Can a Registrar audit a location remotely (electronically) for ISO 9001

[DannyK]

I know a company that wants to receive ISO 9001:2008 certification. Besides the headquarters, the company has several other sites with 2 or 3 employees at each of the sites. The Headquarters controls the work done and has access to all of the files and work generated by the other sites. All the documents including procedures are kept on a sharepoint site, accessible to all.

Can a registrar audit all these sites from Headquarters and place these sites on the ISO 9001:2008 certificate or do they physically have to visit each site?

 

[George Weiss]

Greetings,
.
It might be a, "depending on what you do at those sites", situation.
If you are a comercial calibration facility, then I am sure the auditor would want to see the facilities,
and get a touchy-feely and check for misc. items like temperature/RH meters and such.
If you are all online, and the service is through computer terminals, it would be a great question.
There is a desire to meet and greet people and ask questions of some of them.
The Certification suggests a need to know the activities are being performed, and not just documented.
A minimal inquiry, to support the performance documented is probably something that will bend.
It is an interesting thought to perform an audit remotely, for a company who is fully on-line.
I am sure it will happen if it hasn't already. This is a door wanting to be opened.

 

[harry]

Check this: IAF MD 4:2008 Use of Computer Assisted Auditing Techniques ("CAAT") for Accredited Certification of Management Systems

EDIT: Dead link removed.

 

[Big Jim]

What is the short version of this? Anyone care to summarize?

 

[DannyK]

The company is a freight forwarder. All their documentation is online and can be viewed remotely at any time.

 

[Duke Okes]

Think about it this way ... if in during the audit on-site most activities would involve verifying electronic records, then if those records are available from a remote site a virtual audit would be very viable. Many organizations are also using virtual approaches for portions of their internal audits.

Of course the accreditation bodies likely set some limitations.

 

[AndyN]

I know a company that wants to receive ISO 9001:2008 certification. Besides the headquarters, the company has several other sites with 2 or 3 employees at each of the sites. The Headquarters controls the work done and has access to all of the files and work generated by the other sites. All the documents including procedures are kept on a sharepoint site, accessible to all.

Can a registrar audit all these sites from Headquarters and place these sites on the ISO 9001:2008 certificate or do they physically have to visit each site?

Have they selected a registrar? If so, why not ask them? If not, why not ask the candidates about how such a situation would be handled? We can post all we 'think' here, but different registrars have different approaches to such things and won't necessarily agree to what you would like to do, even it is advised as possible here.

 

[DannyK]

I am seeking feedback from clients and certification bodies regarding the CAAT process.

I am working with a client that is very interested in a Certification Body that offers this service.

If there are any Certification bodies that are accredited to ANAB that would like to provide information about their CAAT approach, they can send me a private message.

The company is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks,

Danny

 

[Bill Pflanz]

I had a similar problem except the "satellite" site was the customer group that initiated the manufacturing order was located in the corporate office. The main registration was with the manufacturing site and the customer group was considered just like any other department. The registrar just added an extra day to audit it usually once a year.

 

[wooden nickle]

We are 13485:2016 and our Registrar wants to audit us remotely. We are also GDPR and have heard don't allow a remote audit. Please help