In an earlier blog , I tried to demystify the ISO Audit, and give some insight into ISO Audit questions and answers. I’m a former auditor myself, currently a Registered Lead Assessor, a sort of gamekeeper turned poacher, so do have some insider knowledge.

So, how much does your audit depend on the person you are assigned, rather like a driving test? Well, quite a lot, as I found out recently. But before this causes any further unease, let me explain how this potential variation is, or should be controlled:-

In the UK, the registration of most lead auditors is managed by, IRCA although strangely this is not mandated. To use the analogy of school, this means that the staff have to be qualified, and verified. The certification bodies are managed by the dreaded UKAS, a government body. Think of them as a sort of “OFSTED”, looking after general standards of delivery.

So, certification bodies (and their auditors) should provide a consistent service. All UKAS accredited certificates should give the same level of assurance about the approved company. However, occasionally I’m not so sure…

Two months ago I had a useful but unusual occurrence. Two of my customers had requested stage one assessments against ISO 14001 from two different certification bodies. The companies to be audited were quite similar, two members of staff working out of a single office, and both businesses were primarily involved in the management of subcontractors.

Company A had arranged their assessment with a small certification body usually known for their low prices, and use of subcontractors.

Company B had arranged their assessment with one of the U.K.’s large“big name” certification bodies, renowned for their full-time staff.

I had written their management systems, starting with ISO 9001 and now adding ISO 14001. In both cases they contained a single documented procedure bespoke to the business, reflecting their unique method of working. The remainder of both systems was essentially the same, the same document titles and content.

So,the two completely independent certification bodies,the same system, installed in a company of the same size. An exercise in comparision followed.

The assessor for company A arrived at the company at 9 AM, and started his assessment. At 11 AM he agreed that he had completed all tasks for the day and would go home to write-up this report. Two minor non-compliances were agreed prior to him leaving. The report arrived later that afternoon and the contents were as agreed.

The assessor for company B be also arrived at 9 AM conducted a standard opening meeting but the audit/document review itself really started at around 0930. Questioning was intense. Although a simple management system, the audit seemed to be based on the principle of “guilty until proved innocent”. We worked until around 16.30. He then went home to write his report. This arrived a few days later with some new non-compliances which hadn’t been agreed during the visit, causing additional negotiation with the auditor for the business and me.

Both companies gained ISO 14001 approval, of equal value in the marketplace. However, the journey to certification and the costs of approval were significantly different.

The man who left at 11.00 was ridiculously “soft touch”, and his audit was of negligible value. Despite him leaving site by 11.00, and getting home writing the report and mailing it back by 3PM the company were charged for a a full day on site.

Company B’s auditor was over-involved, lacked focus and took far too much time. Personally I’d want a middle path, where an audit is of value, reasonable time is taken, and there are no hidden surprises.

So, the ISO Audit questions and answers process can be far from straightforward, despite tight regulation from various bodies. For me, it’s a source of mild exasperation. One simple lesson from this exercise is pretty obvious I suppose – auditors are human, and the difference between them can be huge and varied.

And, of course, I was present to “hand-hold” during the whole process. So if you have had a poor experience during the whole ISO audit questions and answers process, please get in touch!. The hand-holding is metaphorical, of course…

Image Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

We’re often contacted by companies wanting to bid for a tender, but faced with the requirement for ISO Certification. To make life easier, we’ve put together an ISO Certification Tenders PDF that answers the main points. Contact us for details.

However, we thought we’d expand this a little, looking at some background, plus wider benefits for your business. (And yes, I’ve struggled with tender responses myself, too.)

ISO Certification for a Tender is Not a “Nice To Have”. Some companies seem to believe that holding a particular standard such as ISO9001 will give the tender issuer a “warm feeling” about their company, rather like charity and community involvement, sponsorship of a donkey sanctuary, brass band etc, etc. It indicates in a vague sense that the company has a “conscience” about quality, a vague intention.

Quite the opposite is true. Tendering bodies now place a huge weight on an organisation holding ISO Certification, for reasons I’ll outline below, so holding the appropriate approval needs to be given serious consideration. This is more than a framed certificate on the reception wall, or a logo on a letterhead. ISO Certification is taken very seriously indeed by those wishing to place, long-term business, and seeking a reliable supplier. Understandably so.

ISO Certification Makes The Tender Process Easier For All. Quite simply, if you hold a specific and current approval, it immediately benchmarks your company in the eyes of the procurement department. There’s not always a need to go into detail about some of your key quality structures and routines – they are already implicit in the the standard, because that’s what the standard is about. And an external verifier has checked that you’re actually telling the truth, too. Approvals can be hard-won, but once in place, are regarded as significant by those wishing to trade with your company.

And conversely, if you don’t hold ISO9001 or similar, it is highly likely that, even if it’s not explicit in the pre-tendering requirements, your bid, (however well-written), will be put to the back of the queue, or worse. Faced with a heap of bid documents to process, staff will look for the easiest excuse to exclude bidders.

You Can’t Do-It-Yourself and Beat The System. In theory, you could try and impress the procurement person with your own framework of quality, and even still be successful. However, the heart of ISO Certification is risk management, and the key control measure is the Quality Management System (QMS). This is the document (and process!) that determines what you do, why you do it, and how this is measured in respect of quality.

Sadly, most organizations would not know where to start in putting a QMS together. Even the ones working within classic ISO guidelines still sometimes struggle! And, in my previous life as an ISO assessor, I could spot a “downloaded from the internet” or D.I.Y. attempt instantly. If you plan to devote some staff management resource at all to the subject of quality within the company, then you might as well do it within the ISO framework, helped by a friendly consultant, and gain a recognised approval at the end of your hard work.

Beyond The Tender, ISO Certification is A Jolly Good Investment! Once installed and working, the approval simply needs revalidating, amending to the changing needs of your business. Furthermore ISO9001, contains elements and frameworks that can be used in other, more specific standards, such as ISO 14001, and ISO 27001. Seeing it as a tool to win a single bid will make certification seem very expensive and risky in terms of potential return. Longer-term, you have all the benefits of an internationally-recognised, independently-verified standard of working.

And It Might Actually Do Your Business Good! I fight a continuing battle to convince managers of all levels that this is more than a “paper exercise”. In the rush to try and compete on a major tender bid, the key fact that ISO Certification is actually highly beneficial to daily business life is often lost. Less waste, more productivity, greater customer satisfaction, all results of working smarter, based on a bespoke Quality Management System.

And Next Time, You’ll be Ready… Sadly, companies often approach me in a bit of a panic in order to comply with a deadline, and have a chance of winning a highly lucrative bid. Sadly, there’s no “Approval Wizard” in the style of a Microsoft Word application that will achieve your certification in five days. Approval takes time. But it then opens up many new opportunities.

And The The Major Point Is…? Start Now. Drop us a line. We’d love to help.

Why do businesses seek ISO Certification? I see many who do it on a reactive basis, chasing a particular tender, major order or sudden customer demand.

Often, such companies have a lack of structure limiting their growth. Fire fighting and battling to get things done are seen as part of everyday corporate life. However, they are reluctant to obtain ISO Certification as they see this as a potential limit on the freedom of their business. They fear imposition of a structure that will bring awkward, unnatural constraints to their activities.

Now, everyone likes freedom, and as work takes so much of our lives, we need freedom at work. Many of the radical business regeneration models of the 1980s, such as those of Tom Peters and Jan Carlson of Airline SAS majored on “freeing” employees to make customer-driven decisions. But freedom to one person can be chaos to another.

We also have to meet specific customer needs to become successful, we need to know we are using the correct materials in our goods, that our deliveries are going to the right places and arriving on time. So we need discipline. We need to know that things are being done correctly.

However, business needs creativity too. heavy discipline and overly enforced rules stifle risk-taking, and without creativity in our business we go stale and competitors can overtake us quickly. Most businesses approaching ISO Certification fear that agreed procedures will somehow restrict the natural creative life of their business. So, how do we achieve a balance between freedom and order, and how does ISO Certification help?

The ISO standards properly interpreted should set a minimum set of guidelines to give your business the structure it needs to keep it on the road and functioning correctly, while also leaving room for flexibility and creativity. Having worked in the quality and standards industry for over 25 years, I know that the “one size fits all” approach to ISO Certification does not work. Procedures need to be designed around the unique way in which you do business. I’ve written about the many other “Myths and Legends” of ISO Certification here.

For example, ISO 9001, once renowned for demanding reams of paperwork and stacks of forms, now has a mandatory list of only six documented procedures, and whatever else required to control any unique products or processes your business relies on. The experience of putting such systems into over 100 companies has shown me that most business with less than 30 employees rarely need more than 2 additional procedures, and most of those procedures only need a single sheet of A4.

So the whole system should take little more than a dozen sheets of paper, but it will install a business model or template into your company which will both enable and control its growth, delivering repeatable products and services which meet the requirements of your customers. A framework that identifies and enhances the creativity, of your business, (if that isn’t a contradiction in terms…)

And on top of installing agreed, repeatable processes and improved structure into your business, gaining ISO Certification will also get you access to greater tender opportunities and larger markets – Big customers need to select suppliers they can rely on, sooner or later they use certification against an ISO standard as way by which they select their suppliers. For a small investment, and a short project taking around three months, you can hold ISO 9001 Quality Management, ISO 14001 Environmental Management or OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management Certification, and own a business qualification which will enhance your position in the market as well as installing order out of chaos, and structure where its needs to be.

So, ISO Certification, far from being an imposition on your business, identifies the unique way that you do business, creates a secure framework around it, and potentially opens up new opportunities. If this sounds like an attractive proposition, please be in touch!.

Written by Colin Brown of ISO Consultants