Certification

What is Certification?

Certification is a procedure by which an accredited certification body recognizes an organization under a set of specified requirements. When an organization becomes certified, they demonstrate to their customers and stakeholders that they are a reputable, recognizable organization and that their products, services or management systems complies with the strictest standard requirements, guidelines and customer expectations. 

Certification is a useful tool to add credibility to an organization, promoting continual improvement and ensuring that business’s processes are effective and are running at optimal efficiency. Certification is also mandatory for many organizations across a variety of sectors due to legal obligations, regulatory requirements, market drivers, customer requests and/or contractual conditions.

For more than 100 years, we have led the way in standards. By certifying with BSI you’ll demonstrate to your customers, competitors, suppliers, staff and investors that you not only use industry-respected best practices but also choose to work with the organization that developed many of these standards.

With more than 80,000 certified clients and more full-time assessors than any other certification body worldwide, we are one of the largest and most experienced certification bodies you could ever find. This means you’ll get the most out of your assessment and certification with the least disruption and cost to your operations.

Once you’ve been certified, we’ll visit you on a regular basis to assess whether you continue to conform and are still working to the best practice specifications laid out in the standard or scheme. We carefully match our assessors’ industry experience to your particular needs, so they have exactly the right in-depth knowledge.

The benefits of BSI certification

• It helps you demonstrate to stakeholders that your business is run effectively.
• The process of achieving and maintaining the certification helps ensure that you are continually improving.
• The regular assessment process improves staff responsibility, commitment and motivation.
• You’ll achieve better overall performance and cut costs.
• You’ll widen your market opportunities. 

What can an effective management system do?

• Manage your social, environmental and financial risks.
• Improve operational effectiveness.
• Reduce costs.
• Increase customer and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Protect your brand and reputation.
• Remove barriers to trade.
• Bring clarity to the marketplace.

While the process may differ from scheme to scheme, certification involves an accredited third-party certification body, such as BSI, regularly assessing an organization in order to ascertain that their management systems meet the requirements of one or more recognized standards. There are several types of standards that exist:

• International Standards (ISO)
• European Standards (EN)
• British Standards (BS)
• Australian Standards (AS)
• Australian and New Zealand Standards (AS/NZS)
• Publically Available Standards (PAS)
• Regulatory Standards
• Supplier Standards

Becoming certified to a nationally or internationally recognized standard is of great benefit to an organization. It improves overall performance, builds confidence within stakeholder groups and broadens the scope of new opportunity. Certification allows an organization’s processes and values to permeate all levels of the business and boosts staff responsibility and commitment through regular audits.

1. Management Systems Certification: 

A management system is the framework of processes and procedures used to ensure that an organization can fulfil all tasks required to achieve its objectives. Many International Standards, such as ISO 9001, tend to deal with management systems of various topics and can be applied universally. These standards are designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements.

As the originator of many of the world’s most-used standards, BSI is uniquely placed to help you achieve Management Systems Certification. Speak to one of our experts today and find out how we can help you make excellence a habit. 

2. GAP Analysis: 

Since every organization is different, a GAP Analysis can be undertaken prior to a certification audit. A GAP Analysis reviews an organization’s current management system and identifies gaps to help that organization obtain certification. Our expert Client Managers have assessed thousands of businesses across every sector, so no matter what your organization’s size, complexity or market, we can help you prepare for certification and beyond.

3. Supplier Certification: 
Organizations often depend on the performance of their suppliers, and frequently there needs to be a system in place to ensure that supplier is adhering to the organization’s needs and values. In response to this, organizations can develop a Supplier Standard which all of their suppliers will need to adhere to. Each Supplier Standard has its own requirements, and often requires third-party certification. Some Supplier Standards include Woolworths Quality Assurance, Coles Supplier Standard, and much more. 

4. Product Certification: 
Product Certification is the process of certifying that a product has passed performance tests and quality assurance assessments in order to meet the necessary local, national or international quality standards. The certification process has two key elements. Firstly, an expert assessor reviews a test report to ensure that the product is not prone to failure. Secondly, the assessor will assess the factory that produces to the product to ensure that the product is made according to the correct quality guidelines.

BSI is at the forefront of product testing and standards development. Our experts have assessed thousands of products for approval, allowing organizations to enter new markets. Find out more about how we can help you bring your product to market.

The aim of management system certification is to inspire confidence from the public and interested parties that an organization certified or verified by BSI fulfils specified requirements. This confidence depends upon many factors including the competence of management and staff, impartiality and the perception of impartiality and the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

To that end, BSI follows the principles set out in ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 and ISO/IEC 17065:2012 and has appointed independent impartiality committees around the world whose primary role is to safeguard BSI's impartiality.

Our Certification Guidebooks are designed to assist your organization on the requirements of certification and verification to various schemes.