Certification 101

Today I talked about Quality Control Systems and how to set them up. I also discuss Document Control and the specific ways I've seen documents updated and sent out. Lastly, I'll cover the challenges in creating and maintaining a Quality Control System that I've seen from my experience. 

Today I talk about a set process for certification.  I've divided this up into 4 steps:

1) Application

2) Evaluation

3) Certification

4) Observation

I'll talk about these steps and why defining them is valuable for a certification body. 

I talk today about the two areas of resource availability at certification bodies.  First, have enough resources.  Second, training and measuring those resources. 

On this episode, I talked about a set organizational structure and how to develop it at a certification body. I touch on the three pillars of a CB, leadership, technical, and quality. 

Today I talk about what is required to be publicly available at a certification body according to most ISO standards versus what is nice to have available for the benefit of your customers. 

On this episode I talk about confidentiality.  I'll also talk about the five main areas that confidentiality practices affect daily policies within the certification body. 

Today I talk about liability, financing and insurance.  Liability and insurance are a very important feature of certification bodies because of the inherent risks associated with the certification process.  Financial stability of a certification body is an accreditation requirement but is difficult to assess. 

Impartiality is a cornerstone to certification.  Without it, the trust in the certification process is completely eroded. On this episode, I talk about how to go about identifying common impartiality issues and how to mitigate them.  I also share some insight into why the appearances of impartiality are just as important as the actual impartiality practices. 

In this episode, we'll talk about the ISO standards and how they are used to create the building blocks for certification. We'll also talk about what is in those ISO standards that certification bodies use to structure their businesses. 

In today's episode, we talk about accreditation and how it affects certification.