One of the key additions to the R5 version of the telecommunications quality management system standard, TL 9000, is the addition of a risk management requirement. While the requirement is only a single sentence, it is followed by a bulleted note that adds guidance as to the intent. Managing risks that may affect your ability to provide a product or service requested by a customer should be a common business activity; however, recent experiences in our global economic environment have demonstrated that this effort is not as well managed as it should be. To enhance the standard, TL 9000 has taken what has long been a part of the automotive standard—ISO/TS 16949—to manage their supply chain, and also borrowed from Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), to best manage projects.

 …