Scope
The most critical first step along the journey to BS 8901 is to clearly identify the scope of the sustainability management system to which you intend to apply BS 8901. This involves defining and describing the principle activities and functions of your organisation that are to be included in the scope of the management system.
There is considerable flexibility in setting the boundaries of the scope for BS 8901. The boundaries could be set at Team, Department, Business Unit or Organisational level.
However, when setting the scope, it is important to note what is not within the scope as this may have implications on what claims an organisation can make. For example, if the operations team within an event organiser has implemented and achieved BS 8901 but the logistics, marketing and production teams have not, then the organisation has to be very clear that only the management system relating to its operations team meet BS 8901.
