Alexander Keith said:
Hello all QA Forum Members,
I am new to this forum and relatively new to the mysterious world of auditing to the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 standard.
What I am looking for is a simple and straigtforward tool, in the form of a checklist, that I could use to conduct an internal audit of all elements of a company's quality system to ISO 9001:2000 less the design element.
Hope I'm not offending anyone with the newbiness of this question.
Thank you!
Alexander Keith
In each of the three editions of "Management Audits", on which the process approach was based, I have refused to provide checklists. I have always held the view it is more important for the auditor to be able to prepare his/her own checklist according to the objective of the audit, the nature of the processes involved (its technology etc) and the audit scope.
In the case of ISO 9001 or any other "standard" or code, you would need to prepare what I classify in that book as a "criteria" checklist. To do so, merely take the actual words of each clause and turn them into a question. Therefore, if the standard/ code says something like "The supplier/ organization/ wheoever shall do such and such", your question would be "Has the supplier/ organization/ whoever done such and such". The answer would thus be "yes" or "no". Supporting evidence obtained during the audit justifying your conclusion could be added in a margin/ commentary area or on the fly sheet of the checklist.
If you compile your own checklist, you will be forced to actually read the words of whatever standard against which you are auditing the process owner. And you are more likely to understand the actual words. This will help you be more effective when auditing. I never advise using others' checklists in preference to preparing one's own.
But, if you have not been trained as an auditor, I would recommend you do attend a good training course. And, though there are many courses around, good ones are in the minority.