The events of this past year have created challenges for many organizations working to complete internal audits and maintain their management systems. With the large number of organizations that we work with, we have encountered some specific issues that affect most of them and some specific solutions to these challenges.Many organizations are falling behind on their internal audits and struggling to catchup and meet requirements:
- This is due to some typical reasons:
- Staff working from home make the internal audits more challenging to complete
- Social distancing rules and travel restrictions impact access to audit evidence and interviewing
- The overall audit program, schedule and plan were just not achievable and therefore not completed
- Resources were pulled from audit teams to address more urgent tasks caused by the pandemic
- Options for organizations:
- Complete a risks assessment on processes to be audited and prioritize those with higher risks. Complete audits, but really focus on areas of importance and performance. This can reduce the audit time / resources required
- Complete audits remotely / virtually (We have experience and training for this)
- Obtain assistance with the internal audits. Management Solutions Group can help –
- We have extensive experience with remote / virtual audits and are typically more efficient with completing audits quickly and effectively.
- Your Internal resources have full-time + regular work that does not go away while they work on internal audits, where we do not. This allows us to complete your audit more quickly and effectively.
- We offer a Virtual / Remote auditor training that:
- Is developed to be delivered virtually and is Instructor led
- Can be completed in 1-day
- For a public class option, it is available through the ASQ
- Can be scheduled for an organization with 3 or more participants privately
- Will help your organizations internal audit supplier auditors become more proficient at completing your audits in this new medium
- Has been attended by governmental agencies, multinational corporations as well as many smaller organizations.
We offer and have delivered all our internal auditing classes virtually (Live, Instructor led)
- Management Solutions Group team members have been delivering training and workshops virtually for years and has increased virtual instruction in the past year.
- Some of our workshops were initially designed to be delivered virtually, and the remainder have been updated for improved virtual results.
- Our staff is very comfortable and effective with multiple delivery tools (e.g. WebEx, Zoom, Teams…) and can facilitate this training on tools your staff is more comfortable with.
- This includes:
- Internal Auditor Training for the standards (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 17025, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, AS9100…)
- Core Tools training for Automotive and Aerospace (IATF 16949 and AS9100)
- Overview training, Process Owner training,
- We have these Virtual, instructor lead training options that also include access to webinar sessions that can be referenced before and after these sessions to increase participant knowledge and confidence with the material.
In addition to these virtual classes, Management Solutions Group staff has extensive experience with implementation and consulting virtually as well. As seasoned project managers, we are comfortable with managing these projects, ensuring timelines are visible and met, and accomplishing implementation and upgrade work in this setting.
When looking at how your organization will adjust to remote / virtual audits and other aspects of your management system tasks, keep in mind that some of the methods of how this work is performed in the future is going to change. For example, many larger organizations are discovering that at least part of their internal and supplier audits can be conducted effectively in a virtual setting. So with the reduced travel costs and improved scheduling options, this will be part of their programs for the foreseeable future. Therefore, improving your skills in this area is valuable.