7 Steps to Quality Excellence
ISO Certifications are always in demand due to its relevance in the competitive business world. The ISO Standards gets their periodic revisions once in every 5 years. Each revision is in line with the latest market trends, and have changes in policies and processes that are apt to the modern business scenario.
The ISO certification process might seem like a tiresome and lengthy process in the first go. Choosing the right consultant is the key to success.
To know more, you can read our blog on How to Choose the right ISO Consultant here.
The ISO Certification journey follows 6 basic steps that are:
1. Choosing the right Standard
The ISO 9001 Quality Management System is the most popular one to start with. It helps in building a consistent level of quality and customer satisfaction. Based on the industry and business requirements, there are various ISO Standards to choose from.
Aurion ISO Consultants will help you choose the right Standard based on your business activity and guide you through the implementation and certification works.
Other popular Standards include ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 14001 (Environmental) and the ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety).
2. Choose the right Consultant for your business
Ensure the Consultant works in alignment with your organizational goals. The success of the ISO Certification depends on your Consultant.
Ensure the ISO Consultants are knowledgeable about the recent revisions of ISO Standards, policies & compliance requirements, documentation support, etc. Also, building a good rapport with the consultant from the beginning is essential.
For checking the authenticity of the Certification Body and the Consultant’s accreditation, you can visit the concerned ISO Authorization body’s website and request for sample Certifications from the Consultants.
3. Onboarding and Conduct Gap Analysis
Once you finalize a Consultant, the next step is onboarding the Consultant to your team. Fix up a meeting to discuss the Certification journey. The Consultant will conduct a Gap Analysis to identify the current business operations, processes followed and suggest process improvements.
Onboarding and conducting a Gap Analysis is a critical step in the ISO Certification process. As it is the starting phase, and the action plan is drawn out from the initial meeting and business process assessments. The required process improvements are to be initiated to develop a Quality Management System that is compliant with ISO 9001:2015 requirements.
4. Document Preparation
The new ISO 9001 Standard is focused on process optimization and less on documentation. Still, the documentation of the process improvements and related policies must be maintained for streamlined implementation of the ISO 9001:2015 Standard.
The ISO Standard indicates that the documentation needs to be created at instances where it adds value to the work process. The main aim of ISO 9001:2015 Standard is to maintain quality first process/services and enhance customer satisfaction.
5. Developing the Quality Management System
Develop a Quality Management System based on the recommendations from the Gap analysis. A Management System is a set of documents that outlines your business processes. The Quality Management System Implementation is a vital step in the ISO Certification process.
The Quality Management System consists of industry best practices, quality principles, methodologies to implement effective business processes to enhance product quality, deliver positive customer experience, etc. The Quality Management System must be in place before the inspection by the third party (Accredited Certification Body) is conducted.
Once the implementation of the Quality Management System is complete, organizations can undergo an internal audit to ensure all the process implementations are in compliant with the ISO Standard.
The Internal Audit is conducted by the ISO Consultants and they interview the employees, look at sample work reports, observe the business operations and suggest corrective actions as required.
6. Conduct the ISO Certification Audit
Along with your ISO consultants, select the certification body for the external certification and submit your Quality Management System documentation for review to the external body. The external body will be an accredited Certification body that will issue the ISO Certification based on the compliance requirements after conducting an audit.
The external audit will be conducted by the accredited certification body on your premises by reviewing the business operations. Any non- conformance to the ISO requirements will result in an extension of the certification issuance. On mutual agreements, a revised timeline will be given to incorporate the changes so that the processes comply with the ISO Standard requirements, and results in successful issuance of ISO Certificate.
7. Certification
Once all the requirements are in place; the certification will be issued by the certification body. The ISO Certifications are valid for 3 years. Re-audit will be conducted for the new certificate issuance to ensure that the policies are in place and the business processes are ISO compliant.
About the Author
John Wick is an ISO Consultant working with Aurion ISO Consultants in Dubai. John likes to write on ISO Training, ISO Consulting, latest changes in ISO Standards, industry-wise benefits from getting ISO Certified. Reach out for expert consultation on any ISO related queries.
About Aurion
Aurion ISO Consultants, Dubai offers world-class ISO Services such as Training, Consulting, Certification, Implementation, and Audits in Dubai, UAE and Worldwide.
Aurion ISO Consultants is an Award-Winning Consultant firm in Dubai, UAE and one of the fastest-growing ISO Service provider in the UAE and GCC region. We have assisted 1800 clients across several countries globally.
We provide you with a Single-Window Solution with ISO Consulting, ISO Training, and ISO Implementation and ISO Audit Services. With our ISO Certification, you can transform your business into quality first one.
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ISO Terms Explained
To the novice quality manager, ISO jargon can be extremely overwhelming. What is an NCR? What do you mean by OFI? Are we certified or accredited? But before you go and pull out your hair, let’s take a moment to go over some of the most frequently used terms and their definitions with regards to ISO and Management System Certification.