All our auditors take a friendly and considerate approach with the focus of the audit being on the big picture rather than pedantic box-ticking and we always strive to avoid the baffling and pointless jargon used by many other certification companies.
Certification is issued upon successful completion of an ISO certification audit. All our certification audits are completed by an IRCA qualified lead auditor with a minimum of one day time allocation.
isoassured provide a flexible ISO certification process that can be tailored to your requirements using site visits and / or remote meetings and use of a secure shared evidence folder or secure file transfer and communications systems for review of evidence.
For small to medium sized organisations it is usually possible to complete a certification audit for up to 3 standards with a single audit day (ISO 27001 is counted as 2 standards due to the requirement to audit all Annex A controls).
Certification cost is based on the number of days of audit required which is determined by the number of standards assessed and complexity of the audit. We do not use turnover, number of employees or any other variable to determine fees - cost is entirely based on number of days required to complete the certification audit. Our certification process is intended to be beneficial and our customer focussed approach allows certification to take place with minimal disruption to the normal business operations of your organisation.
Assessment Audit - when you are ready for certification we will make arrangements for completion of your audit. The audit will be completed by one of our qualified auditors and we can complete a documentation review in advance of the audit as part of the process if requested.
The objective and criteria of the audit are to determine that ;
Our auditors are encouraged to provide assistance and help wherever possible. Unlike during UKAS accredited audits where providing help or consultancy during an audit is strictly forbidden, our auditors can provide helpful advice including guidance on how you could simplify or improve your management system documentation.
Audits that are Beneficial not Bureaucratic - We aim for our audits to be beneficial and useful and our auditors are encouraged to focus on the things that matter.
Audit Report & Findings - During the audit the auditor will make you aware of any Opportunities for Improvement, Observations or Non-Conformances and you will receive a copy of the full audit report detailing what evidence was viewed and any findings. If there are any issues raised during the audit we can provide assistance or advice with how to resolve.
Gaining certification / registration to an ISO standard can lead to a number of significant benefits to your organisation both in terms of improved and more efficient internal processes but also externally in terms of improved interactions with customers, suppliers and sub-contractors.
isoassured are not UKAS accredited and with clients who require UKAS accredited certification we can complete a pre-certification audit to ensure the management system is meeting the requirements of the standard(s) and ready for assessment by a 3rd party UKAS accredited certification company.
We can also assist with selection of UKAS accredited certification providers and help to ensure everything is ready to achieve UKAS accredited certification first time and without any issues.
Do I need UKAS accredited certification?
This can depend on a number of factors and we would complete a review of your requirements to establish the correct certification route for your organisation.
There are 3 levels of ISO Compliance / Certification;
Level 1 - Management Systems in place to the requirements of the standards but no formal audit / certification completed
Level 2 - Systems in place and certified by 3rd party certification company
Level 3 - Systems in place and certified by a UKAS accredited certification company
Going straight to level 3 - UKAS accredited certification can sometimes be the wrong decision as the costs and number of days audit stipulated by UKAS rules can mean your organisation would incur large costs in terms of time and certification fees with little return or benefit if you do not need this certification.
With the isoassured approach you can stop at level 2 and consider the costs / benefits of moving to level 3, confident that your management systems are level 3 ready.
It is also possible to use a combination of UKAS and non-UKAS certification to get the optimal certification solution in terms of cost and benefit. We can provide certification for additional standards if you already have UKAS accredited certification in place at a much lower cost and with much less hassle.