How long should AS9100 Certificate issuance take?

[Michael_M]

We had our Stage 1 audit first week of October 2015, Stage 2 November 15-20 2015. Had a couple of minor findings which were submitted to the auditor and accepted on December 14 2015 (the auditor e-mailed me saying he uploaded the records to the registrar).

It is now February 5, 2015. The couple of e-mails I received from the registrar when I asked were along the lines of:

01-09-15 The audit was put at the top of the list
01-22-15 Executive committee is waiting on clarification....


This is the first time I have gone through an audit as the Management Representative so I do not know if I am being impatient or if the time line is normal.

How much time is normal from the completion of Stage 2 (all findings corrected) to getting the actual certification?

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Do you know if the CB used the AS9101E or AS9101D document when performing your audit?

 

[Michael_M]

AS9101D Appendix B is what is on the form I am looking at.

 

[DannyK]

I would ask the auditor or certification body contact to provide you with the status of your certificate.
There is usually a technical review that is done in the CB office but it should not be more than a month long.

 

[AndyN]

Auditors usually don't have much to do with the "back office" activities once they're done with paperwork. I'd call the CB and ask to speak with the Certificate Administrator (they probably have one person to look after that)

 

[Michael_M]

I am talking with the Registrar, once the auditor told me they uploaded everything, I moved to the Registrar.

Before I talk with them again, I want to make sure that 1 3/4 months is a bit long for first time certifications. It seems long to me, but I don't have any basis for this assumption.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I want to make sure that 1 3/4 months is a bit long for first time certifications. It seems long to me, but I don't have any basis for this assumption.

Realizing that we had the end of the year holidays since your recommendation for certification was issued, the delay might have something to do with this. 4 to 6 weeks for the certificate to be issued is not out of the ordinary, but they can expedite it, unless there is a snafu.

 

[Michael_M]

Do you know if the CB used the AS9101E or AS9101D document when performing your audit?

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the two and would it have mattered if they used one over the other?

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the two and would it have mattered if they used one over the other?

The AS auditors and the CB have to be specifically qualified for the "E" version. Had the auditor(s) done the audit with the E version of AS9101, but not previously qualified through online training, this could have been caught in the technical review, done by the registrar.

 

[Big Jim]

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the two and would it have mattered if they used one over the other?

The most significant change is that the "checklist" (Objective Evidence Report) is no longer used. To somewhat compensate, the Process Effectiveness Assessment Report has been beefed up as well as some of the other forms.

Another significant change is that the requirement for 12 months of data has been dropped.

I'm guessing that the use of the "checklist" (even though they don't call it a checklist anymore, that's what it is) along with the then new Process Effectiveness Assessment Report was needed to wean AS auditors off the checklist and prepare then to perform process based audits like the rest of the ISO 9001 family. The auditors are catching on and the crutch (checklist) is being removed.