This is the text of an article published by Peter Griffin as an introduction to Quality (ISO9000) Auditing
The audit process within a Company is identical; being designed to check what is really happening in practice, against what we thought was happening ..... or, more accurately, what is described in the "procedures".
The outcome of the audit should be action to achieve a more accurate reflection of practice and procedure, and, above all, improvement!
Few Companies adopt a formal, regular, process of auditing (or checking) practice against procedure until they become involved with ISO9000. This is unfortunate as it is always enlightening to check reality against presumption, although it may be understandable if the Company did not have documented procedures previously.
A Company's procedures should provide a guide to the best methods known, to achieve desired results in a consistent manner. Audits are a requirement of ISO9000 as they are a necessary ingredient of ensuring that the procedures remain a true reflection of the "best practice" available within the organization. Only by verifying comparability between practice and procedure, can we be sure of maximizing consistency and repeatability.
Quality System Audit is performed to check practice against procedure, and to thoroughly document any differences. It should not include deciding how the difference is to be remedied. This is best left as a separate process, to encourage consideration of all possible resolutions. It is all too easy to assume that the procedure is correct, and the auditee is delinquent; it may well be that the auditee has found a different (and better) method. In this case, the best improvement would be to change the procedure to reflect the improved practice.
The process of Quality System Audit has two primary elements:
Peter Griffin is managing consultant of P Griffin & Associates (PGA); one of the leading quality management consultancies operating in Europe and the USA.
P Griffin & Associates have assisted 260 companies (ranging from 3 employees to multi-national corporations) to achieve improvements in quality and ISO9000 Registration.
While the majority of companies fail to achieve ISO9000 certification at the first attempt, 98% of PGA's quality assurance clients have achieved first-time success.