Page 229 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

216 P r o c e s s C o n t r o l Q u a l i t y A u d i t s 217

In a third-party audit the auditing organization is not affiliated with
either the buyer or the seller. The audit is conducted to a standard that
both the buyer and seller accept, such as the ISO 9000 series discussed in
Chap. 2. As the use of ISO 9000 becomes more widespread, the incidence
of third-party audits will continue to increase. However, ISO 9000 audits
are conducted at a high system level. Product and process audits will
continue to be needed to address specific issues between customers and
suppliers.

Desk Audits
The emphasis of the discussion above has been on the on-site visit. How-
ever, a significant portion of the auditing activity takes place between the
auditor and auditee, each working at their respective organizations. A
great deal of the audit activity involves examination of documentation.
The documentation reveals whether or not a quality system has been
developed. It describes the system as the supplier wants it to be. From a
documentation review, the auditor can determine if the quality system, as
designed, meets the auditor’s requirements. If not, a preliminary report
can inform the auditee of any shortcomings. Corrective action can be
taken either to modify the documentation or to develop new system ele-
ments. Once the documentation is in a form acceptable to the auditor, an
on-site visit can be scheduled to determine whether the system has been
properly implemented. Properly done, desk audits can save both auditor
and auditee significant expense and bother.

Planning and Conducting the Audit

Most quality audits are pre-announced, which provides several advantages.
A pre-announced audit is much less disruptive of operations. The auditee
can arrange to have the right people available to the auditor. The auditor
can provide the auditee with a list of the documentation he or she will
want to review so the auditee can make it available. Much of the
documentation can be reviewed prior to the on-site visit. The on-site visit
is much easier to coordinate when the auditee is informed of the audit.
Finally, pre-announced audits make it clear that the audit is a cooperative
undertaking, not a punitive one.
Of course, when deliberate deception is suspected, surprise audits
may be necessary. Surprise audits are usually very tightly focused and
designed to document a specific problem. In most cases, quality profes-
sionals are not trained or qualified to conduct adversarial audits. Such
audits are properly left to accounting and legal professionals trained in
the handling of such matters.
Audits can be scheduled at various points in the buying cycle. The fol-
lowing timings of audits are all quite common:

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