MPL | Alarm & Communication Central (MPL) has implemented an integrated management system with support and advice from Protify. MPL including MPL Easy safe integrations has incorporated three certifications; EN 50518, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001, into their online management system.
MPL prefers to focus on its own area of expertise and therefore sought the right partner to be optimally advised and supported. Jimmy Boeijen, general manager of MPL gives tips and tricks on ISO certification and talks about the certification process, how they implemented and maintained their management system.
About MPL | Alarm & Communications Central
MPL aims to make buildings smarter and management easy(er) with its solutions since 2001. MPL has 38 employees, whose consultants advise clients on risk management, striving to create sustainable buildings where people feel safe. MPL focuses on working as one, with comfortable workstations, access control systems, HVAC, building management systems, fire alarm systems, camera surveillance and workplace registration.
MPL uses Winguard in its control room. So that its clients have the assurance that notifications can be properly followed up. They are also the only Control Room partner of Advancis in the world. They use that environment to connect systems to their platform, which means connecting over the internet to more than 100,000 devices based on VPN connections. On the MPL platform, a lot of connections from various customers come in and are connected to each other. This is precisely why a high security standard is of great importance to MPL and resulted in them opting for ISO 27001 certification. They wanted to show among their customers, that they take their data seriously and see this as a kind of hallmark.
“Now when customers start asking questions about data, we can show that we are ISO 27001 certified. So we handle your data responsibly.”
Protify and MPL
MPL already had ISO 9001 certification from a non-accredited certification body and a PAC scheme. But MPL was ready for the next step; they were working with an ISO organisation, which was still a bit old-fashioned. So they were looking for a partner who could support them in a way that matched their services and high security standards. “ISO certifications are not our core business. That is why we wanted a party, which supports and advises us in the field of ISO and control room procedures. Protify was a well-known player for us, due to their quality and familiarity in our market. For this reason, we were keen to work with them.” indicates Jimmy.
Jimmy Boeijen is general manager of MPL and responsible for the certification process and cooperation with Protify. Jimmy has the role of quality and security manager and ensures that the organisation and operations run smoothly. Marcel and Peter Lentes, owners of MPL are closely involved in this process, with Peter being operationally responsible and also involved in the management review.
First step EN 50518: Monitoring and Alarm Receiving Centres (MARC)
Dutch private emergency centres are licensed by the government to perform their services. Does your organisation want to qualify for this licence? Then, as an alarm centre, you need to comply with laws and regulations. EN 50518 is the European standard that private alarm receiving centres and video surveillance centres must comply with. EN 50518 applies to organisations that receive, process and evaluate (alarm) signals generated by alarm systems. The standard contains guidelines and rules on construction, processes and technology.
The implementation of EN 50518 was the first step in MPL’s certification process, which they started three years ago. Protify conducted a Gap analysis prepared, providing insight into the step from the BORG PAC scheme to EN 50518 and how MPL stood in relation to the standard. Among other things, this resulted in a forecast with costs for needed changes when transitioning to EN 50518. These changes had quite an impact, such as fire-resistant doors and alterations to their premises. This process went satisfactorily and immediately resulted in follow-up steps and further cooperation with Protify.
Next step ISO 9001 and ISO 27001
“ISO 9001 was already in line and we wanted to go further, so we chose to pick up ISO 27001 in parallel. We always saw ISO procedures as a paper tiger. Rules for this, you have to work that out, then the controls again, it doesn’t stop… Then it’s nice to work with Tim Kemper and Naomi Erol (former colleague) who keep you on your toes and point out what really needs to be done. They sometimes tap you on the fingers when necessary. For us, it was good to have one more check. Especially when you start introducing ISO in your organisation, you start to see the added value of it.”
“The expertise really lies with Protify, we were offered the controls. And more importantly the software tool that to house the certifications; the ProActive Compliance Tool, which really made it much easier. That tool is really perfect, super nice!” says Jimmy enthusiastically.
Why choose MPL ISO certification?
- The way of working ISO brings structure to your organisation.
- You get a certain standard of work.
- ISO assumes standardisation and continuous improvement, which is important for our organisation because we are small and innovative. As a result, we sometimes go from ‘left to right’ a bit than the structure and way of working helps.
What has changed as a result of certification and the management system?
Jimmy talks about how MPL has changed by introducing certification and where the process has led in their organisation:
- We are more on top of it now.
- We have become more aware that certain things really need to happen. Protify really created the awareness for us.
- We put our organisation on a better footing, made organisational changes, including in our organisational chart.
- We tackled the Personnel & HR policy.
- Employees know more about awareness through GDPR and by ISO 27001 certification.
- We create awareness by providing training on security and spam.
- We have properly determined which suppliers are critical to us, as they sit in our secure environment and handle data. These suppliers must also comply with ISO 27001 certification.
- We used to have a thick folder and now everything is in a software tool, with all your controls and versioning in environment at your disposal.
- At first, we saw ISO as a ‘paper tiger’; those days are over. Certainly task management and associated notifications from the PCT have contributed to this.
MPL on the role of Protify
“Protify is the party with all the knowledge in this field, they are above our organisation, so to speak. Of course, our knowledge of certification has grown, but we can fall back on them. Because we really get our knowledge from Protify, we see them as our own quality manager. They still guide and advise.” indicates Jimmy.
“We really get our knowledge from Protify, we see them as our own quality manager.”
MPL and Protify now have monthly quality meetings, going through reports and tasks. The focus is now on continuous improvement and Protify helps us be on top of it.
Jimmy’s tips for other organisation as you start getting management information in order and certification:
- Find support and expertise partner.
- Check out Protify; meet people and the software tool; the PCT.
Looking for the expert partner for EN50518, ISO27001 certification?
Take contact us and we will be happy to tell you more. Of course, we are happy to advise on the right way to set up a management information system.
