How to link up Lab Accreditation Certificates to Calibration Certificates?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this. The Calibration Specific forums seemed to me as if they were forums for Calibration Labs (who have their specific ISO certificates), not for organizations using those Labs services.

If my interpretation is wrong, please, this can be moved to the correct forum.

My question is regarding Calibration Labs and their Accreditation Certificates.

My organization doesn't have it's own calibration laboratory.

All calibration is performed by external Labs.

We can only send instruments to be calibrated in Labs with Accreditation by RBC (Rede Brasileira de Calibração) or RMRS (Rede Metrológica Rio Grande do Sul State).

My question is... how can an auditor be sure that, WHEN we sent an instrument for calibration in a Lab, that it had it's Accreditation Certificates for a given discipline (mass, temperature, lenght, etc) up-to-date, that is, with it's validity not expired?


Let me create a brief example.

I have to calibrate some Mitutoyo Caliper. I check out amongst a list of nearby Calibration Labs which ones have certificates for lenght valid at this date, at either RBC or RMRS. I choose one whose Accreditation Certificate is valid until September 2017.

I save the PDF of the Accreditation Certificate and send my instrument to the Lab. Later I pick it up alongside it's Calibration Certificate.

In September I have to calibrate another lenght instrument, and I choose the same lab from July. I replace the PDF of it's Accreditation Certificate for one valid until September 2018

Fine. Then in October we have a ISO 9001 Audit.

The auditor checks that the Mitutoyo Caliper was recently calibrated, in July. However, when trying to check if the Lab that performed the Calibration at the time had an Accreditation Certificate, the auditor can not verify it, as the Accreditation Certificate was emmited at September 2017 and valid until September 2018, but the instrument was calibrated in July.


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So, how exactly do you guys work with this issue? You just throw all needed certificate PDFs in a folder and let the Auditor sort it out which Accreditation Certificate is the same date as which Calibration Certificate?

Do you create some sort of link between each calibration and valid Accreditation Certificates at Excel?


Do you use some specific Calibration Software that manages not only Calibration Certificates but also external Labs Accreditation Certificates?

I found two free Calibration Software (Kalibro and TrackPro) which absolutely have no control at all of external calibration labs and their certificates. So I am trying to create an Excel Spreadsheet to link calibrations with lab certificates...

 

Normally, the scope of accreditation is specified on the accreditation cert (and frequently there are details attached with further information on precision in specific areas). That's pretty typical for labs accredited to 17025. Not sure what the requirements are for your labs.

Once you have the scope, it's pretty straight-forward to show that the equipment you're having calibrated falls within the scope. (I'm in the medical device field so we have to qualify and approve such suppliers and understanding scope is part of the qualification and approval process for me.)