What are the Steps to Quality Assurance Certification?
The Steps to Certification?
Our unique method can get you ready for an ISO certification in as quick as 30 days with no compromises.
Our unique method can get you ready for an ISO certification in as quick as 30 days with no compromises.
An ISO certification is the most preferred quality assurance certification today for businesses acting as a seal of approval for their management system. The certification shows that their management system is competent and complies with one of the recognized ISO management standards.
There are numerous reasons for a business to get an ISO certification. It acts as a strong symbol of quality and trust that can get them more tender contracts as well as a lot of potential customers. While each ISO standard supports a particular management system, there are common benefits assured by each standard in businesses including an increase in market opportunities, cost savings, higher customer satisfaction, increased staff morale, and enhanced operational efficiency.
Therefore, by achieving an ISO certification you can send a message to your potential customers, staff, supplier partners, and other stakeholders that you are concerned about their needs.
If you are not sure how to achieve an ISO certification, we at Compliancehelp Consulting LLC can guide you. Our team of ISO certification experts can help you through every step of the certification with ongoing consultation and support.
The process of achieving an ISO certification is also a great way to improve various performance aspects of your business. We can help you in every possible way to get the ISO certification necessary for your organization while improving your business.
There are simple six steps to get certified and we can simplify each of them for you. We aim to minimize the hassles in each step so that your costs for the certification never exceed your expectations.
The first step to achieving the ISO standard is to dive into the details of the standard’s requirements. You need to understand them in the context of your particular management system and business. Once you understand the requirements well, you can determine what procedures are required to meet them. Also, knowing the standard’s requirements is necessary for documenting your management system.
You cannot get certified without documenting how your business addresses the essential criteria of the ISO standards.
Some of the requirements that you need to document in ISO 9001 for example include:
What We Do: Our consultants help you to comprehend each requirement of the ISO standard and prepare a methodical plan to ensure you meet all those success criterions of certification. We examine all your business processes and the current management system to determine where they stand against the standard’s criteria. We call this a gap analysis. Our ISO consultants then provide you with appropriate solutions to meet all the criteria within a fixed timeframe.
Once your management system is developed and compliant with the standard for which you are seeking certification, you must be able to show evidence that you follow your management system.
This evidence will largely be in the form of records from your internal audits, non-conformance and corrective action reporting, management reviews, as well as practical evidence that you are following the key processes documented in your management system as required by the standard.
What We Do: Our consultants examine your existing work processes and management system and determine how they will operate from now on to comply with the ISO standard. Following that, our consultants help you to prepare a manual document of the processes and management system, as relevant to the ISO standard you want to achieve. The manual will set out the details of your processes and how they should be executed by your employees going forward to maintain ISO compliance.
Once your management system is documented in accordance with the criteria of the standard for which you are seeking certification and you have sufficient evidence (history of records showing compliance) you are ready for your external certification body audit.
To be ready for the certification audit, you are required to have the following:
What We Do: An external audit is necessary to attain an objective view of your business’s conformity to the ISO standard. It is done when all your processes are running smoothly and the management system is properly documented. Our consultants provide necessary advisory and training to your staff regarding the stages and principles of the audit so that they are fully ready to cooperate through the audit leading to your successful quality assurance certification.
The certification body audit is divided into two stages. Stage one is an initial desk top assessment of your written management system, procedures and other documentation. Stage one audits will normally be performed at your head office. The purpose of the stage one audit is to assess your readiness for certification.
Stage two is an on-site assessment where the auditor will be auditing your business processes against your written management system.
What We Do: We help you analyze the objective evidence or findings of the audit. The external auditors report any inadequacies in the processes and nonconformities in your management system. We then help you to work on resolving those issues with proper corrective actions.
Assuming you pass stages one and two, you will receive your certificate, which is valid for 3 years.
What We Do: We help you to maintain your certification success and promote it to avail the benefits of international recognition to your business.
To maintain your certification, you need to continue to follow or comply with your management system. You will be re-audited every 6 – 12 months. The ongoing audits are called surveillance audits.
What We Do: We not only help you know how to achieve an ISO certification, but we also assist you in the long run. We help you with the continual improvement of your processes and management system through its term of validity, which is 3 years. We conduct internal surveillance audits at 6-12 months intervals to ensure that your processes and management system always stay on track and are ready to be re-certified.
A certification for quality assurance is the benchmark that helps organizations demonstrate their commitment to quality, consistency, and customer satisfaction. There are many tangible benefits of achieving a certification that eventually help your business to grow and sustain a higher level of performance. A quality assurance standard provides a strong framework of requirements that help them in establishing a QMS (Quality Management System). Achieving the certification demonstrates to the stakeholders that your business has a validated and accredited QMS in place to manage their quality aspects and maximize the satisfaction of customers.
Some of the key certifications known for quality assurance are ISO 9001, ISO 13485, AS9100, and ISO 17025.
The process of achieving an ISO certification is simple and straightforward including 5-6 steps. They are preparation (understanding the standard’s requirements), documentation of management system, implementation of the system, internal audit, certification, and continual improvement.
There is no one set cost for getting a quality certification. It depends on several factors including the size of the organization, number of processes, quality management objectives, size of the workforce, single or multiple locations of the business, and the standard’s requirements. However, you can consult with a reliable certification consultancy before starting the certification process. They can provide you with a quote after evaluating your organization size, business processes, quality objectives, and other factors.
The size, type, and complexity of your business determine whether it is easy to get a certification or not. Mostly it depends on if you hire the right team of consultants. They help you understand the ISO standard’s requirements well and how they work in the context of your business. They provide your staff with the necessary training to implement the Quality Management System (QMS) while meeting the requirements and doing the documentation correctly. When all these aspects are taken care of, it is easy to get certified successfully after passing the audits.