SGS case studies
SGS · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The SGS credential is a professional certification aimed at people who audit, or intend to audit, management systems against recognised standards. Candidates typically come from quality, environment, health and safety, information security or supplier-conformity roles, and from internal audit teams that want an externally recognised benchmark of competence. The exam tests a blend of knowledge and judgement rather than memorisation alone. You should expect to be examined on the normative content of the relevant management system standards, on audit principles including ethics and impartiality, and on risk-based thinking and the process approach. The SGS case studies are 5 cases and about 3,928 words.
1The client asks for the auditor who used to run their QMS
You are certification manager at a body accredited for ISO 9001. A food-packaging manufacturer (450 employees, two sites) is due for recertification: a 3-day audit with two auditors.
746 words, about 4 min2Three overdue gauges and 45 minutes left
During a 2-day internal audit of a medical-device component plant you are auditing calibration control. The gauge register lists 412 instruments.
831 words, about 4 min3Allocating five audit days across six sites
You are planning a surveillance audit of a logistics company: head office and main hub (820 staff) plus five depots of 40–90 staff. You have two auditors and five audit days.
763 words, about 4 min4The draft finding nobody can defend
In an engineering firm's audit you sample 12 of roughly 300 supplier files. Two suppliers hold ISO 9001 certificates that expired 3 and 7 months ago.
814 words, about 4 min5An old quality manual, a checklist from somewhere else
A 90-person jobbing machine shop holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and is being audited for recertification. Its quality manual (rev 6, dated 2009) still names a "management representative", lists "exclusions" of clause 7.3 design and 7.1.5 monitoring and measuring resources, and describes document control by "master list".
774 words, about 4 min