A challenge that most people encounter when they begin the process for ISO Certification is working out where to start, and what they need to do. This is true both for those who are preparing for their initial certification audit, and for those preparing for annual surveillance audits. In both cases, it can be extremely valuable to have a plan of work to help keep you on track.
The ISO Certification Manager module automatically generates a plan of Audit Tasks that are standard-specific, and designed to help you prepare for your certification and surveillance audits. Two types of Audit Plan are available:
- The Certification Audit Plan, which is designed to help you prepare for your initial certification audit.
- The Surveillance Audit Plan, which is designed to help you prepare for annual surveillance audits after certification has been achieved.
In both cases, the ISO Certification Manager provides a plan of Audit Tasks for you to complete in order to achieve or maintain certification to your chosen standard. These Audit Tasks are spread out across a period of time to assist you in planning the associated workload. There are three time periods over which planned Audit Tasks may be spread:
- From the date that a new standard is added to the date of your stage two audit.
- From the date that the Certification Audit is completed to the date of your first Surveillance Audit.
- From the date that the Surveillance Audit is completed to the date of your next Surveillance Audit.
It is important to note that the Audit Tasks generated by a Certification Audit Plan are evenly spread throughout the available time, and that their precise timing will vary significantly depending on the time available between the date that the new project started and the date of your stage two audit. In contrast, the tasks generated by a Surveillance Audit Plan are fixed to specific months within a twelve-month period. Audit Task Plans for all new standards within your system will begin as Certification Audit Plans, and will be replaced with the appropriate Surveillance Audit Plans upon their completion.
It is also important to be aware that all Audit Plans will be assigned provisional Stage 1 and Stage 2 Audit dates, and if you have BABActiv system these can only be confirmed by the BAB Diary Team. These dates will be automatically updated within your system when the team confirms them, and you will receive an email notification prompting you to accept the audit. Activ will automatically reschedule your open Audit Tasks when your Stage 1 and Stage 2 dates are adjusted, but you will have the option to re-adjust these task dates to suit your needs (see Re-Assign or Edit an Audit Task).
