Overview
ISO/IEC TS 17023:2013 provides guidance for determining the duration of management system certification audits. It is aimed at certification bodies and scheme developers, and is intended to help achieve consistent, justifiable audit durations across different types of management system audits (initial, surveillance, recertification, special audits, etc.). The Technical Specification defines relevant factors to consider and a methodology framework for developing and implementing duration-calculation approaches - but it does not prescribe tables, formulas or fixed time values.
Key Topics
- Purpose and scope: Guidelines for audit duration determination for management system certification (also useful for regulators, accreditation bodies and scheme owners).
- Factors influencing audit duration: includes:
- Relevant management system standard(s) and audit type
- Size and location(s) of the client organization (number of sites, staff, logistics)
- Complexity of the organization and its management system
- Technological and regulatory context (industry-specific complexity)
- Activities and scope included in certification (products, services, outsourced processes)
- Maturity and effectiveness of the management system (internal audits, prior results)
- Risks associated with products/processes (safety, public health impact)
- Cultural and communication considerations (language, transparency)
- Integrated management systems and number of standards combined
- Audit team composition and other practical considerations
- Methodology framework: guidance for developing and implementing a reproducible methodology to calculate audit duration, ensuring transparency and consistency. The document outlines how to use the listed factors when designing tables, formulas or processes (but does not provide those tables).
Applications
- Helping certification bodies establish defensible audit time estimates and policies for initial, surveillance and recertification audits.
- Assisting scheme owners and accreditation bodies to review or set expectations for audit planning and resource allocation.
- Guiding auditors and audit managers when scoping audits, assembling teams and planning on-site work.
- Supporting organizations (clients) to understand how their size, complexity, risks and system maturity affect audit time and costs.
Who should use it
- Certification bodies and their audit planners
- Scheme owners and regulators setting scheme-specific requirements (e.g., where ISO/TS 22003-style specifics exist)
- Accreditation bodies and conformity assessment stakeholders
- Organizations preparing for certification who want to understand audit time drivers
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 17021:2011 - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems (normative reference)
- ISO/IEC 17000 - Conformity assessment - Vocabulary and general principles (normative reference)
- Scheme-specific documents (e.g., food safety schemes such as ISO/TS 22003) may add further time requirements.
Keywords: ISO/IEC TS 17023, ISO 17023:2013, management system certification audits, audit duration, certification bodies, audit time, audit planning.