2000 standard is to enable an organisation to provide Quality Products or Services consistently. The second important objective would be to continually improve the Quality. The first objective is achieved when the organisation commits and establishes standards for its processes, products & services while conforming to ISO 9001: 2000 standard. The second objective is achieved when organisation commits and establishes processes for identifying improvement opportunities and improvement methodologies.

ISO 9001 is an international standard for Quality Management Systems and this standard can be adopted by any organisation. The standard was initially introduced in year 1987 and later revised in year 1994 and year 2000. The versions introduced in 1987 and 1994 presented an approach where aspects required for systematic Quality Management was divided into Twenty Elements. Though these twenty element may not have incorporated best practices prevailing at that time the standard provided an excellent opportunity to initiate proactive measures in managing activities related to quality. Subsequently, based on the extensive experience accumulated the standard was subjected to extensive review which resulted in the year 2000 revision. The revised standard was released on 15th December 2000. Subsequently the standard was revised in year 2008.

The current standard includes Eight Principles for Quality Management and Five Conformity Clauses. The Quality Management Principles encourages organisations to pursue best practices and the five Clauses guides the organisation to develop a Management System to achieve Quality Performance which is consistent and continually improving.