Support between certification audits
A scheduled year of internal audit, review preparation and document upkeep, so the system keeps running between certification audits instead of being rebuilt before each one.
- Rhythm
- A dated visit every quarter
- Internal audit
- Once a year, across the scope
- Management review
- Input pack prepared before each one
- Before each visit
- A pre-surveillance review of the records
- Certificate cycle
- Three years, with surveillance audits between
Surveillance support is a recurring arrangement covering the period between certification audits. It typically includes a scheduled internal audit, management review preparation, document updates and a pre-surveillance check, so the system is maintained rather than rebuilt before each visit.
Built for the certificate, then left
The system is built for certification, then left alone. A month before surveillance the team scrambles to produce a year of records.
It happens for ordinary reasons. The person who ran the project goes back to their real job. Internal audits slip a quarter, then two. Corrective actions are raised and not verified. The management review waits for a date that suits everyone.
By the time the surveillance date is fixed, records that should have built up over twelve months have to be produced in weeks. Records written in a rush look written in a rush, and an auditor who notices samples harder.
The fix is not effort before the visit. It is a calendar that nobody can quietly move, held by somebody outside the team.
What the year includes
| Element | What happens | When |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly check-in | A visit to review open corrective actions, records due and changes since the last visit, ending in a written status note. | Every quarter |
| Internal audit | A full internal audit across the scope, run by us or by your own trained auditors with our preparation. | Once a year |
| Management review preparation | The input pack built from the year's records, with trends and the decisions they point to. | Before each review |
| Document updates | Procedures, forms and registers revised when a process, a site, a regulation or a standard changes, then issued under control. | When something changes |
| Pre-surveillance review | The records an auditor is likely to sample checked in advance, and anything missing raised while there is time to close it properly. | Before each visit |
What lands on your desk through the year
The quarterly status note
One page per visit: open actions, records due, changes to handle and who owns each item.
The internal audit report
Findings in three parts with evidence identifiers, and a follow-up date for each corrective action.
The review input pack
The year's performance as trends against targets, ready for top management to decide on.
Updated documents
Revised, approved and reissued on the master list, with the old revisions withdrawn from use.
Setting up the year
- 01
Read the last audit
Your last certification audit report, its open findings and the date of the next visit set the calendar.
- 02
Fix the dates
Quarterly visits, the internal audit and the management review dated for the year and agreed with the people who have to attend.
- 03
Run the quarters
Each visit ends with a status note. Anything that slipped carries to the next visit with an owner.
- 04
Check before the visit
The pre-surveillance review, timed to leave room to close what it finds.
Six months after the certificate
A company passed its certification audit and then watched its records lapse within six months.
The internal auditor had moved to another role. Two corrective actions from the certification audit were closed on paper and not verified. The management review had no date.
We set a quarterly visit. The first one lists every record that should exist by now and every action still open, each with an owner. The internal audit is dated for the second quarter and the review for the third, with the pack built from the audit's output.
Before surveillance, the pre-surveillance review checks the records an auditor is likely to sample. Anything it finds is raised as an ordinary finding and closed on the ordinary schedule, rather than rewritten in the week before the visit.
Before you commit to a year
Is this a retainer?
It is a fixed schedule for the year with the visits dated in advance. You know what happens in each quarter and what you receive from it.
Does this mean surveillance will go well?
It means the records exist, the actions were verified and the system was checked recently. What the auditor concludes is for the auditor to decide.
What if we change something mid-year?
Tell us at the next visit or before. A new site, process, product or regulation usually means document updates, and sometimes a change to the certificate scope, which you raise with your certification body.
Can the ISO 9001:2026 transition run inside the same year?
Yes. The updated documents are issued under control like any other change, and the internal audit and review are planned to cover the new requirements before the transition audit.
Work that fits around it
Internal audit
The programme the yearly audit runs inside.
Read moreServiceManagement review
The meeting the input pack is built for.
Read moreServiceClosing audit findings
When the surveillance visit raises something, closed at the cause.
Read moreTransitionISO 9001:2026 transition
Planning the move to the new edition around your certificate dates.
Read morePart of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Put the year on a calendar
Send us the date of your next surveillance audit and your last audit report. We will lay out the year and show you what each visit covers.