Sterling Revise™ is a fixed-scope, four-week service that moves an organisation certified to ISO 9001:2015 onto ISO 9001:2026, the sixth edition published on 16 September 2026. Week 1 is a documentation review and gap assessment against the ISO 9001:2026 standard. Week 2 is a gap report that gives you the number, meaning how many requirements need work and what each one needs, before you commit to anything further. Weeks 3 and 4 produce the plan, book the certification body and make the first updates. The Philippine team delivers it from Makati, Cebu and Davao. Sterling does not issue certificates; your accredited certification body does that after its transition audit.
What the ISO 9001:2026 migration service covers
The service has a fixed scope: one certified quality management system, assessed against every change in the ISO 9001:2026 standard, with a costed gap report and a dated plan that ends at the certification body’s transition audit. It is not an open-ended consulting retainer and it is not a re-implementation. The system you already run is the starting point; the 2026 edition is the finishing line.
The full list of what changed between the editions is on the clause-by-clause register. For a migration, the work concentrates in a small number of places, and the table below is the scope Sterling Revise™ assesses in every engagement.
| Area of the 2026 edition | Reference | What the migration checks |
|---|---|---|
| Interested-party requirements the QMS will address | 4.2 c) | Whether the organisation has decided which requirements of which parties its QMS addresses, not only listed them |
| Quality culture and ethical behaviour | 5.1.1 i) and NOTE 2; 7.3 e); 7.1.4 NOTE | How top management promotes both, and whether people doing work under the organisation’s control can describe what the organisation asks of them |
| Opportunity-based thinking | 5.1.1 k) | Whether leadership promotes it alongside risk-based thinking, and where the evidence sits |
| Quality policy | 5.2.1 e); 5.2.2 d) | Whether the policy takes the organisation’s context into account and supports strategic direction; whether it is implemented, not merely displayed |
| Roles | 5.3 e) | Whether reporting on opportunities for improvement is a separately assigned responsibility |
| Risks | 6.1.1; 6.1.2 with NOTE 1 | Whether risks are determined, analysed and evaluated, and whether actions are proportionate to the potential impact on the intended results of the QMS, including the ability to deliver during and after a disruption |
| Opportunities | 6.1.3 | Whether opportunities are determined, analysed and evaluated in their own right, with actions appropriate to context |
| Planning of changes | 6.3 c), e), f), g) | Whether resources and information, communication of changes, monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness, and review of results are all planned |
| Organisational knowledge | 7.1.6 | Whether knowledge is retained, applied and shared, not just filed |
| Awareness | 7.3 e) | Whether awareness of the organisational quality culture and ethical behaviour is built into induction and refresher content |
| Customer communication | 8.2.1 e) and NOTE | Whether information on contingency actions, including disruptions to provision, reaches customers, and which channels are used |
| Performance evaluation | 9.1.3 e) and f); 9.3.2 c), g) and h) | Whether effectiveness of actions on risks and on opportunities is evaluated separately, and whether changes in interested-party needs and expectations are a management review input |
| Improvement | 10.1 (former 10.3 absorbed); 10.2.1 NOTE | Whether improvement explicitly covers processes and future needs and expectations, and whether references to a “10.3” have been removed from procedures, checklists and audit reports |
| Climate change | 4.1; 4.2 NOTE | Whether the determination of relevance exists, for systems that never applied Amendment 1:2024 |
| Documented information wording | Annex A.2 e) | Whether procedures and records that cite “maintain” and “retain” still work under the “shall be available as documented information” wording (they do; nothing new is required, but stale cross-references get fixed) |
Week 1: documentation review and gap assessment against the published register
Week 1 answers one question: where does your ISO 9001:2015 system already meet ISO 9001:2026, and where does it not? A Sterling lead auditor reviews your documented information and interviews the people who run the system, using the ISO 9001:2026 standard of the sixth edition rather than a draft, and records every gap with its clause reference.
The review is done against the register above, item by item, and against the requirements that did not change, because a migration audit is still a full audit of the system. Three kinds of gap appear in nearly every 2015 system Sterling assesses:
- Wording gaps. The quality policy uses the 2015 phrasing and does not show how it takes context into account and supports strategic direction (5.2.1 e)). The risk register treats risks and opportunities as one list (6.1.2, 6.1.3). Internal audit checklists cite 10.3, which no longer exists.
- Evidence gaps. The policy is “communicated and understood” but there is nothing to show it is implemented (5.2.2 d)). Changes are planned but nobody can show how their effectiveness was monitored and evaluated or how results were reviewed (6.3 f) and g)). Knowledge is retained in a shared drive but not applied or shared in a way anyone can demonstrate (7.1.6).
- Behaviour gaps. Top management promotes quality culture and ethical behaviour (5.1.1 i)) in the sense that they believe in it, but staff cannot describe what the organisation expects of them (7.3 e)). This gap cannot be closed by a document and is flagged first because it takes the longest.
The output of Week 1 is a gap list, not an opinion. Each entry states the clause, what the 2026 standard asks for, what exists now, and what would satisfy an auditor. Where your records live in Effivity or another QMS platform, the review is done inside the platform so the gap list points at real registers, not at a description of them.
Week 2: the gap report and the number before commitment
Week 2 turns the gap list into a gap report with a number in it. The number is the count of requirements that need work, broken into wording, evidence and behaviour, with the consultant-days each needs and the elapsed time the behaviour items require. You see that number, and the fee for weeks 3 and 4, before you commit to the rest of the service.
That sequence is deliberate. Organisations in the Philippines are being sent transition quotes that were priced before anyone opened their system. A price given before the gap assessment is either a guess or a package that assumes every client needs the same work. Neither is honest. In Sterling Revise™ the assessment comes first and the number comes with it; you decide on weeks 3 and 4 with the gap report in hand.
The gap report contains:
| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| Summary | The number of gaps by type; the earliest realistic date for the certification body’s transition audit |
| Gap register | Every gap with clause reference, current state, required state and owner |
| Effort | Consultant-days by gap; client-hours by gap, because most of the evidence is generated by your people, not by Sterling |
| Elapsed time | The items that need weeks of operation before they can be audited, chiefly 5.1.1 i), 7.3 e), 6.3 f) and g), and 9.1.3 e) and f) |
| Certification-body position | What your certification body has said about its transition declaration (due to its accreditation body by 30 June 2027) and the date it expects its accreditation to be extended to the 2026 edition; if it has said nothing, what to ask it |
| Recommendation | Transition at the next surveillance audit, at recertification, or at a special audit, with the reasoning |
For an established small or medium-sized system that has been maintained, the desk work usually runs to a few consultant-days and the number is small. For a system that was built for a certificate and left alone, or one that never applied the 2024 climate amendment, the number is larger, and it is better to know that in Week 2 than at the audit.
Weeks 3 and 4: plan, certification-body booking and first updates
Weeks 3 and 4 convert the gap report into a dated plan, book the certification body’s transition audit and make the first updates. The first updates are the wording gaps, because they are quick and because getting them done early lets the evidence and behaviour items run for the longest possible time before the audit.
The plan is built in Sterling OS™, Sterling’s delivery method, and has four columns: the gap, the owner in your organisation, the date the change takes effect and the date the evidence will exist. The last column matters more than the third. A change to the risk method made in October has no auditable evidence until the register has been analysed and evaluated and the actions have been reviewed; a change to induction content has none until people have been inducted with it.
Booking the certification body is done in this window for a practical reason. Every certification body in the Philippines will be scheduling transition audits for its entire ISO 9001 client base inside the same three-year window, which ends on 30 September 2029, and the audits it can perform depend on when its accreditation body extends its accreditation to the 2026 edition. The transition requirements published by Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, which took over the roles of IAF and ILAC on 1 January 2026) on 16 September 2026, document Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), give accreditation bodies until 31 March 2027 to be ready to assess certification bodies against the 2026 edition, require certification bodies’ transition declarations by 30 June 2027 and accreditation-body decisions by 30 September 2027; accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificates therefore appear body by body during 2027. Sterling’s job in Weeks 3 and 4 is to get your audit into the certification body’s diary at the point where its accreditation and your evidence line up, and to put the right questions to the body in writing.
By the end of Week 4 you have: the updated policy, the split risk and opportunity method, the revised planning-of-change procedure or form, corrected clause references throughout, an induction and awareness module for 7.3 e), an updated internal audit checklist for the 2026 edition, an updated management review agenda with the inputs at 9.3.2 c), g) and h), a dated plan for the remaining items, and a confirmed or provisional audit date.
What your organisation must do itself
Sterling can assess, draft, plan, train and audit, but five things can only be done by your organisation: the leadership briefing, the promotion of quality culture and ethical behaviour, the evaluation of opportunities, the planning of a real change and the implementation of the policy. The certification body will test all five with your people, not with your consultant, and mostly through interviews rather than documents.
| Your obligation | Clause | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership briefing | 5.1.1, 5.2.1 e) | Top management attends a briefing on the 2026 edition, decides how the policy will take context into account and support strategic direction, and can explain that decision in the audit |
| Quality culture and ethical behaviour | 5.1.1 i) and NOTE 2, 7.3 e) | Leadership defines what it expects, says so in ways that reach every person doing work under the organisation’s control, and acts consistently with it; NOTE 2 says these things are reflected in shared values, attitudes, practices and actions, which are yours, not ours |
| Opportunities | 6.1.3, 9.1.3 f), 9.3.2 h) | Your managers determine, analyse and evaluate opportunities, plan actions, and later evaluate whether the actions worked |
| Change planning | 6.3 e), f), g) | Your next real change (a new product line, a new site, a new system) is planned with communication, monitoring of effectiveness and review of results, and the records show it |
| Policy | 5.2.2 d) | The policy is implemented: objectives, decisions and resource allocations can be traced back to it |
Sterling briefs the leadership team, provides the awareness content and coaches the managers who own risks, opportunities and changes. It does not stand in for them. A transition that is done entirely by a consultant produces a system that passes on paper and fails at the first interview, and the 2026 edition has more interview-based requirements than the 2015 edition did.
The sequence before the certification body’s transition audit
Before the certification body arrives, your system must have completed one full internal audit against the 2026 edition and one management review with the 2026 inputs. Those two events are not optional and they cannot be back-dated; they are the last two entries in every Sterling Revise™ plan, and the audit date is set from them.
- Wording updates take effect (Weeks 3 and 4): policy, procedures, registers, checklists and forms carry the 2026 clause references and requirements.
- Evidence accumulates (from Week 4 onward): risks analysed and evaluated; opportunities analysed and evaluated; at least one change planned and communicated under 6.3 e); awareness delivered under 7.3 e); knowledge retained, applied and shared under 7.1.6.
- Internal audit to the 2026 edition (9.2): conducted with a checklist that cites the 2026 clauses, by auditors who have been trained on the changes, covering every changed requirement and the unchanged ones. Sterling can conduct this audit for you, or train your auditors through the internal audit service.
- Corrective action (10.2): nonconformities from the internal audit are addressed and their effectiveness reviewed.
- Management review with the 2026 inputs (9.3.2): including changes in the needs and expectations of interested parties (c)), and the effectiveness of actions on risks (g)) and on opportunities (h)) as separate items; outputs recorded under 9.3.3.
- Certification body’s transition audit: under the Global ACI transition requirements, at a scheduled surveillance audit, at recertification or as a special transition audit, on site or remotely by ICT, once the body’s accreditation has been extended to the 2026 edition. The requirements say the audit shall review the changed requirements of ISO 9001:2026, changes to your context and the need for any other changes to the system, and that the body shall consider, with a justified calculation, whether additional audit time is needed.
The elapsed time between step 1 and step 6 is set by the behaviour items, and for most Philippine organisations it is measured in months, not weeks. That is why the service starts with the assessment, not the audit date.
What the service does not include
Sterling Revise™ does not include a certificate, because Sterling does not certify. Certificates to ISO 9001:2026 are issued only by certification bodies whose accreditation has been extended to the 2026 edition, only after a transition audit, and only under the transition requirements Global ACI published on 16 September 2026 (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M)). Any offer to “re-issue” or “upgrade” a certificate to the 2026 edition without an audit describes something that does not exist in accredited certification.
The certificate verification guide explains how to check any certificate you are shown. Beyond certification, the service also does not include:
- A full re-implementation. If Week 1 finds that the 2015 system is not operating (no internal audits in the last cycle, no management review, registers untouched since the last certification audit), the honest recommendation is an implementation project, not a migration, and the gap report will say so.
- Writing your culture. Sterling provides the briefing, the awareness content and the coaching; the shared values, attitudes, practices and actions in 5.1.1 NOTE 2 are yours.
- Certification body fees. The transition audit is invoiced by the certification body under its own contract with you. Sterling’s plan tells you what to ask it and when.
- Integrated transitions by default. Organisations certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 can add the ISO 14001:2026 transition (fourth edition, published 15 April 2026) to the scope; see the integrated transition page. It is priced after the same Week 2 gap report.
When to start, by certificate date
The right time to start depends on when your certificate expires and when your next surveillance audit falls, because the transition audit is most economical when it coincides with an audit the certification body was going to conduct anyway. The dates that frame every plan are the milestones in Global ACI’s transition requirements for ISO 9001:2026, and the second table gives Sterling’s recommendation for each position.
| Global ACI milestone (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M)) | Date | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Transition requirements published | 16 September 2026 | The rules for every transition audit are fixed; nothing is waiting on a further announcement |
| Accreditation bodies ready to assess certification bodies against the 2026 edition | 31 March 2027 | The earliest point at which any certification body can have its accreditation extended |
| Certification bodies’ transition declarations due | 30 June 2027 | Ask your body for its declaration date; it tells you when it expects to audit to 2026 |
| Accreditation-body transition decisions completed | 30 September 2027 | By this date every certification body that will offer ISO 9001:2026 has its accreditation extended; accredited 2026 certificates appear body by body during 2027 |
| Initial certifications only to ISO 9001:2026 | 31 March 2028 | No new ISO 9001:2015 certificates after this date; existing 2015 certificates continue |
| All transitions completed | 30 September 2029 | ISO 9001:2015 certificates and accreditations are no longer valid after this date |
| Your position in September 2026 | Recommended start | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Recertification due within 12 months | Now | Recertification is the natural transition audit; Weeks 1 and 2 tell you whether the evidence can exist in time |
| Surveillance due within 6 months | Now, aiming for the following surveillance | The behaviour items need elapsed time; the audit after next is usually the first realistic one |
| Recently recertified (2026) | Within the next 6 to 9 months | You have the longest runway, but certification-body diaries will fill from both ends of the window |
| Certificate expiring after 30 September 2029 | Now | A 2015 certificate cannot be renewed as a 2015 certificate, and no ISO 9001:2015 certificate is valid after 30 September 2029; the transition audit has to happen at a surveillance audit inside the window |
Sterling’s position on timing is the opposite of the panic being sold elsewhere: nobody needs to transition in October 2026, and nobody should leave it to 2029. The three-year window to 30 September 2029 is long enough for a properly sequenced migration and short enough that the certification bodies’ diaries will become the constraint in the final year, and no certification body can audit you to the 2026 edition before its accreditation is extended during 2027. The transition deadline page sets out the Global ACI milestones in full.
How the service is delivered
Sterling Revise™ is delivered by Sterling’s Philippine team of lead auditors from offices in Makati (Manila), Cebu and Davao, on site or remotely, using Sterling OS™ as the delivery method. Weeks 1 and 2 are often done remotely where your documented information is in Effivity or another platform Sterling can access; Weeks 3 and 4 and the leadership briefing are usually on site.
Every engagement is led by a lead auditor who audits for certification bodies, which is why the gap list is written in the language an auditor will use and why the plan ends with the internal audit and management review rather than with a set of documents. Client accounts of the approach are on the client feedback page.
To start, contact the team through the contact page, by phone on +63 977 815 1204 or by email at info@iso-philippines.com. The first conversation establishes your certificate dates, your certification body and where your documented information sits, and the Week 1 assessment is scheduled from it.
Don’t take our word for it — read our clients’.
80+ verbatim client feedback letters → — searchable by standard and industry, quoted word-for-word from signed originals you can verify. And see the organizations we serve — Unilab, McDonald’s, SAP, GE, ZTE, JLL and more.
Plan your ISO 9001:2026 transition with Sterling
Free consultation for certified companies and first-timers · ISO 9001:2026 transition and implementation planning against the ISO 9001:2026 standard · itemized quotation within 48 hours. Call +63 977 815 1204, email info@iso-philippines.com, or book your slot →.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an ISO 9001:2026 migration take? The Sterling Revise™ service itself is four weeks. The time from the first update to the certification body’s transition audit is longer, typically several months, because 5.1.1 i), 7.3 e), 6.3 f) and g) and 9.1.3 e) and f) need evidence of operation, and the internal audit and management review to the 2026 edition must happen before the audit.
What drives the cost of migrating to ISO 9001:2026? Four things: the size and number of sites, how well the 2015 system was maintained, whether Amendment 1:2024 was applied, and how much of the evidence your own people generate rather than Sterling. Sterling gives the number after the Week 2 gap report, not before; a quote given before anyone has looked at your system is a guess. Certification body fees are separate. See the cost page.
Is my ISO 9001:2015 certificate still valid? Yes. ISO 9001:2015 certificates remain valid throughout the transition period, which Global ACI’s transition requirements (published 16 September 2026) set at three years, ending on 30 September 2029. After that date ISO 9001:2015 certificates and accreditations are no longer valid. From 31 March 2028 no new ISO 9001:2015 certificates can be issued, but existing ones continue to the end of the period.
Can my certificate be upgraded to ISO 9001:2026 without an audit? No. An accredited ISO 9001:2026 certificate can only be issued by a certification body accredited for the 2026 edition, after a transition audit. Offers to re-issue a certificate on request are a warning sign and should be checked with the certification body’s accreditation body before any money changes hands.
Do we need a new quality manual or new procedures? No. ISO 9001:2026 adds no mandatory documents or records; it does not require a quality manual, documented procedures or a management representative. Existing documents need their wording and clause references updated, and the new evidence (evaluated risks and opportunities, planned changes, awareness) needs to exist. Details on the documented information page.
Can we do the migration in-house? Yes, if you have someone who has read the ISO 9001:2026 standard, can run a gap assessment honestly and can conduct an internal audit against the 2026 edition. The transition checklist is the starting point. Many organisations use Sterling for Weeks 1 and 2 only and do the rest themselves; the gap report is written to allow that.
What if our certification body is not accredited for ISO 9001:2026 when we are ready? No certification body can be accredited for the 2026 edition before its accreditation body has completed the transition assessment; accreditation bodies have until 31 March 2027 to be ready, certification bodies’ declarations are due by 30 June 2027 and accreditation decisions by 30 September 2027. Sterling’s plan books a provisional date and puts the accreditation question to the body in writing, so your audit date follows its extension rather than waiting on it.
Does the migration cover multiple sites? Yes. The Week 1 assessment samples sites the way a certification body would, the gap report separates central and site-level gaps, and the plan schedules site-level awareness and internal audits. Multi-site systems are priced after Week 2 like every other engagement.
Read next
The ISO 9001:2026 playbook for the full transition picture; the clause-by-clause register that Week 1 is assessed against; the transition checklist for organisations doing part of the work in-house; quality culture and ethical behaviour for the item that takes longest; the gap analysis service for a stand-alone Week 1; and the Sterling Revise™ service page on iso-certification.ph.
Sources
ISO 9001:2026, Quality management systems — Requirements, sixth edition, published 16 September 2026 (ISO catalogue stage 60.60): clauses 4.1, 4.2 c), 5.1.1 i) and k), 5.2.1 e), 5.2.2 d), 5.3 e), 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.3 c) to g), 7.1.4 NOTE, 7.1.6, 7.3 e), 8.2.1 e) and NOTE, 9.1.3 e) and f), 9.2, 9.3.2 c), g) and h), 9.3.3, 10.1, 10.2.1 NOTE, Annex A.2 e). ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015/Amd 1:2024 for the comparison. ISO 14001:2026, fourth edition, published 15 April 2026. Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), Transition Requirements for ISO 9001:2026, version 1.0, issued 4 September 2026 and published by Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated) on 16 September 2026 (verified on global-aci.org and in the document on 18 September 2026). No Philippine regulation is cited on this page.
Certified to ISO 9001:2015? Take the free ten-minute ISO 9001:2026 gap check, then let a local Sterling lead auditor turn your result into your transition plan.