Auditing refers to verification of compliance to the defined processes and procedures. Audit is an important component of ISO 9001 based quality management system. Typically, audits are of three types namely first party, second party and third party. The key purpose of audit is to provide confidence to the management that the business processes are being performed as per defined standard operating procedures. Another important objective is to identify the non conformance and take corrective actions on time.
Any ISO 9001 certified organization has an internal audit system in place. Also, the organization’s Quality Management system is audited by third party certifying body as part of the external audit. Traditionally, auditing has been a manual exercise, with auditors using checklists and preparing reports as the outcome. However, with the invent of new technologies, web based systems are being widely used to plan, perform, manage, track and close internal audits. There are many applications available in the market which automates the entire audit process. The key advantage of automated audit management system is that it provides complete visibility to all the stakeholders during the entire audit process. Automation of internal audits helps the auditors focus more on their core job i.e. auditing rather than spending their effort on paper work.
Effivity is a popular Quality Management system package which has pre-built Quality Management system in line with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015. Effivity has a powerful audit management module which not only meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 but also simplifies the entire audit management process for all the stakeholders. Effivity improves the effectiveness of the audit process by providing the required checklists at point of use. The audit checklists of Effivity are developed by seasoned Quality Management system professionals based on their multiple years of experience. The way of representation of audit results ensures that the audit results of clearly visible to the respective stakeholders so that prompt action can be taken.
The audit dashboard that provides the details of Non conformances categorized based on multiple factors like department, process; clause etc. is an invaluable tool for the business management to look into the compliance level in the organization. The effectiveness of the audits is further enhanced by providing the auditors with a seamless, easy to use platform to prepare their reports. The audit planning module ensures that the audits are planned in the most effective way, covering the entire gamut of the organization while addressing the high risk areas with more audits. The audit tracking system ensures that the audits are conducted as per plan and any deviation is immediately highlighted to the concerned stakeholders. The Non conformance module ensures the nonconformances raised during the audits are tracked to closure and any delay is highlighted on time to the concerned stakeholders. The flexible and comprehensive dashboard of Effivity provides the facility to slice and dice the audit data on multiple parameters which can be used by the business management to improve the organizational efficiency.