Source: Own illustration
Ten years ago, the Service & Communication department of the IT Center reached an important milestone: On May 23, 2016, the then IT-ServiceDesk received its initial certification under DIN EN ISO 9001:2015—and has been certified without interruption ever since. The department can thus look back on a decade of continuous quality management and successful development.
The Path to Certification
The foundation for the subsequent certification had already been laid several years earlier. In 2013 and 2014, the former IT-ServiceDesk reorganized itself and divided into the following core areas:
- IT Support
- Quality Management, Communication & Reporting
Quality management was not viewed as an additional task, but was established from the outset as a central component of daily work. Key performance indicators, structured evaluations, and a dedicated reporting system with analysis going beyond standard reports made it possible to evaluate processes in a targeted manner and continuously improve them. This made improvements more visible and easier to implement in practice. The next logical step finally followed in 2016 with successful ISO certification.
Growth of the Department and the Service Portfolio
Since its initial certification, the department has continued to evolve—in terms of organization, staffing, and scope. The application for initial certification listed:
- 10 permanent employees
- 6 trainees
- 20 student assistants.
In the most recent certification application from 2024, the department already comprised:
- 45 permanent employees
- 2 trainees
- 19 student assistants
At the same time, the service portfolio also grew significantly. While in 2010 only seven services were supported in first-level support, today requests for all IT services provided by the IT Center are processed. The department now serves as a single point of contact for inquiries regarding both its own and jointly provided (IT) services of the IT Center. Since 2018, the certification has also covered the department’s marketing division. As the portfolio expanded, the scope of processes, documentation requirements, and organizational complexity increased accordingly. As a result, an actively implemented quality management system became increasingly important.
Successful Audits with No Nonconformities
The fact that the established processes have proven their worth was particularly evident in the regular recertification and surveillance audits. Since the initial certification, these have been consistently passed successfully and without nonconformities—a result that reflects the continuous work on quality assurance and process optimization.
Looking to the Future
With the upcoming revision of ISO 9001:2026, the next step in development is already on the horizon. The Service & Communication department plans to seek certification under the new version as early as possible and to further develop existing processes accordingly.
Looking back on ten years of ISO certification clearly shows:
Quality management has grown alongside the department and has established itself as a key component. In the future, Service & Communication will continue to work on continuously improving services and service quality and meeting the demands of modern university IT.
Responsible for the content of this article is Niklas Kunstleben.
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