Implementation and documentation support
Help putting a management system in place and writing it down so that it fits how your work is really done. It is optional and it is separate from the audit. It gives no advantage in the audit and no guarantee of the result.
01What it covers
What it covers
The steps run in this order. How much work each one takes depends on what you already have.
Gap analysis
We compare what you do now with what the standard asks. The result is a list of what is missing, what exists but is not used, and what already works.
A plan
We agree what to do, in what order and who is responsible, based on the time your own people can give.
The documents the standard asks for
We help you write the documents the standard asks for, and no more than you will use. A short set that people follow is better evidence than a long one that sits in a folder.
Records
We set up the records that show the system is working: the forms, logs and registers, and who fills each one in, and when.
Training the people who will run it
The people with a part in the system learn what the standard asks and how your procedures work. The people who will audit the system from the inside are trained to do so.
Internal audit
The system is audited against the standard and against your own procedures, by people who do not audit their own work. Doing this before the certification audit shows where the gaps still are.
Management review
Top management reviews how the system is performing and records what it decides. The standards require this, and it is one of the things the auditor checks has been done.
Closing the gaps found
What the internal audit and the review turn up is corrected. For each gap we help you find the cause, correct it and check that the fix held.
02The result
What you end up with
A system your own people can run once we have gone.
The aim is a management system that fits your work, is in use, and can be run by your own people without us. That is the test of whether the support is finished. If the system needs us to keep it going, it is not finished.
You do not end with a certificate. A certificate comes only from a certification audit, which is a separate step.
- A management system that fits how you work and is in use
- The documents and records for the parts of the standard that apply to you
- People trained to run it and to audit it from the inside
- The results of an internal audit and a management review
- A record of the gaps found and how each was closed
03Remote or on site
Remote or on site
You can choose, and the work can be a mix of the two. A procedure can be written from a desk, but only a visit shows whether it matches what people do.
What works remotely
- Writing and revising documents and forms
- Reviewing the documents and records you send us
- Meetings by video call, with documents shared on screen
- Reviewing plans and progress with your team
What needs to be seen on site
- How work is actually done, on the floor, in the kitchen, on the ward or at the site
- Whether records are filled in where the work happens
- Gaps that depend on seeing the place of work
- Internal audits of processes that cannot be followed on a screen
A software team or an office can do most of the work remotely. A plant, a kitchen or a construction site needs visits. Tell us which you prefer when you ask for a quotation.
04What it is not
What it is not
Not a guarantee
Nobody can know the result of an audit in advance, and the certification decision is made independently by AQC Group. An organization that has had support can still receive nonconformities.
Not a way to buy a certificate
A certificate is issued only after an audit, and only if the system meets the standard. Support changes neither.
Not taken into account by the auditor
Support gives no advantage in the audit. The auditor will be someone who took no part in it, and the audit is the same however you prepared.
Not required
Nothing in the certification process requires you to use our support. You can prepare on your own, or with any other consultant.
Not a promise of when you can be audited
If a certificate from AQC Group is what you want at the end, ask us before you start. AQC Group decides whether and when it can audit an organization we have supported. The impartiality policy says why.
05How long it takes
How long it takes
There is no standard length, so we do not quote one here. These things make it shorter or longer.
- How much is already in place. A company with procedures, records and internal audits in use needs less than one starting from nothing.
- Size. More people and a wider range of activities mean more to write, train and check.
- The number of sites, and how alike they are.
- How many standards you are working towards at once. The parts they share are written once.
- How much time your own people can give. The work needs their knowledge, and a system written without them is not one they will use.
Tell us your size, your sites and whether you have a deadline. We will describe the steps and what could change them. We cannot promise a date.
Tell us where you are starting from.
Describe what you have in place and what your client or tender asks for. We will say what support would involve, and whether you need it.