Mark Hammar
October 18, 2016
Implementation, maintenance, training, and knowledge products for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) according to the ISO 27001 standard.
Automate your ISMS implementation and maintenance with the Risk Register, Statement of Applicability, and wizards for all required documents.
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Implementation, training, and knowledge products for Quality Management Systems (QMS) according to the ISO 9001 standard.
All required policies, procedures, and forms to implement a QMS according to ISO 9001.
Accredited courses for individuals and quality professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 9001 and the QMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) according to the ISO 14001 standard.
All required policies, procedures, and forms to implement an EMS according to ISO 14001.
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Implementation and training products for Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) according to the ISO 45001 standard.
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Implementation and training products for medical device Quality Management Systems (QMS) according to the ISO 13485 standard.
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Compliance products for the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation.
All required policies, procedures, and forms to comply with the EU MDR.
Implementation products for Information Technology Service Management Systems (ITSMS) according to the ISO 20000 standard.
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Implementation products for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) according to the ISO 22301 standard.
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Implementation products for testing and calibration laboratories according to the ISO 17025 standard.
All required policies, procedures, and forms to implement ISO 17025 in a laboratory.
Implementation products for automotive Quality Management Systems (QMS) according to the IATF 16949 standard.
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Implementation products for aerospace Quality Management Systems (QMS) according to the AS9100 standard.
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Handle multiple ISO 27001 projects by automating repetitive tasks during ISMS implementation.
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Organize company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for your client’s employees and support a successful cybersecurity program.
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Implementation, maintenance, training, and knowledge products for the IT industry.
Automate your ISMS implementation and maintenance with the Risk Register, Statement of Applicability, and wizards for all required documents.
Documentation to comply with ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 22301 (business continuity), ISO 20000 (IT service management), GDPR (privacy), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
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Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 and the ISMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Compliance, training, and knowledge products for essential and important organizations.
Documentation to comply with NIS 2 (cybersecurity), GDPR (privacy), ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), and ISO 22301 (business continuity).
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Accredited courses for individuals and security professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 and the ISMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for manufacturing companies.
Documentation to comply with ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), and ISO 45001 (health & safety), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
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Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 9001 (QMS) and ISO 14001 (EMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for transportation & distribution companies.
Documentation to comply with ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), and ISO 45001 (health & safety), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
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Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 (ISMS) and ISO 9001 (QMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, maintenance, training, and knowledge products for telecoms.
Automate your ISMS implementation and maintenance with the Risk Register, Statement of Applicability, and wizards for all required documents.
Documentation to comply with ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 22301 (business continuity), ISO 20000 (IT service management), GDPR (privacy), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
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Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 and the ISMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, maintenance, training, and knowledge products for banks, insurance companies, and other financial organizations.
Automate your ISMS implementation and maintenance with the Risk Register, Statement of Applicability, and wizards for all required documents.
Documentation to comply with ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 22301 (business continuity), GDPR (privacy), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and security professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 and the ISMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
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Documentation to comply with ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 9001 (quality), GDPR (privacy), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 (ISMS) and ISO 9001 (QMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for hospitals and other health organizations.
Documentation to comply with ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), ISO 45001 (health & safety), NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity) and GDPR (privacy).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 9001 (QMS), and ISO 14001 (EMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for the medical device industry.
Documentation to comply with MDR and ISO 13485 (medical device), ISO 27001 (cybersecurity), ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), ISO 45001 (health & safety), NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity) and GDPR (privacy).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 9001 (QMS), and ISO 14001 (EMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for the aerospace industry.
Documentation to comply with AS9100 (aerospace), ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), and ISO 45001 (health & safety), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 9001 (QMS) and ISO 14001 (EMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for the automotive industry.
Documentation to comply with IATF 16949 (automotive), ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), and ISO 45001 (health & safety), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 9001 (QMS) and ISO 14001 (EMS) using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Implementation, training, and knowledge products for laboratories.
Documentation to comply with ISO 17025 (testing and calibration laboratories), ISO 9001 (quality), and NIS 2 (critical infrastructure cybersecurity).
Company-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees, to decrease incidents and support a successful cybersecurity program.
Accredited courses for individuals and quality professionals who want the highest-quality training and certification.
Get instant answers to any questions related to ISO 9001 and the QMS using Advisera’s proprietary AI-powered knowledge base.
Early on, when you are implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) using the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, you will need to talk to a certification body to find out what you need to do to certify your management system as compliant with the requirements. During your discussions you will be told about the documentation audit, the certification audit, and the cycle of surveillance audits until your recertification audit; but, what does all of this mean? Here’s how this works.
The three-year certification cycle is used for companies certified against ISO 9001, although there are some modifications possible as described below. When you have implemented your QMS and are having your first certification, you will start with a documentation audit. This is where an auditor from your certification body will review all of your documentation, and compare it to the ISO 9001:2015 standard requirements, to verify that what you have documented meets the requirements of the standard.
Once the documentation is confirmed, you will schedule your certification audit. This is where the certification body will perform an on-site audit of all of your QMS processes, and then issue your ISO 9001:2015 certification (when you have completely addressed any corrective actions that were found). You will then have on-site surveillance audits for the next two years, until your re-certification audit on the third year of your cycle, which will start you into the next three-year cycle. Most certification bodies conduct one surveillance audit a year, but this could be more often if you negotiate this between your organization and your certification body.
Below is a graphic of how this works, with the link back to the surveillance audit after the re-certification. As long as you are maintaining your current certification with the same certification body, you will not need to go back to the certification audit. However, if you change certification bodies or your version of the ISO 9001 standard (as companies are now changing from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015), you will then have a transfer audit. This is much like starting back at the certification audit step, where a full audit is performed and then old certificates are withdrawn and new certificates are issued.
For some guidance on choosing a certification body, you can read this article on How should you pick an ISO 9001 certification body?
So, you are probably asking what the difference is between the surveillance audit and the certification/re-certification audits. All three are on-site audits done by the certification body, will have corrective actions issued that need to be addressed, and will have an audit report issued to your company as a record of the audit. The difference is the number of hours devoted to processes in the audit.
For the certification/re-certification audit, the certification body auditors will look at the implementation of every process within your QMS to check for conformance to the ISO 9001 standard, as well as your company documentation, process effectiveness, and continual improvement. This audit will often take several auditors many days to complete, depending on the size of your company and the number of processes within your QMS.
By comparison, the surveillance audit will spend less time on only some portions of your QMS processes, rather than everything. They will start each time by looking at your key processes (such as management review, internal audit, and corrective actions), and will then only look at some of the remaining processes within your QMS. They may also only look at a portion of the whole organization, such as only one out of two production lines, or even only certain sites chosen by the auditors, rather than multiple sites. There is a recommended rule to use a square root of all possible locations; for example, if there were a total of 16 retail stores in the scope of the certification, then at least four should be audited in a surveillance audit.
Since the auditors will be spending less time on fewer of your QMS processes, these surveillance audits will take less time to perform than the original certification audit. The goal for the certification body is to audit all of the processes and business sites at least once within the QMS during the two-year surveillance cycle.
For some help on preparing for your initial certification audit, check out this blog post on What questions to expect on the ISO 9001 certification audit.
Since the surveillance audit does not look at all processes, some people start to think that these audits are less important than the certification audit, but this is not the case. Just because the certification body won’t spend much time auditing a specific process during an upcoming surveillance audit doesn’t mean you can just ignore this process yourself. You still need to perform your internal audits for all processes as per your audit schedule, and make any corrections or improvements that you find necessary. It is also important to remember that if a major non-conformance found during a certification audit is not addressed, you can still lose your certification.
Your certification body audits are there to bring a different set of eyes on your processes than you would have for your internal audits. By having an outside observer, who has seen other companies and has different experiences than people in your company, you can find different improvement opportunities than you would if you only audited on your own. Use the information from your surveillance audit reports to help focus your improvements, but don’t lose sight of other improvements you are making.
For a helpful list of questions to ask potential certification bodies, see this free download: List of questions to ask ISO 9001 Certification Body.
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