Pre-Assessment

What is a Pre-Assessment Audit?

A pre-assessment audit is an audit that is performed before a certification audit to determines the degree of conformance of an organization’s management system with the requirements of international standard e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 27001 etc.

Pre-assessment is an optional audit and performed at sole discretion of an organization who wishes to determine its readiness for certification.

What is a core Objective of Pre-Assessment?

There can be multiple objectives of pre-assessment but the core objective is to identify the potential nonconformities and implemented corrective actions before the certification audit.

Who Needs a Pre-Assessment Audit?

Any organization that has implemented a management system and wishes to determine its readiness before certification audit can seek a pre-assessment audit.

Who can conduct a Pre-Assessment Audit?

A Pre-Assessment audit can be conducted by a certification body/registrar like G-Certi or a qualified consultant or a competent individual with experience and knowledge of relevant industrial sector and management system.

What is the process of Pre-Assessment Audit?

Pre-Assessment can be performed on-siteoroff-site. A pre-assessment audit is performed with the same independence and objectivity as a certification audit. This includes documentation review, process review, interview of process ownersand other key personnel to ensure conformity against the requirements of management system.

Like anyother audit, all nonconformities and opportunities for improvementidentified during the auditare presented in an audit report .The audit report serves as a baseline for the organization to improve its processes and implement the necessary  corrective actionsbefore the certification audit.

What are the Benefits of a Pre-Assessment Audit?

The benefits of performing Pre-AssessmentAudit include but not limited to:

• identify non-conformities and implement corrective actions before the actual certification audit.
• prepare for certification audit based on the results of pre-assessment.
• focus on weaknesses that might lead to nonconformities during certification audit.
• face the certification audit with a more confidence or postpone a certification audit that has already been scheduled based on the outcome of pre-assessment.
• avoid unnecessary additional costs of re-audit, follow-up audit and verification of corrective cations in case certification audit is not successful.