This is the second of a series of six case studies where we address common problems experienced by voluntary and community organisations by looking at how an infrastructure organisation experienced the same problem and came up with a successful strategy to overcome it.

2.

Keeping the process going.

The organisation has accepted the importance of quality in its working life. It has achieved some element of recognition of its standards. There is an overwhelming temptation to breathe a collective sigh of relief and relax into a euphoric haze of achievement. Job well done! But does it end there? We've achieved the desired result, we are a quality organisation. What more is there? OK, we may be a quality organisation but what about our member organisations or our suppliers and customers. If we sub-contract our services out to other organisations how can we be sure that they will also meet the standards of our organisation whom effectively they represent? How do we keep the quality fire going in our own people so that three or four years down the line our standards are still improving and we have not slipped back? This is the story of one organisation who met that challenge head on. Organisation:
VC Train (Voluntary & Community Sector Training Consortium (South Yorkshire)). VC Train's support unit team of which there is 18 employed staff this acts as a service hub for the member organisations. Governance is provided through a board of trustees, which is elected annually at our AGM.

Quality Management Status
Subject to the Common Inspection Framework (CIF), Customer First compliant 2005 VC Train is a consortium of member organisations with the mission of supporting and enabling all its member organisations to access funding, develop their capacity and achieve high standards of quality and performance in meeting the needs of learners and in tackling disadvantage and advancing equity and social inclusion. The consortium's support unit itself is small ­ just a handful of staff supporting a membership base of over 100 organisations with approximately 60% of these contracting through them to meet the requirements of a substantial Learning Skills Council (LSC) contract. In addition to the LSC, the consortium works in partnership with the four Local Education Authorities (LEA), JobCentrePlus, the Open College Network and South Yorkshire Open Forum amongst others. The performance of the consortium was already monitored by the organisation to the extent that it was reviewed as a condition of contracting with the LSC and is subject to testing through CIF, a

VC Train ­ planning in action

Towards Effective Quality Management ­ Case Studies for Success

national compulsory process for inspecting all accredited learning. Theresa Stanley, the Quality Assurance Coordinator, tells us that issues of quality assurance were, and still are, fed to the Board of Members in the form of a `continuous improvement plan' so they had quality `on the agenda' but how could they maintain this early success in the longer term? The first stage was to embed the issue of quality control in every aspect of the organisation. It became a part of all the policies and procedures, the staff appraisal process and, crucially, a permanent component of the agenda for every meeting of the Board and its sub-groups. VC Train's QI team identified that the Co-ordinators would benefit from a recognised quality award that would endorse currency to their advice and guidance given to the membership. For the team, it was agreed that each should study towards the ALI Quality Champions Awards, which is a level 4 Certificate in Quality Standards. It endorsed our knowledge when visiting members and stimulated us to "We found it really offer training for members in areas where we found that the straightforward evidencing consortium had a weak spot. For the Support Unit, what we did... " Customer First was selected alongside the Investors in People framework as a particularly appropriate tool for recognising quality management within the Support Unit. "We found it really straightforward evidencing what we did in order to comply with the Customer First statements. We were one of 7% of organisations to be fully compliant on the first attempt." Now that VC Train has gone through Customer First itself, it is has helped raise standards in the support unit and improve the information we give to members. The only problem is that there are so many buzzwords and so much jargon around at the moment that it puts people off being involved. "Our challenge now'" says Theresa, "is to meet the ever changing national requirements for educational activities. With `Every Child Matters' and the new initiatives for 14+ learning we need to identify more of our members who are capable of delivering these objectives. The experience of VC Train has helped it take on the key role of helping its membership meet the CIF standards.

Checklist for success in keeping the process going
Embed the framework in everything from job descriptions to paperwork Integrate the standards into existing systems and plans Get the Board and others committed to the quality improvement plan Priorities those areas for development which are most mission critical Involve everyone and every aspect of your work in the quality process Use the quality framework to develop your relationship with sub-contractors Cut through and replace the jargon and buzz words ­ keep it simple Use the framework as a measure for others wanting to work with you

South Yorkshire Voluntary & Community Sector Training Consortium (VC Train), The

Ladder, Maltkiln Street, Rotherham, S60 2HY Tel: 01709 518800 Web: http://www.vctrain.org