Preparing for certification

a. Conduct full self-assessment of your organisation’s information production system

Now you are ready to review your organisation’s information processes in more detail to assess the amount of work involved. You’re probably doing a lot of the things that the standard requires already.

One way of measuring what you need to do is by mapping what you do already to the various clauses of the standard in a gap analysis document . Once completed, it should be clear where you will need to focus your efforts or maybe amend the way you are working.

You will have a number of individuals in your organisation who deal with the production of information. Whoever heads up this team or takes ultimate responsibility is likely to be your designated approver who may also oversee the process, and should be defined as ‘Lead Manager’ for information production.

b. Develop an action plan

You’ve completed your self- assessment and ready to improve on the areas where your organisation doesn’t comply with the standard’s requirements. But where do you begin?

An action plan is a useful way to map out what you need to work on. It will clarify your goals and specify the steps you must take to achieve them. It will also help you prioritise actions so you only do what is necessary. As preparation for the assessment takes time it will ensure you are making progress and moving towards your goals on time.

Contact a certification body

You will need to contact one of the certification bodies to carry out the assessment. You can find out about them here. 
 

All of the certification bodies are UKAS accredited, which ensures that the way they assess complies with internationally agreed standards. It’s worth shopping around to work out which certification body is right for you.

“It is important to enter into a dialogue with the certification body before the assessment, to talk about what they need – this saves times on the assessment day. It also helps gain an understanding of what is required and manages expectations.” Sara Wilcox, Diabetes UK.

c. Complete application form and submit sample materials

Once you’ve chosen the certification body they will draw up a contract with your organisation, confirming the duration, location and expected cost of certification. The cost and duration of the certification will vary by organisation. Your chosen certification body will discuss this with you.

Certification bodies can also offer your organisation a pre-assessment. This is a chargeable service which will involve an evaluation of your systems and an analysis of gaps and weaknesses in your processes that you may want to consider before the formal assessment. However, it won’t include specific advice relating to your application.

While The Standard assessment is based on the quality of processes, the certification body will also need to see a sample of your information materials, to ensure that the end-product is consistent with high quality processes. They will select a sample of your information products for assessment against the standard’s requirements, including assessment of the evidence used by a UKAS approved specialist.

Useful documents

Gap analysis document
Action plan
 

Last updated: 29/02/2012