The Brass-Bound Atlas: Guiding Records Voyagers across the ISO/IEC 17000 Landscape

Mapping ISO/TC 46/SC 11 Records Management Standards to ISO/IEC 17000-series Conformity Assessment Standards

Executive Summary

This white paper presents a comprehensive mapping between international records management standards (developed by ISO Technical Committee 46, Subcommittee 11 – Archives/Records Management) and the ISO/IEC 17000 series of conformity assessment standards (CASCO standards). The aim is to bridge the knowledge of archives and records management professionals with that of conformity assessment practitioners. We demonstrate how implementing ISO/TC 46/SC 11 standards (such as ISO 15489, ISO 30301, ISO 16175, ISO/TR 26122, etc.) can fulfill and enhance the documentation, recordkeeping, and information governance requirements mandated by ISO/IEC 17020, 17021, 17025, 17029, 17065, 17067, and related standards.

Purpose & Scope: Conformity assessment standards in the 17000 series universally require robust documented information controls – including documented procedures and retained records – as evidence of compliance and competence. Simultaneously, the ISO/TC 46/SC 11 family provides internationally accepted principles, guidelines, and systems for managing records and information. This paper maps specific requirements (e.g., control of documents and records, retention, retrieval, confidentiality, and evidence of quality) from key 17000-series standards to the corresponding practices and clauses in SC 11 standards.

The focus is on how records management best practices can support certification bodies, laboratories, inspection bodies, and related organizations in meeting and exceeding their compliance obligations.

Key Findings: There is a strong alignment between the controls required by ISO/IEC 17xxx standards and the guidance provided by ISO/TC 46/SC 11 standards. For example, CASCO standards uniformly call for procedures to identify, store, protect, retrieve, retain, and dispose of records (gso.org.sa). These are precisely the areas addressed by ISO 15489-1:2016 (the foundational records management standard), which prescribes establishing recordkeeping policies, metadata, storage and access controls, retention rules, and disposition processes (committee.iso.org) (magazine.arma.org). Moreover, ISO 30301:2019 (Management Systems for Records) provides a systematic, auditable framework to govern records, directly supporting the management system requirements in ISO/IEC 17021-1 and related standards(committee.iso.org). Technical standards like ISO 16175 (guidance on recordkeeping system functional requirements) and ISO 23081 (metadata for records) supply detailed methods to ensure records are reliable, findable, and preserved – thereby enabling organizations to produce accurate evidence during audits (magazine.arma.org) (naa.gov.au).

Application & Benefits: Certification and accreditation bodies can leverage SC 11 practices to strengthen compliance and audit readiness. By integrating records management principles (e.g., conducting an appraisal to determine what records are needed and how long to keep them, per ISO 15489) with their quality or competency systems, organizations ensure complete and accessible documentation for every aspect required by 17020, 17025, 17065, etc. Conversely, records managers supporting such organizations will find in this mapping a clear guide to align their programs with external audit requirements. Implementing SC 11 standards not only helps meet the letter of CASCO requirements (for example, by establishing retention policies “consistent with contractual and legal obligations” (gso.org.sa)) but also the spirit of continual improvement and accountability in information governance.

Notably, the ISO community has formally recognized this synergy: a 2022 technical specification, ISO/IEC TS 17021-14, was issued to define competencies for auditors certifying Records Management Systems (ISO 30301), underscoring that effective recordkeeping is now considered integral to management systems assurance.

In summary, ISO/TC 46/SC 11 standards serve as an essential toolkit for conformity assessment bodies and their clients. They translate high-level recordkeeping requirements of the 17000-series into actionable programs and controls. This white paper provides a structured comparison, illustrative crosswalk tables, and practical guidance so that certification practitioners and records/information managers can collaboratively ensure that documentation and records processes are robust, compliant, and audit-ready.

Introduction: Conformity Assessment and Records Management

Organizations operating under the ISO/IEC 17000-series (CASCO) standards – including testing/calibration laboratories, product certifiers, inspection agencies, management system certification bodies, and others – are required to maintain a management system that controls documentation and records as evidence of their competence and compliance. Each of these standards contains explicit clauses mandating how the organization manages its information. For example, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for laboratories requires that “the laboratory shall establish and retain legible records to demonstrate fulfillment of the requirements… [and] implement the controls needed for the identification, storage, protection, back-up, archive, retrieval, retention time, and disposal of its records” (). Similar language appears in ISO/IEC 17020:2012 for inspection bodies and ISO/IEC 17065:2012 for product certifiers, which state that procedures must be in place to control records through their lifecycle (identification, storage, protection, retrieval, retention, disposition). Additionally, conformity assessment standards require that records be retained for defined periods (e.g., at least through the certification cycle or per legal obligations) and that access to records is controlled to maintain confidentiality (gso.org). Beyond these general recordkeeping controls, the 17000-series also demands specific records as proof of activities, such as audit plans, personnel competence records, calibration results, inspection reports, certification decisions, complaints and appeals logs, etc.. In short, effective documentation and records management are at the heart of conformity assessment: it provides the evidence base for audits, accreditation, and trust in the results.

ISO/TC 46/SC 11 (Archives and Records Management) has developed a portfolio of standards and technical reports that codify best practices for managing records and information. Chief among these is ISO 15489-1:2016 “Information and documentation – Records management – Part 1: Concepts and principles”, the international benchmark for records management programs. ISO 15489-1 defines what records are and lays out the principles for creating, capturing, and managing records as reliable evidence of business activities (committee.iso.org). It covers the full lifecycle of records – from creation and classification to maintenance, use, and disposition – and emphasizes requirements like assigning responsibilities, setting policies, ensuring authenticity and integrity, and providing access controls (committee.iso.org) (magazine.arma.org). Surrounding ISO 15489, SC 11 has produced complementary standards addressing specific aspects of recordkeeping:

• ISO 30300 series (Management Systems for Records) – including ISO 30301:2019, which specifies requirements for a Records Management System (RMS), and ISO 30302:2022, which gives implementation guidance. This series connects records management with the high-level management system approach common to ISO’s MSS (Management System Standards) (committee.iso.org)

• ISO 16175 series – which provides functional requirements for records management in software applications and guidance on selecting and implementing recordkeeping systems. These technical specifications ensure that electronic record systems have the necessary features (metadata, retrieval, retention functions, etc.) to manage digital records in line with ISO 15489’s principles (naa.gov.au).

• ISO 23081 series (Metadata for records) – defining the key metadata elements and frameworks needed to describe records and support their management over time. Metadata underpins the ability to identify, retrieve, and interpret records, which is crucial for meeting evidence requirements.

• ISO/TR 26122:2008 “Work process analysis for records” – a technical report that gives methodology for analyzing business processes to determine what records should be created and managed from those processes (iso.org). It translates the theory of ISO 15489 into a practical approach for identifying recordkeeping requirements at each step of a process (iso.org).

• Additional SC 11 deliverables address topics like digital records preservation (ISO 13008), risk assessment for records (ISO 31000 series alignment via TR 18128), records in the cloud (ISO/TR 22428), email management, and more, reflecting emerging challenges in information management.

This paper will map the requirements of the ISO/IEC 17000 standards to the corresponding SC 11 standards and practices. The goal is twofold: (1) to guide certification and accreditation practitioners on how to satisfy documentation and recordkeeping clauses by leveraging established records management standards; and (2) to inform records and information managers about the compliance expectations of ISO/IEC 17000-series frameworks so they can tailor their programs accordingly. The sections that follow provide a comparative analysis, organized by key themes (e.g., recordkeeping controls, management system integration, functional requirements, process analysis), and include tables and examples for clarity. Where applicable, specific clauses from both sets of standards are cross-referenced to illustrate alignment. Finally, we offer detailed guidance and recommended best practices for applying SC 11 standards in daily operations to support audits, certification, and overall information governance within conformity assessment bodies.

Comparative Mapping of SC 11 Standards to 17000-series Requirements