With a degree in Business Administration and no real knowledge of ISO, I was hired to assist our company with streamlining operations and to develop an ISO 9000 certified QMS. Streamlining was a peice of cake - the QMS has been another story. No matter how much I learned and tried to share with management about what we needed to do to be compliant to the standard, I simply couldn't get any significant cooperation from the company's owner and CEO. (

We want that ISO banner - but we really don't want to have to do the work - nothing new here.)
Donning my blinders and pushing on, I secured some grant money from our state's workforce development board and hired a "facilitator" from NC State College's Industrial Extension Service. He comes in every few weeks, reviews the work I've done, assists with the gray areas of the standard and - most importantly - acts as the outside authority on ISO. This has been instrumental in getting managment's attention. While he has plenty of written documents and procedures we can use as examples, I have written everything to be as specific to our company as possible. In fact, I have stressed from the very beginning that the only way we can do this successfully is to ensure that we put systems into place that will enhance and benefit our processes - not bog them down.
There is a flat fee to go through the program in which you are
guided in the development and implementation of your QMS over a 12 month period. You choose your own registrar and they guarantee to stick with you until you get certified - no additional fees apply. It's a great program - but it's only as good as the people working with it. Our facilitator has done a terrific job guiding me through the process. Sadly, my company's owner has the attitude that I'll get it all written up, we'll get certified, then we'll be all done and he can keep doing things his own way. Grrr...yes, I'm getting a great education on the job - but, there's still no
real support from the guy at the top and I have wonder if I'm wasting his money.
Are we writing our own documents and developing our own system that complies with the standard?

Yes. Has our "consultant" done a good job?

Absolutely! Will we get certified?

Probably. Will the system be in place a year later if I leave this company?

I seriously doubt it. My point is that (and this is my humble, limited experience opinion) no matter how good or bad your consultant is, whatever you pay for is useless if your looking for a piece of paper to hang on the wall and not willing to commit to the QMS you develop (or buy).