For an individual on the other hand, an ISO 9001 certification is an indication that they have gained the required knowledge and competence to implement or audit an ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System. An individual who chooses to get certified to ISO 9001 either as an internal or lead auditor makes a very important decision to advance his/her career in Quality Management by proving to potential employers that they are fully competent to implement the requirements of ISO 9001 and/or audit any quality system.

The first step to getting certified to ISO 9001:2015 is the implementation of all of the requirements of ISO 9001 standard using the process approach by the intending organization. After this, the organization is then required to demonstrate to the auditors of a certification body that the requirements have been duly met during an audit.

In addition to implementing ISO 9001 requirements, the organization must maintain the Quality Management System for a period of time to ensure its continuity. This is done by conducting internal audits by internal auditors of the organization and at least one management review of the system. Next, certified lead auditors from a certification body will assess the system against the requirements of ISO 9001 standard. If the system proves to meet the requirements of ISO 9001 standard as evident by the outcome of the audit, then an ISO 9001 certificate is issued to the organization showing that they are acceptable to meet the standard; hence the company is then considered ISO 9001 certified.

A Quality Management System audit is simply a planned and systematic review of an organization’s quality processes. It intends to look at what is actually done or in practice for each process as compared to the documentation and the requirements of the standard. The audit is meant to verify that the processes are functioning as planned; in other words, that is, the audit looks at the effectiveness and efficiency of the QMS.

ISO certification of companies is granted by certification bodies when the organization proves to be compliant to the requirements of the standard after the certification audit. The ISO certification bodies are accredited to perform the audits, and grant certification, by an accreditation body in a country.