In short
A gap analysis is a structured review of your existing processes and documentation against the requirements of an ISO standard. Equas produces a prioritised action list showing what already complies, what needs work and what is missing, so you can plan and budget the route to certification before committing to it.
What a Gap Analysis involves
Most organisations already do more than they think. The processes exist, people follow them, and the evidence is sitting in inboxes and spreadsheets. What is usually missing is the structure that lets an auditor see it.
A gap analysis establishes which of those two problems you actually have. One of our IRCA qualified lead auditors reviews your current documentation and how work gets done in practice, then assesses it against three things: compliance with the relevant standard, effectiveness in achieving your own objectives, and whether anything is duplicated or more complicated than it needs to be.
You get a written report with a prioritised action list, an honest estimate of the effort involved, and a recommendation on which route suits your organisation. There is no obligation attached to it. Some clients take the report and complete the work with their own team, and that is a perfectly good outcome.
Most gap analyses are completed within a week, and any follow-on support we quote for is fixed price, agreed before the work starts.
Who it is for
Working towards certification
This is the sensible first step. It tells you whether you are three months or twelve months away, and it stops you buying a support package sized for the wrong problem.
Already certified
Useful before a recertification audit, after a merger, acquisition or restructure, or when you have inherited a system built by somebody who has since left.
What is included
Everything you already have, assessed clause by clause against the standard.
What the documents say and what actually happens are rarely the same thing. We look at both.
A complete pass through the standard, so nothing is missed and nothing is assumed.
Ordered by what blocks certification first, not alphabetically by clause number.
Plain English, sized for sharing with your leadership team.
How long this will take and how much of it needs to come from your own people.
If you want help with the work, we quote a fixed price for exactly what the report identified and nothing more.
How it works
- 1
Scoping call
We agree which standards, sites and activities are in scope, and what you want out of the exercise.
- 2
Documentation review
You share what you have. We review it against the standard before we set foot on site.
- 3
On-site or remote assessment
Interviews with the people who do the work, plus a look at the records that back it up.
- 4
Findings discussion
We talk through what we found before anything is written up, so there are no surprises in the report.
- 5
Report and action list
A written report with a prioritised action list and a recommended route forward.
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
Related services
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