News Item • 2 mins read
Exploring how technology can help the accredited conformity community identify efficiencies without compromising on quality or robustness is a key priority at UKAS. Alongside the recent launch of our free-to-use online database of accredited Management Systems certifications, CertCheck, our new Portals represent a major step forward in this direction.
From May 2023, all UKAS customers (with the exception of Healthcare and Forensics customers, who will gain access slightly later in the year) will have access to both our Portals.
In the UKAS Main Portal, UKAS customers will be able to:
- Set-up access for multiple internal users and manage and update their contact details
- Advise UKAS of any organisational changes, including a change to a primary contact and / or their addresses and, where necessary, prompt an approval by UKAS
- Review assessment details, complete and submit their pre-assessment questionnaires, review their project statuses, and view UKAS contacts
- Review the proposed assessment team to flag potential conflicts of interest
- Raise and resolve queries with UKAS through a ticket-managed process
- Submit applications for extensions to scope, including the uploading of supporting documentation
- Upload, download and view project documents, including their assessment reports, within the UKAS document handling system, without the need for additional sign-on
In the UKAS Assessment Portal (AP), UKAS customers will be able to:
- Review and respond to any improvement actions raised by UKAS assessors, including recommendations, replacing the need for emails
- Upload evidence to improvement actions, including documentation, enabling customer responses to reach UKAS assessors faster
- View feedback from UKAS following submission of their evidence and receive automatic notifications when further evidence is required
- Reassign ownership of improvement actions internally, enabling the efficient handling of workload within their organisation
- View the status of improvement actions for the current assessment cycle and, going forward, for previous years
UKAS believes that its Portals will enable greater visibility for customers and improve its service while enhancing collaboration between UKAS and its customers. Initial feedback from customers who have participated in the pilot of the Portals supports this belief.
Looking ahead, UKAS will continue to invest in the digitisation of many aspects of the assessment process and the Portals will play a key role in supporting this goal. To that end, UKAS will be seeking feedback from customers and stakeholders to help shape the future of its Portals to best serve their needs and add value to the conformity assessment communities that UKAS serves.
