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Okay, bare bones stuff
First, as was mentioned earlier, get a copy of the standard.
Second, your organization has to do different "things" to meet your customer requirements. Make a flowchart of these things (you can call them activities, or processes if you like). Some folks call these your Core Processes, or your Customer Oriented Processes.
Third, read through the standard. Each time you see the word "shall", stop. Shalls are mandatory requirements. Some of these shalls will line up with your flowchart of things. Note that. Others will not. Some of those that do not will line up with the activities you have to do to fulfill your Core Processes. Often, they are referred to as Support Processes.
The standard requires you to identify your processes (Core and Support) and determine their sequence (the flowchart) and their interaction (lots of ways to do that).
Fourth, as you go through figure out how you are going to meet each shall. If you get stumped, then come back here and do a search on the requirements for that individual shall.
Bear in mind….. This is not going to be a quick sit down one afternoon and hammer this out. Be prepared to spend hours, days and even weeks on this. There is no simple one size fits all solution. What you come up with has to reflect your organization, and your business.
And I agree, a class could help. Even an internal auditor class, as they often teach the interpretations of the standard, and you can often bounce questions off the instructor during breaks, lunch and after class.
First, as was mentioned earlier, get a copy of the standard.
Second, your organization has to do different "things" to meet your customer requirements. Make a flowchart of these things (you can call them activities, or processes if you like). Some folks call these your Core Processes, or your Customer Oriented Processes.
Third, read through the standard. Each time you see the word "shall", stop. Shalls are mandatory requirements. Some of these shalls will line up with your flowchart of things. Note that. Others will not. Some of those that do not will line up with the activities you have to do to fulfill your Core Processes. Often, they are referred to as Support Processes.
The standard requires you to identify your processes (Core and Support) and determine their sequence (the flowchart) and their interaction (lots of ways to do that).
Fourth, as you go through figure out how you are going to meet each shall. If you get stumped, then come back here and do a search on the requirements for that individual shall.
Bear in mind….. This is not going to be a quick sit down one afternoon and hammer this out. Be prepared to spend hours, days and even weeks on this. There is no simple one size fits all solution. What you come up with has to reflect your organization, and your business.
And I agree, a class could help. Even an internal auditor class, as they often teach the interpretations of the standard, and you can often bounce questions off the instructor during breaks, lunch and after class.
) but you will be expected to somehow show you are competent to do yoru internal assessments, among other things. The ability of classes to "make" one competent has been tirelessly argued, but most of us agree a class is a good part of it.
Networking like this can sometimes give you a different point of view, especially if you've spent so much time focusing on your company's situation and issues. It's always good to have a fresh set of eyes to look at your problem, IMO... And who knows? You may be able to offer help to someone else with a different problem!
