Audit Trails - A peep into the concept of process audits and audit trails

[gpainter]

Looking for info on audit trails. Been to a few meetings and were mentioned briefly but not in detail. Have some info but would like more to see if there are any interesting variations. It is a logical approach but sometimes an illogical approach results in the best.

[Randy]

Think of the movie "ET" when you think of an audit trail. ET followed a tasty trail of candy from the shed in the yard, all through the house and upstairs into the bedroom where he hit the "mother load".

It's the same thing with auditing. You find some little tid-bit that perks your interest and continue to follow where it leads. Sometimes it's a dead end, sometimes it's a Grand Slam Homer.

[barb butrym]

Randy.....funny I never made the connection to following a trail, when I talk about audit trails I mean the notes we make....but i do follow a trail....... and it is recorded in detail on my notes,,,who, what , when , where my thoughts, quotes, standard reference, samples...an entire recreation if you will.

ummmmmmm..first the red one near the tree, then 2 steps right to the blue, then green near the well, then 2 feet straight away to the yellow...then the one in Elliot's left hand.......

[rsalinger]

I first encountered the concept of "audit trails" in an ISO 9001:2000 Transition Training Course. It was a scheme whereby the audit was divided into five audit trails, each covering a grouping of processes and tied to the various clauses. To oversimplify, one trail is "product realization" and would cover the flow from order entry through shipment and include procurement, design, planning, testing, calibration, control of nonconforming product, shipping.

I don't know how much of this information is available outside of course materials, but this is the gist of the concept.

[NITIN]

Attached is a peep into the concept of process audits and audit trails.