Creating a Certification Project Plan
| Creating a Project Plan Once you make the decision to implement a Food Safety Management System and become certified you will need to plan your project. Start with a Gap Analysis. A Gap Analysis is an audit of your current system against the requirements of the standard that you have chosen. Make a checklist that lists requirements for the particular standard you are using, and evaluate your processes. Determine if you have processes in place to address the requirements and if the processes that you have in place are documented. For each requirement that is not addressed, you will put a task on your implementation task list. Once your task list is complete you will assign responsibilities and timelines.
One of the first responsibilities of Top Management is to designate a Food Safety Team Leader, HACCP Team Leader, or SQF Practitioner (depending on the standard used). This person will be the project leader or project manager for the implementation. The Food Safety Team Leader and top management will identify members of management from a Steering Team. This team, led by the SQF Practitioner or Food Safety Team Leader, should have approximately 7 members, and represent the various areas of the company. This team will work together to coordinate the design and implementation of the FSMS. Once the Steering Team is established, the Practitioner or Food Safety Team Leader will lead the meetings and act as project manager for the implementation. The Steering Team will work together to identify a Food Safety Team or HACCP Team also led by the team leader. The Food Safety Team plays a key role in building and maintaining the system and must be made up of qualified individuals. |
