In the previous activity goals for the coming year were formulated. Make a plan describing the rationale behind each goal (explain: why was this goal formulated?) and how the goal should be achieved in this year (describe the approach). This is called the Quality Year Plan. Work closely together with the Quality Officer as he/she knows exactly how far the quality management system is implemented and what has yet to be done. They can provide an indication of what is achievable within one year and what is not.

The plan does not yet have to be written in SMART action points (this will be part of the next activity). However, the plans must be measurable: at the end of the year you must be able to check whether the plan has been completed. Therefore you must identify and describe an indicator for every activity described in the Quality Year Plan that helps you in monitoring progress in implementing the Quality Year Plan.

For the outline of the Quality Year Plan the Quality System Essentials (QSE) framework could be adapted. Be sure to include a table of contents, an introduction in which you summarize the Long Term Goals, and the Quality Policy , and provide a short description of the current situation. Explain the main focus of the Quality Year Plan of this year.

To get the best understanding of the contents, writing style and outline of a typical Quality Year Plan, see the Example Quality Year Plan added in the right-hand column (note that this example has another outline which does not follow the QSE framework). The example is a Quality Year Plan of a National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, however, the principle is the same for any other type of laboratory. The example Quality Year Plan also includes actions from a Management Review. For your first Quality Year Plan this will not be the case as you still have to do the first Management Review (which will be done later in this phase).

One important note: the Quality Year Plan does not necessarily have to run from 1 January until 31 December. It can also start and end in the middle of the calendar year, depending at what time of the year you do this activity. The date the Quality Year Plan is drafted should be taken as the start of the year. This is called the quality year.