Welcome allToday Im going to share with you how we use iAppraise internally to manage audit programs on behalf of our clients. I hope that this session provides you with some useful tips and methodologies to get the most out of your experience with iAppraise in your respective business.
Audit Quality: Integral to iComply, our brand and our industry reputation is to ensure that we deliver the highest professional standard of “Quality Audit” whether its OH&S, Transport Logistics, Heavy Vehicle Food Safety, Environmental. Our ability to continuously improve the “Quality” of our Audits hinges upon two key components : Maintaining the professionalism and capability of our expert audit team and through the utilisation of our technology platform “iAppraise” which sets us apart in the market place. iComply invest a significant amount of resources (capital and time) to ensure our team are trained to the highest standards in relation to specific audit criteria and technical knowledge. The iAppraise system helps us to achieve Standardisation – Across audit programmes, ensure consistency across sites. The key to increasing standardisation is to invest the time in setting up the system prior to conducting the audit program – You need to be clear about what data you need to capture, what analysis you are wanting to do and what data you want to report on as an output from the audit /systematised process. Putting it simply, clarify your “Inputs and Outputs.” Provided you have captured the “Correct” data in the iAppraise system this unique capability provides our team and our clients with access to business critical information in real time. This is becoming more and more significant in times where quick decisions based on data need to be made. Ie Contractor AssessmentsOur goal is to continuously to strive to reduce costs associated with compliance and provide increased value to our clients. We will discuss how we achieve this later in the presentation.
iComplys Audit Planning and Audit Conduct Processes are founded on the accepted International Standard AS/NZS ISO 19011:2003 – Guidelines for Quality, Safety and Environmental Management Systems Auditing. It is very important that an accepted “Audit Methodology” is followed to provide our clients with confidence knowing that our processes are best practice.Key Steps include: 1) Defining the Scope and Objectives of the Audit: During this phase agreement is reached between iComply and our client to decide what will be included or excluded in the Scope of the Audit. The objective may be to undertake a “Baseline /Gap Analysis” Assessment which may not require the generation of Corrective and Preventative Actions.In relation to setting the scope of work we may agree to include certain nominated sites, which have a particular profile - functions or activities that the client may wish to include in the assessment. iAppraise is then setup to reflect the agreed Scope and Objectives using configuration modules like “Entities Structure.” During the setup phase it is important to determine and select the most appropriate Audit Criteria (AS4801, COMCARE Nat Tool) Risk Grading and Scoring profiles for each question. At this point in time we also decide whether we will develop and enter Standardised Repsonse Option to assist our team in streamlining and standardising the audit process. This very much depends on the nature of the project. For Audits whereby we may test the same criteria across multiple sites we would invest the time during the setup phase. If the audit is “One Off” then we may decide not too. Again we set this up usually in the “iAppraise Checklist Import Sheet.” Its imperative to understand the Risk Grading and Scoring Model that you wish to use well before undertaking the assessment. As part of our “Quality Assurance Process” we then test the Checklist once imported into the iAppraise system. Once the Entities have been entered, Audit Criteria uploaded we set the audit plan (usually by site) as per agreement with our client, we then assign the qualified resources required to undertake the assessment. The iAppraise Calendar functionality helps us to gain quick visibility to see if we have any resource clashes.
Prior to undertaking the On-Site Assessment process we usually request a copy of the client Policy, Procedures and Forms to be submitted to our assessor. During the Desktop Assessment process we firstly break up the criteria into what we call “Head Office Documentation” and “Site Documentation” - That is what we would expect to be an overarching Policy or Procedure or that which we would expect to be site specific For example Site Inspection Checklist which may be unique to a site.We carefully link the related Policies, Procedures and Forms (using the iAppraise – linking feature) with the required standard and assess whether it meets the audit criteria and score it accordingly. The benefit of undertaking a Desktop Assessment process is that it dramatically reduces the amount of time (disruption to our clients) at site level and helps our team to familiarise themselves with the client documentation prior to assessment. Our methodology for undertaking On Site Assessments in the market place is quite unique. Having already an understanding of the types of documentation required for conformance with the system, our time is focused on walking the site and talking and working with those persons responsible for Site Management, Operations, specific work activities. Its imperative for a “Quality” audit that you based your findings on a “Representative Sample” of people, process and objective evidence – Management, Employees, Contractors and Site Visitors. Well talk more about types of objective evidence later.Having already input the data whilst on site using iAppraiseLite (Offline Mode) we synchronise the data to iAppraise Server. Upon return to the office, we calibrate our results (check to ensure consistency of scoring across multiple sites) and make sure that all the criteria has been responded too. We use a range of application features – (like filters) to assist us with these processes. As part of our Internal Quality Control process we then have one of our team Peer Review the work and make necessary alterations prior to the report being released to our client. These processes are strictly controlled using established iAppraise User Permissions and Audit Status changes.
One of the Key Lessons Learned by our team :Is to assign clear business rules in relation to “Data Synchronisation” where multiple users have been assigned permission to access the same audit.Our experience which resulted in the loss of updated data occurred due to: One of our auditors who was assigned permissions to a group of audits had synced the audits to his laptop. Whilst he didnt make any changes to the specific audit he did open it to view a result and as such created the latest update. When the assessor synced the audit being worked on back to iAppraise the audit that he had opened over wrote the one that had be Quality Checked ready for distribution.Whilst your immediate response is to sometimes blame the technology, the truth was that our “Synchronisation” business rule had not been properly understood and followed correctly. Food for Thought! You live and Learn!
Improved Audit QualityChecklist - Align checklist in iAppraise with the standard/regulationCompleteness - Ensure that all questions are answeredFocus – Keep focused on content, while iAppraise handles the leg work (eg. reporting)Automated – Corrective Action reporting ensures an action is raised when required
Increased StandardisationStandard Responses - Develop standard responses, Standard text ensures consistency across the standardRisk Grading – Help Manage those questions that are perhaps more critical than others and scoring capability helps the business to benchmark results across sitesReporting – Auto generated reports helps provide consistent results across audits and auditorsCommunication - Email correspondence can be automated to trigger at various status changes, ensuring timely and consistent communicationsObjective Evidence – iAppraise help organise and manage content for future reference, providing a consistent repeatable audit outcome.
Access to InformationAudit Results – Provides our team and clients with access to business critical information in real timeScheduling – iAppraise provides visibility of information to assist with resourcing activitiesHistory - Quick access to previous audit resultsTrends - Fast summarising of trends, patterns and areas for the business to focus on
Reduced costCentralised Information – One portal for all your audit information Collaboration - Quicker, Easier for our team and clients to interact and share experiencesReporting - Faster report writing!!!Desktop Audits/ Self Assessments – Allows for much of the work to be done off-site, freeing up the client resources to concentrate on their business
During this next Section of my presentation titled – Independence, Objective Evidence and the need for reconciliation I want to highlight some very important points.
Ask the Right QuestionYou need to be in a position of Independence and to be able to ask the right questionIndependence: the basis for the impartiality of the audit and objectivity of the audit conclusionsAuditors are independent of the activity being audited and are free from bias and conflict of interest. Auditors maintain an objective state of mind throughout the audit process to ensure that the audit findings and conclusions will be based only on the audit evidence.Collecting the Objective EvidenceEvidence-based approach: the rational method for reaching reliable and reproducible audit conclusions in a systematic audit process Audit evidence is verifiable. It is based on samples of the information available, since an audit is conducted during a finite period of time and with finite resources. Types of Objective Evidence:Paper BasedElectronicVerbalObservationsReconcile the Objective Evidence being presented and then form you Opinion based on factMany Auditors will gather information which they have asked for but fail, through lack of experience or diligence to take the time to properly reconcile the information they have.For example : In the transport world its one thing to demonstrate that “Daily Pre- Departure Checks” are done for vehicles prior to departure, its another thing to reconcile that these checks have been done for all fleet and on each and every day that the fleet was being operated over the course of a determined calendar period.
Before wrapping up I would now like to open up some discussion (time permitting) and talk about different types of Objective Evidence you may seek.Types of objective evidencePaper basedInvoices (weighbridge calibration records);Training Records and Certificates;Induction Documents;Contractor (SWMS, MSDS, Permit to Work etc)Company MSDS Register (also select some product and try and match up with an upto date MSDS)Examples of specific SOP’s (loading, restraining etc!);Examples of completed Container Weight Declarations;Examples of completed Driver Run-sheets and pre-inspection Checklists;Examples of completed MHE pre-start-up checks;ElectronicTraining and Task Matrix’Links to Legislative Websites;Demonstration of IFS and any outbound MSPrint-out of Actual V Estimated Inbound Driver Turn-around times; VerbalAsk security to explain Gatehouse process for both inbound and outbound Drivers;Ask Inbound Drivers questions re Time-slotting, managing Drivers Hours on-site, their knowledge of CoR, Fatigue, Mass Management etc!Ask Outbound Drivers questions about knowledge of how the load was balanced, restrained any history of load restraint failure when arriving at a store etc!Ask Unloaders re: history of load restraint failures, driver fit for duty and vehicles fit for purpose, Ask Loaders knowledge of CoR, how to balance a load, restraint and DG’s, Observations
