During a system assessment, CCKL evaluates the operational quality system against the quality manual and other documents. This assessment starts three months prior to the date that the institution stated that it expected to be ready for accreditation. The institution may be asked to supply additional information to aid the examination.

The purpose of a system assessment is to verify that the institution is ready for an on-site assessment visit. The on-site assessment also serves to establish exactly which fields of work accreditation is required. Depending upon the scope of the application, a decision is then taken on the timeframe of the actual assessment, how long it will take, and what expertise will be required. The overall activities included in a system assessment can be found in the download section.

The system assessment must be completed within six weeks. CCKL’s decision will subsequently be notified to the laboratory, as well as whether the examination will take place on-site. Depending upon the findings, three variants are possible:

• good, the definitive assessment can take place at the agreed time and date;
• good, provided certain issues are resolved prior to the definitive assessment;
• not good, the definitive assessment cannot yet take place, as there are too many unresolved issues. The laboratory will receive a report on the decision.