The purpose of the preliminary organizational discussion is to gain a closer insight into the development and structure of the system and, based on this, to draw up the audit program in conjunction with the customer. The program specifies the audit dates, themes, timetable and names of the persons to be audited.

This step takes from one to three days depending upon the size of the organization. At first sight it might appear superfluous but its importance should not be underestimated. The more familiar an auditor is with a company the more efficient and effective the audit. The preliminary organizational discussion is the only time when the company meets together with the auditor without being in an audit situation, i.e. where the auditor only obtains information and makes no judgments.

The main task of these preliminary discussions is to check the suitability of the organization for the subsequent certification and to define the scope, in other words the area of validity. If an organization is seeking certification under ISO/IEC 20000 then it is recommended that this preliminary discussion be scheduled very early during the implementation phase. The subsequent implementation of the processes will be governed by the decisions arising from these discussions.