Deferring Audit Dates – Be Careful

I have blogged before about why you should not postpone audits (see http://johnmasoncomau.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/change-certification-dates-good-idea.html) but it can also impact on your certification status as well.  In particular around anniversaries of post certification audit plans and the biggy, the recertification audit itself.

JAS-ANZ mandates that an audit must be completed within 12 months of the last review.  Within, not ‘around’.  Should they review your certification service provider’s files and find that you are out of date, they will instruct your provider to suspend the certificate.  If you miss the expiry date of your certificate because you defer an audit, it will be suspended or cancelled effective on the expiry date.
Missing an expiry date has many complications, not the least that your certificate won’t be accepted in tenders.  But it also means additional costs because stage 1 reviews may need to conducted.

The main reason to keep audit dates and in particular the recertification ones is that there are lead times from the audit to the final report.  Now this can be as short as a day, but due to the time of year (remember June and December are log jams), the complexity of the audit, the number of locations etc. etc it can be a number of weeks and if you are in this situation, make sure your provider is aware and that the process needs to be expedited.

However, as always, the easiest way to stop the above from happening is to be proactive with your provider, set timely dates and stick with them.

previous blogs;
http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com/
http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/

Productivity

I am often asked ‘How do you fit it all in?’  The short answer is that I don’t.  in fact, I probably only ‘fit in’ about 1% of what I want, must, need to do in any one day.  Apart from prioritising and timing as the lynch pins it is the productivity of what I do that gets me the real results.  So here are a few of my favourite productivity tips to maximise your bang for your buck;

• Set time limits on meetings, have an agenda, publish action points with lead times.
• Plan, plan and more planning of tasks within defined time frames.  Don’t put too much on your plate for the day and always leave wriggle room.  Give yourself an even split of want, must, need items.
• Be on time for everything.  Start when you are supposed to start.  Pretty soon everyone will too.
• Don’t be a slave to your inbox.  But don’t let them pile up either.  I check them every 30 minutes.  Prioritise.  Action.  Touch them only once.
• Manage your stress times.  There are times in the day when it hits the fan.  You know when they are.  Plan for them, plan around them.  Use your lower stress periods to do the more cranial of activities.  Use the high stress times to do the menial.
• Then there is that old chestnut of creating time.  Yes you can.  Get up 30 minutes earlier.  Get to work earlier.  Turn off the TV 30 minutes earlier and do stuff.  What could you achieve with an extra two and half hours a work week?  Start that email campaign?
• Draft a schedule.  Know your milestones and due dates.  Visualising them will help with the planning process, which helps your productivity.

Hey did you notice no mention of tools?  And you won’t either.  Use one, use heaps, use hard copy, soft copy, smart devices, stupid devices.  Just use what is best for the job on the day and change or review if it doesn’t work.  Easy!

previous blogs;
http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com/
http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/

Competence, awareness and training

Back to the standard; 6.2.2 Competence, awareness and training.  The company will; a) determine the necessary competence for personnel performing work affecting product quality, b) provide training or take other actions to satisfy these needs, c) evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken, d) ensure that its personnel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives, and e) maintain appropriate records of education, training, skills and experience.

Notice the terminology?  ‘The company will; a)….  It doesn’t say you need a documented procedure, but in mind it is advantageous especially when framing the process to achieve certification.  So a simple procedure outlining the five bullet points and here are the first three;  a) do you have competencies (skills, training, awareness, certified, licenced, etc) that are needed to be able to operate equipment, to satisfy regulatory needs or as the standard asks that impact on quality?  If yes, list them and list the people who can.  We will deal with how in the next blog.  Now a list of competence can be attributes as well, just be careful.  If such information is included in job descriptions or position specifications, then ‘listing’ them will enable an overview but this is purely voluntary.

Next, review any gaps between desired needed competencies and actual.  You can do this by ‘deeming’, appraisals, interviews, etc.  Nothing is mandated here other than that you identify them and then deliver the necessary actions so that personnel can be considered competent.  Records of such reviews, delivery and results need to be kept.  Either in the list, the persons employee file or some form of spreadsheet or database.  Just make sure you are not duplicating records that are already controlled. 

And then last for this blog; evaluate the actions.  Easy.  Can they now do the job to the level of expertise you want, need?  Do they have a certificate or licence?  Can you observe their performance and deem them competent.  It always up to you, just make sure there are records.

previous blogs;
http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com/
http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/

Booking Audits

Each certification body has a different process for booking an audit.  Some are more difficult than others and you need to find out very early in the selection process what their process is so that you can compare the service delivery to your expectations. 

Some guidelines to the various expectations include.  If you have more than one site in more than one state, ask for a 'national coordinator'.  Find out what are the lead times for making a request for an audit.  Some certification bodies have very strict engagement rules and quite specific requirements for the records generated before a certification audits can take place. 

What is the lead time for changing an audit date?  The rule of thumb is that if you do this with 4 weeks notice, there should not be any implied penalty.  Some have sliding scales based on lead times.  Our advice is don't accept any penalty and that open communication should circumvent any lead time issues.

However, some certification bodies believe they are far more important than the client and will insist on trying to impose penalties.  Others just have unwieldy large bureaucracies that cannot handle flexibility.  Others will assign you a dedicated client manager who will work with you to ensure both parties can be accommodated.  If the certification body requires written confirmation, find out what format will be acceptable and use it. 

Some guidelines / prerequisites for planning you first certification audit include; all mandatory procedures are written and implemented.  Records of these procedures have been generated and demonstrate effective implementation.  One record is not effective implementation.  Awareness training of all relevant staff has been conducted and recorded.  At least 2 management reviews have taken place.  At least 5 nonconformances and resulting corrective actions have been effectively implemented and closed.  The majority of your internal quality audits have been conducted.  Be careful, some certification bodies require all audits have been completed. 

Ensure the relevant people will be available.  Ensure practical, comfortable and 'secure' work spaces can be made available for the auditor.  Provide them with lunch.  It can't help but it can't hurt.  Ask for an audit plan and expect one.  Some certification bodies have quite exhaustive precertification visits, documentation and expectations.  Get them defined and meet them.

previous blogs;
http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com/
http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/