Auditing Skills

The vast majority of audits—most notably certification assessments—have taken place over the last year utilizing remote auditing techniques. The learning curve was sharp; participants scrambled to adjust to the new forum for auditing. In addition, some web conferencing apps were still in their infancy. One year later, it’s clear that remote auditing is not going away. Now is the time to step back and assess the challenges and the benefits. What did we learn? What things went wrong? How can we prevent repetition of our errors? And how can we utilize the new tools we’ve acquired to enhance our audit programs?

Denise Robitaille is the chair of ISO/PC 302, the project committee that revised ISO 19011, which provides guidance on auditing. She is an active member of ISO/TC 176 Auditing Practice Group that develops papers providing guidance on auditing. Denise has participated internationally in standards development for more than 18 years and is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality as well as an Exemplar Global-certified lead assessor. She is internationally recognized for her work and is a frequent speaker at conferences. Denise has authored a dozen books, including The 9 Keys to Successful Audits, and she has contributed more than 100 articles to various publications on a variety of quality-related topics. She continues to help companies achieve ISO 9001 registration and to improve their quality management systems.

It is important to review the definition of auditing from ISO 19011:2018 advising auditors “to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled.” It is the first sin of auditing, then, for auditors to go looking for how the organization has not fulfilled the criteria, i.e., look for non-conformities. The differences between auditing and inspection must be kept in mind: Audits look at processes, and the intent of processes is to deliver outputs (products and services) meeting requirements. The inspection looks at the product or the service. We expect inspectors to protect the client/customer from a non-conforming product and so expect them to catch such products. Not so from auditors. Auditors are committed to the process and continual improvement. From this understanding of looking for conformity flows the correct attitude toward the audit, its dos and don’ts. In this session, the presenter offers experience from more than 20 years in this business of implementing process-based management system approach and meeting customer objectives.

IJ Arora is the president and CEO of Quality Management International Inc. (QMII). He has a 32-year record of achievement in the military, mercantile marine, and civilian industries. IJ serves as a team leader for consulting, advising, auditing, and training in management systems, specializing in several ISO and industry-specific standards. He is an Exemplar Global-certified lead auditor and a member of the US TAG to ISO/TC 176, the committee responsible for the ISO 9000 family of standards. IJ is a popular speaker at several universities and forums on management systems, conflict management, crisis communication, and leadership, and his writing has appeared in numerous industry publications.

In this session, the presenter will discuss all types of disruptors—not only the ones associated with technology—and interpret the concept of business agility drift along with agility vs. fragility positions. Further, the material tackles how business agility perspectives make online auditing agile and successful. The concept definition, benefits, and challenges of online auditing will be elaborated and explained. In conclusion, some crucial issues as well as key success factors will be addressed to help auditors and certification bodies successfully embrace remote auditing.

Mohammad Abu Hammour is president of the International Business Agility Institute (TIBAI) and the lead author of the forthcoming article, “Agility and the Covid-19 Pandemic,” scheduled to appear in The Lancet. He is the founder and technical author of the first standard in the world that addressed business agility (PAS1000, “Business Agility Concept and Framework”) along with the British Standards Institution (BSI). Mohammad also possesses the IP/copyright registration certificate for the development of strategic and operational business agility frameworks.

COVID-19 led to the introduction of remote audits at the certification auditing stage. This resulted in limited prior planning, audit frequency, and/or cycle disruption. Overall, remote audits have limitations, barriers, and challenges. The purpose of this presentation is to elaborate on this and to understand the impact and changes on the third-party auditing activities in an effort to address this unprecedented situation. We will highlight the challenges of the altered processes and most importantly mention the benefits of re-establishing the regular and/or normal audit cycles and/or types.

Mohammad M. Niazi is operations manager–assurance for SAI Global, where he leads a strong team of more than 20 third-party auditors. He has more than 19 years of experience as a lead auditor, consultant, and trainer in the fields of quality, environmental, and health and safety and has led third-party auditing teams in more than 300 organizations. Mohammad is a third-party lead/verifying auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS/NZS 4801, OHSAS 18001, and ISO 45001, leading audits in large, diversified industries with extensive experience in engineering, consulting, construction, facilities management, automotive, and electrical industries providing risk-based process auditing.

Although feelings about the events at the workplace may have a non-normal distribution, spanning from "fear" to "euphoric, " few experience the latter emotion about a QMS audit. The curve is asymmetrically skewed to the left. Why is that so, despite the fact that the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies identified in ISO 19011 are all well-intentioned? As we already know, an emotionally charged atmosphere is hardly conducive to a good audit. Is there something that the auditor can do? If so, what is it? That is the focus of this session; uncovering the triggers, and tips on how to deal with them.

Rai Chowdhary has served in various roles across multiple industries, starting his first assignment as project engineer with Westech Systems Inc. on a NASA project to make silicon crystals on board the Space Shuttle during the mid-1980s. As an engineer he invented new technologies for making solar cells, medical devices, and lead-free non-toxic radiation shielding products; as a business leader he led the implementation of initiatives at Fortune 500 companies to deliver top quartile performance. In his current role as CEO of The KPI System, Rai is focused on adding value to small, medium, and large organizations through continual improvement, audits, and building robust supply chains. He is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt, quality engineer, quality manager, and Exemplar Global auditor for quality management systems as well as ISO 13485.

Internal audits can become "ho-hum" when the same auditors ask the same questions of the same people year after year. Instead, internal audits should be a valuable tool for management to gain insight into risks and opportunities to provide value to customers and to the business. The chance to serve as an internal auditor can be a valuable opportunity for growth and influence if your audit program is regularly monitored and improved. Here are seven practices that high-performing audit teams regularly use to build the value of internal auditing for both your business and for your individual audit team members.

Karen Rawson, vice president of The DESARA Group, specializes in implementing quality and information security management systems in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry and beyond. With more than 10 years of experience training auditors using ICT and as a key developer for the ICT industry virtual instructor-led training courses, she has both the knowledge and the experience needed in training auditors how to implement effective audits using ICT. The DESARA Group offers virtual and on-site training on multiple standards and performs internal audits and improvement projects with clients. Rawson is a TIA Fellow, a certified TL 9000 expert, a key developer of the sanctioned TL 9000 training courses, and a supervisory master trainer. As a past member of the TIA/QuEST Forum Leadership Council, she has been a multi-year recipient of the COO/CEO award.

Auditing has been taken over by the pandemic. Remote auditing was once a method not considered seriously by registrars—until now. Hesitancy over how to replace the guided tour and interview employees prevented remote audits from moving forward. Technology used to lag in providing innovative methods in which to carry out a remote audit and adequately capture the manufacturing floor. But now everything has changed! In this session, the presenter will provide insight into auditing methods to capture a good review of processes, on-site/off site audit comparisons, and more than 10 years of remote audit results.

Having worked in quality for more than 30 years, Shauna Wilson holds Exemplar Global’s Principal QMS Auditor certification. Her research into virtual team communication and development of virtual auditing methods, as well as her auditing experience, has made Shauna the leading expert in remote auditing. She earned a master’s degree in engineering focused on organizational performance technologies and instructional design. Shauna wrote InterneTeaming.com: Tools to Create High Performance Remote Teams and co-authored eAuditing Fundamentals: Virtual Communication and Remote Auditing. Shauna has been featured in Quality Progress, The Auditor Online, and ASTD’s InfoLine. Shauna served as the U.S. expert for PC/TAG 302 for the ISO 19011:2018 auditing management systems guideline. She is currently serving as ASQ Portland section chair.