Good Afternoon Everyone,

:thanx:I want to thank everyone who has helped me throughout the last couple of months with all of my questions. My company is having our certification audit starting on the 22nd and ending on the 24th. Any last words of wisdom or advice from all the pro's??

Have a good lunch planned and your stuff in order.

Good luck.

Have a good lunch planned and your stuff in order.

That only works with some Registrars, but not all of them. It helps. :notme:

Just an added note: Make sure your auditor(s) are well rested (fairly nice Hotel) with a full-breakfast and for sure coffee. :notme:

Really, all kidding aside. Make sure that the Guide knows their stuff, and that the personnel understand their jobs. You shouldn't have any problems.

Good Afternoon Everyone,

:thanx:I want to thank everyone who has helped me throughout the last couple of months with all of my questions. My company is having our certification audit starting on the 22nd and ending on the 24th. Any last words of wisdom or advice from all the pro's??

Yeah - you have time to do a 'show and tell' with your management team. I don't mean an audit, I mean that, as part of a management meeting, each process owner gets to talk the rest of the management team through their process, its measurements, results and actions. If they can't, you can at least put some band aid in place!

It's a confidence builder for the team, and for you and the boss!

Try it!

I would assume that this is the final assessment prior to certification, so they have already been round once. It may be a good idea to run through the results and comments (NCs they may have identified) they raised on their previous (initial) assessment of your QMS and ensure you have either satisfied them, or restructured the QMS to adhere to the points that the auditor was concerned about.

Lunch didnt figure much in our most recent audit but tea and biscuits throughout day definitely kept the auditor in a relatively jovial mood.

Good luck

I hope you get recommended! If you can fill out the attached forms, (which I got from the Cove), especially the long list you will have an easy time. The last auditor I encountered was really adamant about locating records in a timely manner.

Good Luck!

I have recently successfully got through my first ISO 9001/13485 + MDD 93/42 surveillance level 2 audit. What the auditor liked most; as well as just a quick lunch so he could get on with the business in hand, was (me as the auditee and our staff/operatives) being very professional, especially in attitude and actions.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

The best advice I can offer is to tell your people to only answer the questions asked!
It is the auditors job to find weaknesses in your system and you don't need your people pointing out problems that the auditor may not have seen!

I am SOO glad you said that. The last time our auditor was here I did not know he was kosher, or ate ONLY vegetarian foods while he was traveling. Suffice to say I was mortified when the two trays of turkey and ham Subway sandwiches showed up. I will definitely get some vegan friendly snacks, and for lunch, he is definitely an eating in the restaurant kind of auditor!!

I would assume that this is the final assessment prior to certification, so they have already been round once. It may be a good idea to run through the results and comments (NCs they may have identified) they raised on their previous (initial) assessment of your QMS and ensure you have either satisfied them, or restructured the QMS to adhere to the points that the auditor was concerned about.

Lunch didnt figure much in our most recent audit but tea and biscuits throughout day definitely kept the auditor in a relatively jovial mood.

Good luck

We are definitely doing this! Thanks!!

Yeah - you have time to do a 'show and tell' with your management team. I don't mean an audit, I mean that, as part of a management meeting, each process owner gets to talk the rest of the management team through their process, its measurements, results and actions. If they can't, you can at least put some band aid in place!

It's a confidence builder for the team, and for you and the boss!

Try it!

Thanks for this spreadsheet!

I hope you get recommended! If you can fill out the attached forms, (which I got from the Cove), especially the long list you will have an easy time. The last auditor I encountered was really adamant about locating records in a timely manner.

Good Luck!

The best advice I can offer is to tell your people to only answer the questions asked!
It is the auditors job to find weaknesses in your system and you don't need your people pointing out problems that the auditor may not have seen!

You have got to be kidding! This is such an old fashioned, 'play games with the auditor' practice! No wonder auditors go looking for problems, when they feel as if everyone's stonewalling.........

Sure, you don't want to share too much, but why not take control of the audit and overwhelm the auditor with the confidence that everyone has in their process, its controls and performance!

Any auditor would be pleased to audit such as system........

The best advice I can offer is to tell your people to only answer the questions asked!
It is the auditors job to find weaknesses in your system and you don't need your people pointing out problems that the auditor may not have seen!


You are soooooooooo off track!

The auditors job is to verify conformance to criteria and determine effectiveness of the system in question.

As Andy said, your response is indicative of an old, childish game that could lead down the path to disaster.

Why not just tell everyone to hide or call in sick?:sarcasm:

No wonder my auditor seems to love coming here. I ask him how he is doing, etc. During the audit, I don't have anyone purposely hiding things (re: if they hide something it is only due to ignorance - not "playing games").

I very openly show him our weaknesses. Why? He has helped me see other areas that were impacting on a weakness that our system had already found.

We have made great progress since our registration and he managed to get the attention of management the last time around without an NCR being issued (he does have 15 yrs experience - good with getting management attention).

I have always hated that game. It is so much more effective to honestly and openly answer questions. Don't get me wrong - I don't share all the skeletons; however, if he asks about one I am as open as one can be without divulging secrets.....:confused: Must be because I am so young in comparison to other people....

I don't share all the skeletons; however, if he asks about one I am as open as one can be without divulging secrets.....:confused: Must be because I am so young in comparison to other people....

I like to ask "What have they told you not to tell me?";)

Sometimes I get an answer:jawdrop::lmao:

LOL, that is great. I wish he would do that here!!
I like to ask "What have they told you not to tell me?";)

Sometimes I get an answer:jawdrop::lmao: