Formulate goals for the coming year based on the Long Term Goals and the Quality Policy. Note that the coming year doesn't have to be the calendar year. E.g. if it is currently April, your quality year can run from April this year to March next year. It is often wise to let the quality year coincide with important other planning periods, such as the budget year.

Based on these goals you will make a Quality Year Planning in the next activity. Hence it is important to keep the number and scope of goals realistic: they should be achievable within one year. Take into account the availability of human resources and other types of resources needed to fulfill the goals.

Divide the goals over all aspects of the quality management system. A good strategy is to adhere to the Quality System Essentials (QSE) framework: formulate for each QSE a limited/small number of goals that should be achieved at the end of the year.