In short
Documentation preparation is the drafting of the management system documents an ISO standard requires: policies, procedures, registers, forms and record templates. Equas writes them around how your organisation already works, so they can be used as written rather than rewritten before anyone will follow them.
What Documentation Preparation involves
Documentation has a bad reputation in ISO work, and often deservedly. Downloaded template packs produce shelves of documents that describe a business nobody recognises. They pass an audit once and then get quietly ignored.
The point of this service is documentation that describes what you actually do, in language your people would use, at the shortest length the standard will accept.
We start from your existing material. Most organisations already have far more than they realise: work instructions, checklists, induction packs, spreadsheets, email templates. Much of it can be brought into the system with light editing, which is faster than writing from scratch and produces something people already recognise.
Where documents genuinely need writing, we write them after talking to the people who do the work, not from a template library.
This can be bought as a standalone piece, which suits organisations who are confident about implementation but do not have anyone who can write, or as part of a Full System Build or Assisted System Build.
A note on scope: the standards require far less documented information than most people assume. Part of the value here is knowing what you do not need to write.
Who it is for
Working towards certification
For organisations who know their processes well and can implement them, but have nobody with the time or the inclination to write them down.
Already certified
For refreshing documentation that has drifted from practice, absorbing a new site or acquisition, or rewriting a set that an auditor has criticised as unusable.
What is included
Quality, environmental, information security, health and safety or AI policy, written for your organisation rather than adapted from a generic template.
The documented processes the standard requires, described as your business actually runs them.
Risk and opportunity registers, legal registers, aspect and impact registers, asset registers, as relevant to the standard.
The day to day paperwork, designed to be quick to complete so it actually gets completed.
We fold in what you already have wherever it can be used, rather than replacing it for the sake of it.
Version control, approval and review arrangements that satisfy the standard without creating an administrative burden.
Delivered in your house style, ready to issue.
How it works
- 1
Documentation audit
We catalogue what you already have and identify what can be reused, what needs revising and what is genuinely missing.
- 2
Process interviews
Short conversations with the people who do the work, so the documents describe reality.
- 3
Drafting
Documents are written and issued to you in batches for review.
- 4
Review and revision
Your comments are worked in. We expect at least one round of changes on anything substantial.
- 5
Issue and control
Final versions issued in your branding, with a document control structure in place.
The most popular standards we support
Equas helps clients achieve UKAS-accredited certification across every ISO standard we cover.
The international standard for quality management systems
The international standard for environmental management systems
The international standard for IT service management
The international standard for business continuity management
The international standard for information security management
The international standard for AI management systems
The international standard for occupational health and safety
The international standard for energy management systems
Quality management for the built environment, built on ISO 9001
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
Frequently asked questions
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