This is how I approached BRC version 6. I got a copy of the standard and copied every clause into a spreadsheet. I then did a quick read through vs. what I knew about our quality management system and worked out where the major gaps were, assigned urgency and responsibility and got that in motion.
My next step was to put together some internal audit sheets for each section of the standard, put together an internal audit plan and get that in motion.
Then basically I worked my way through the audits and the corrective actions and encouraged others to do the same. It took approx 6-7 months to get my management system up to version 6 but then it had previously passed version 5.
Don't be disheartened though, sometimes if you are starting from scratch it's easier. The previous technical manager set up the quality manual in a really strange way here meaning updates are awkward. If you are starting from scratch you will need to have documents of these types:
Manuals
Policies
Procedures
Records
Training
SOPs
And possibly a few more. What I would do if starting from scratch is do a quality manual document which covers the basics only and every time you need to have a procedure or a policy, reference it in the quality manual and hold the document outside of the quality manual as a numbered procedure, policy etc. This makes it easier to update them when the standard updates (which it does every 3 years). Number the sections in your quality manual as the BRC standard is numbered and you'll make your life easier.
Then go through the standard. It basically tells you exactly what to do, there are some areas open to interpretation but it's mostly there. Wherever you see the word "policy" you will need to write a policy. Wherever you see the word "procedure", you will need to write a procedure. Wherever you see the words "risk assessment" or "based on risk", the document must feature some assessment of risk in the basis of your decision making. Basically assume every requirement must be written in a document somewhere.
And then obviously you need to make sure your manual is translated into SOPs and everything is trained out to the shop floor. And that's it. Honestly!
