Gap analysis
Know where you stand before Stage 1
An optional pre-assessment is an audit-style review of your management system against the standard you intend to certify to. It returns a written report of the gaps. The report reports; it does not resolve, because prescribing the fix would be consultancy a certification body is not permitted to provide.
What the report contains
Clause conformity map
Clause-by-clause status: conforms, partial, not yet evidenced. No vague percentages.
Findings against the standard
Each gap written the way an auditor writes it: the requirement, and what the evidence does not yet show.
Where the evidence is missing
The records, registers and reviews a Stage 2 auditor would ask for and could not currently sample.
Whether Stage 2 could proceed
A plain reading of how far the system is from the standard. What you do about it is your decision.
What the report will not contain: written policies, procedures or registers, a sequenced plan for closing the gaps, or a costing of the work involved. CORE cannot design, document or implement the systems it certifies, and an auditor cannot objectively assess work they produced. Where you want help closing a gap, our directory of independent consultants is a starting point. Engaging one has no bearing on the certification decision.
How it runs
Scope call
Standard, sites, effective headcount and drivers. Thirty minutes, no charge.
On-site or remote review
Documents, records, interviews and a walk of the real work, conducted the way an audit is conducted.
Written report
The conformity map and the findings, in writing. We explain what each finding means against the clause; we do not tell you how to close it.
Your decision
Close the gaps yourself, engage an independent consultant, or stop. The report is yours either way.
A pre-assessment is optional, and it commits you to nothing
It sits outside the certification cycle and it is not a condition of applying. Findings raised in a pre-assessment carry no weight in the certification decision; Stage 1 and Stage 2 examine the system as it stands on the day.