Services
Northwind sells three things: certification to ISO management system standards, help building and documenting the system, and training for the people who run it. They are separate services. Support and training give no advantage in the audit.
01Services
What each one is, who it is for and what you receive
Certification
An audit of your management system against an ISO standard. AQC Group makes the certification decision and issues the certificate.
For organizations that already run a working system and need independent evidence of it.
You receive the audit reports and, if the system meets the standard, a certificate valid for three years.
CertificationImplementation and documentation support
Help putting a management system in place and writing it down so that it fits how you really work.
For organizations that are starting with little, or whose system exists on paper but not in practice.
You receive a working system, and your own people able to run it.
Implementation supportTraining
Courses for the people who work within a management system and the people who audit it.
For organizations that have the people but not yet the skill.
You receive people who can do a named task, such as plan and carry out an internal audit.
Training02Kept apart
Why they are kept apart
A certification body checks that your system meets a standard. If it had also built that system, it would be checking its own work. The rules that govern certification bodies do not allow a body to consult for a client in a way that compromises the audit.
So support and audit are kept apart, and they are done by different people. The auditor who visits you took no part in your preparation.
Support gives you no advantage in the audit and no guarantee of the result. The audit finds what it finds, and the certification decision is made independently by AQC Group. The same is true of training. You can prepare on your own, with another consultant or with us, and the audit is the same in each case.
03Choosing
Where to start
It depends on what you already have. If you are not sure, tell us where you are now and we will say.
- Certification only, if you already have a working system, with records, at least one internal audit and one management review behind it.
- Support first, if you are starting with little, or if what is written down is not what people do.
- Training, if you have the people but not yet the skill.
Tell us where you are now.
Describe what you have in place and what your client or tender asks for. We will say which of the three fits and where to start.