AS9120 Certification Plan

• When will you start your project?
  • Consider the Gap Analysis as the start of your project
• When do you want to complete it?
• Schedule the Gap Analysis, and communicate to all employees what is being done, and why. You will want to be able to make the employees comfortable with answering your auditors questions.

The auditor is the person conducting the gap analysis. It may be an audit team or one individual.

This Free planning template will help you state your goals.

When do you want to become AS9120/10/20 certified?

• The answer to this question will determine your timeline. Use this AS9120 Gantt Chart as a reference. It’s from our AS9120 workbook.
• Consider purchasing the AS9120 Workbook which is a series of detailed checklists, exercises and instructions that take you through 28 systematic tasks for your organization to complete.
• How long will AS9120 implementation take?
  • The shorter time frame allowed for the project, the more resources the project will demand during implementation.
  • It is important to know what your goal is because other dates will be determined by this information.
  • Find out if there are company goals, are there clients that are requesting certification or other circumstances that will determine the date?
  • Your date may be revised later. You will use this as a target date, and as we move along to the gap analysis and creating the task list you will be able to determine if the date is realistic. It will depend on what you currently have in place for your quality system, and how many resources you have available for the project.

  How much will AS9120 implementation cost?

Identify Project Responsibilities

It is important to determine who will be leading this project. Are you the person leading the charge? If so, you would be the project manager. You do not need to identify the management representative at this point. You will need to clarify who makes up “Top Management”. The standard has requirements to be fulfilled by Top Management, and the sooner they are involved in this project the better.

• Who is your project manager?
• Who makes up Top Management at your organization?
• Are you taking a Team Approach or doing this by yourself?

Begin to fill in the Project Timeline

• When will you conduct your Gap Analysis and how long will it take to complete? If you skipped this step, please learn about Gap Analysis
• A Gap Analysis can typically take anywhere from 2 days to 5 days to perform. It will depend on the size of your organization, the number of auditors, the state of your current quality system and the experience of your auditors.
• Hold Planning Meetings to assign Task Teams if appropriate.

This will take 1-2 meetings. The project manager and top management should be involved.

Select a Registrar

One of the first things to do to start your project is to talk to some Registrars. They will come to your location and discuss the registration process. When you choose a Registrar you are starting a relationship that will last at least 3 years, most likely longer. You will want to make a careful decision to lay the groundwork for a smooth and lasting relationship.

• We have a list of recommended Registrars on our site.
• Here is a list of suggested interview questions to ask the candidates.

Talk to at least 3 different Registrars. Some may have auditors in your area, and some may have to fly auditors in. It will help keep your costs down if you can find a registrar with a local auditor.

Target a date for Introductory training for all employees.

• You will want your employees to be aware of the project, what will need to be done, who will be involved, and why you are implementing AS9120.
• Use AS9120 Employee Training to meet the AS9120 requirements
• Choose a date that is after the planning meeting discussed above. That way you can decide if some people that will be involved in the project need more detailed training, and you can let employees know who will be working on the project.
• Plan training before the Task Team meetings so individuals involved in the task groups understand AS9120 before their first meeting.