WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF ISO CERTIFICATION?
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent non-governmental organization that publishes a set of standards that are useful for the organizations in maintaining the quality, safety, and efficiency of products and processes. With the rise in consumerism, the market is getting tougher day by day. The chance of survival depends upon the ability of organizations to demonstrate their commitment for quality. In this regard, ISO certification in Saudi Arabia helps your business in establishing a distinctive image in the market.
PREREQUISITES FOR ISO CERTIFICATION
Selecting the type of ISO certification
You must be aware of the ISO certification that is best suitable for your management system. Some of these include:
- ISO 9001 certification — Quality Management System
- ISO 14001 certification — Environmental Management System
- ISO 27001 certification — Information security Management system
- ISO 22000 certification — Food Safety Management system
- ISO 37001 certification — Anti Bribery Management System
- ISO 45001 certification — Occupational Health and Safety Management System
- ISO 50001 certification — Energy Management System
Choosing an ISO Certification Body
It must be noted that the International Organization for Standardization does not certify, it just publishes the ISO standards. An external body performs the certification. SIS Certifications is one such body which has a reputation for being one of the best in the world. Our vast pool of auditors is recognized for their expertise in comprehensively auditing the compliance of your management systems against the required standards and awarding you with the certifications at the end. We are accredited by IAS-IAF and IOAS.
GET STARTED WITH THE PROCESS
1.Create an application
The application before a certification body includes the rights and obligations of the applicant and the registrar. It also includes the liability issues, access rights, and confidentiality.
2. Review of the Quality Documents
This is where the documentation of your processes comes in-handy. The ISO auditor will review your documentation and verify it with your current practices in order to identify any gaps.
3. Design a corrective action plan
Once the ISO auditor has identified the gaps, you must prepare an action plan to fill those gaps. This might require you to provide training to your employees for better adoption of the standard’s requirements.
4. Initial Certification Audit
The initial certification audit comprises of two stages:
- Stage one (documentation survey) — the reviewers from the certification body of your choice will thoroughly verify if the documentation meets prerequisites of ISO certification.
- Stage two (Primary audit) — Here, the consistency between your documentation and the requirements of ISO certification are verified. This is done by thorough investigation of reports, records and company practices.
5. Completing the ISO Certification
Once all non-conformities are taken care of and all the findings are mentioned in the ISO audit report, the registrar grants you the ISO certification.
6. Surveillance Audits
This is conducted every year to make sure that the ISO standard’s requirements are followed at any point of time.
WHAT IS THE COST OF ISO CERTIFICATION PROCESS?
It is not possible to put a price on ISO certification. The cost of ISO certification varies from organization to organization, depending upon several factors. These include-
- Total strength of the employees
- Complexity of processes
- Level of risk associated
- Number of working shifts
- And a lot more.
HOW MUCH TIME DOES ISO CERTIFICATION TAKES?
Like cost, the time taken for the ISO certification process also varies from organization to organization. A certification body assesses the size of your company to give you a fair estimation. The time required for organizations of different sizes can be estimated as follows:
- Small organisations: 6–8 months
- Medium organisations: 8–12 months
- Large organisations: 12–15 months
