Ninety days is enough time to take a functioning organisation from 'no formal QMS' to Stage 1 readiness — provided the sequence is disciplined and executive time is protected. Below is the phased plan we run for multi-site operators across construction, manufacturing and industrial services.
Start with a structured gap analysis against ISO 9001:2015 clauses 4–10. Interview process owners, walk each site, sample records. The output is a clause-by-clause gap register scored by effort and risk. In parallel, map the top 12–15 core processes end-to-end with owner, inputs, outputs, controls and interfaces — this becomes the process architecture the QMS documents against.
Close gaps in priority order: context and interested parties (Clause 4), leadership and quality policy (Clause 5), risk-based thinking (Clause 6.1), documented information (Clause 7.5), then operational planning and control (Clause 8). Draft only the procedures the standard explicitly requires — resist the urge to write a procedure for everything. Every document must be owned, dated, revision-controlled and reachable at point of use.
Run a full internal audit against the standard using either trained internal auditors or an independent third party. Every finding gets a root-cause and corrective action logged in a CAPA register. Hold a formal management review (Clause 9.3) covering all required inputs — customer satisfaction, NCR trends, audit results, changes, resources, opportunities for improvement. This meeting's minutes are the single most-scrutinised document at Stage 1.
Do not build a separate QMS per site — you will fail the consistency test at Stage 2. Build one QMS with clearly-flagged site-specific annexes where regulation, geography or client demands differ. Certify under a multi-site sampling scheme where eligible; the registrar audits headquarters plus a rotating subset of sites, which is materially cheaper and faster than certifying each site independently.
Ninety days is enough to reach Stage 1 readiness for an organisation that already has functioning processes, executive commitment and dedicated resource. Stage 1 typically follows one to two weeks after readiness, with Stage 2 four to six weeks after Stage 1. Total elapsed time to certificate is usually 5–6 months even on a compressed programme.
Stage 1 is a documentation and readiness review — the auditor confirms the QMS is designed correctly and the organisation is ready for the on-site conformity audit. Stage 2 is the certification audit itself: on-site sampling of records, interviews with process owners, verification that the QMS is actually implemented and effective.
For a mid-size single-site organisation, expect USD 15,000–40,000 in registrar fees over the three-year certification cycle, plus internal effort. Multi-site programmes cost more but scale sub-linearly under sampling schemes. Consulting and internal audit support are separate.
Not always, but organisations without prior ISO experience typically save time and cost by engaging an independent QMS consultant for the gap analysis, first internal audit and management review facilitation. The registrar cannot consult and certify — those must be separate parties.
We provide independent quality management, inspection and audit services across North America.
