ISO 9001 Training and Certification Guide
Your complete guide to ISO 9001: what the standard is, how personnel and business certification differ, the training levels, and the Exemplar Global Certified courses that take you from Foundation to Lead Auditor.
Quality Management Systems (QMS)
Quality Management Systems (QMS)
Quality Management Systems (QMS)
Quality Management Systems (QMS)
What is ISO 9001?
ISO 9001 is the world's most widely used standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS). It sets out the requirements an organisation follows to consistently meet customer and regulatory expectations and to improve over time.
Built on the harmonised high level structure and seven quality management principles, ISO 9001 applies to any organisation, of any size or sector. Certification is awarded by an accredited certification body after a successful audit of the organisation's quality management system.
Who ISO 9001 training is for
- Quality managers and QMS coordinators
- Internal auditors and anyone preparing for a certification audit
- Consultants advising clients on ISO 9001
- Professionals moving into a Lead Auditor role
- Anyone responsible for maintaining or improving a quality management system
The standard in brief
What ISO 9001 covers
ISO 9001 follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle across clauses 4 to 10. Here is what each part covers.
Context of the organisation
Understand your organisation, the interested parties, and the scope of the quality management system.
Leadership
Top management commitment, the quality policy, and clear roles and responsibilities.
Planning
Address risks and opportunities, set quality objectives, and plan changes.
Support
Resources, competence, awareness, communication, and documented information.
Operation
Plan and control the processes that deliver your products and services.
Performance evaluation
Monitor, measure, audit internally, and review the system at management level.
Improvement
Handle nonconformities, take corrective action, and continually improve.
Why it matters
Benefits of ISO 9001
What organisations and professionals gain from working to ISO 9001.
- Consistent, repeatable quality across your products and services
- Higher customer satisfaction and retention
- Fewer errors, less rework, and a lower cost of poor quality
- Access to tenders and contracts that require certification
- Decisions driven by data and process performance
- A culture of continual improvement
Clearing up a common mix up
Personnel certification vs business certification
People often confuse the two. They are different things, earned by different parties, and only one is a person.
Personnel certification
Certifies the individual.
- Earned by a person, not a company
- Recognised by Exemplar Global
- Proves you can audit to the standard
- The path our courses prepare you for
Business certification
Certifies the organisation.
- Earned by a company, not a person
- Issued by a certification body such as Intertek or SAI Global
- Proves the management system conforms to ISO 9001
- Maintained through surveillance audits
Audit Workshop trains and certifies people. We do not certify organisations, we prepare the people who build and audit them.
Organisations are certified to ISO 9001 by accredited certification bodies such as Intertek, SAI Global, BSI, SGS, and DNV, working under accreditation bodies like JAS-ANZ. Audit Workshop trains the people; the certification body certifies the organisation.
Training levels
From Foundation to Lead Auditor
Three levels that build on each other. Start where your experience sits and climb from there.
Foundation
New to the standard
Understand ISO 9001 and how a compliant management system works. The starting point, no prior experience needed.
Internal Auditor
Audit your own organisation
Plan and conduct internal audits following the ISO 19011 auditing guidelines.
Lead Auditor
Lead certification style audits
Audit programme management, Stage 1 and Stage 2, findings, and the certification recommendation.
The auditor's role
What an auditor is responsible for
Auditing is a profession with its own principles. Our courses teach you to work to all of them, guided by ISO 19011.
Integrity
Audit with professionalism, honesty, and responsibility.
Fair presentation
Report findings truthfully, accurately, and clearly.
Due professional care
Apply diligence and sound judgement in every audit.
Confidentiality
Protect the information you access during an audit.
Independence
Stay impartial and objective, free of conflicts of interest.
Evidence based
Reach conclusions from verifiable audit evidence.
Good to know
Common confusions, cleared up
The questions people most often get wrong before they enrol, answered straight.
Do I need a copy of the ISO 9001 standard to train?
No. The courses teach the requirements and how to audit them. Having the standard is useful once you audit in practice, but it is not required to complete the training.
Does my Certificate of Attainment expire?
No. Your certificate does not expire. If you later hold Exemplar Global Personnel Certification, that credential is maintained separately with Exemplar Global.
Is the training accredited?
Audit Workshop is an Exemplar Global Certified Training Provider (RTP No. 310970). The courses are Exemplar Global Certified Training and your certificate carries the Exemplar Global digital badge.
Can I start at Lead Auditor?
Yes, if you are already comfortable with ISO 9001. If the standard is new to you, start at Foundation and build up through Internal Auditor to Lead Auditor.
From the blog
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about ISO 9001 training and certification.
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Quality Management Systems (QMS)
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