Four Audits in One Month

[Laura M]

Audits/month

Aaack - I may not be very active these days....Why?

4 audits this month. Call it poor planning. Maybe.

Here's the lineup-

Oct 13-14th consulting relationship - PASSED ISO9001:2000 - Initial assessment
Oct 16-17th - I'm on staff there 1-2 days/week, as management rep of a small shop. So far so good after one day.
Oct 23-24th - consulting relationship of an Y2K Upgrade audit. Brought in 'at the last minute' on some internal audit issues, so I have a bit less responsibility.
Oct 28-30th - Another Part/time management rep scenario, 6 days/month, Initial assessment.

Anyone else done 4 audits in a month? Shall I take November off? Shall I have my sanity checked?

Just the way the deck of cards stacked up around August when plans were being finalized. In fact, I pushed another off till December.

Well - at least it explains my lack of participation here in the meaningful threads.

Ciao!

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Anyone else done 4 audits in a month? -Yes.
Shall I take November off? -Yes.
Shall I have my sanity checked? -Yes.

Happens to all of us Laura, just don't make it a habit... (I've been enjoying a pretty jammed schedule myself).

/Claes

 

[Howard Atkins]

you know the old adage:

You want something done ask a busy man

 

[Laura M]

Thanks Howard. I've heard that before, but don't usually think about it as it applies to me. After today it'll be 2 down, 2 to go. I'm sure it'll be one of the huge accomplishment feelings at the end of the month. "Bring it on.. if I can handle this, I can handle anything!"

Hopefully there will be a few folks needing my services next year! I haven't really had a chance to look that far ahead.

Edit...ooops - just saw the imbedded "yes's" in the 1st reply. OK - November off. Thanks for the advice!!!! I probably don't want the results of the sanity check!

 

[Randy Stewart]

Laura,
Happens to me this time every year! GAO audit, ISO 14K, QS and 5 facilities.
I've found that a nice crisp November night with a good fire and some brandied cider is a great stress reliever!

 

[Aaron Lupo]

Boy does it happen. I have a "regular" full-time job and do subcontract audits as well. In the last 2 months I have done 6 ISO audits, had our upgrade audit for 9K2K, and 4 customer audits and October is not even over yet. Lets see, last time I actually had a day off was I think December of last year.

 

[Laura M]

Auditee or Auditor

Boy does it happen. I have a "regular" full-time job and do subcontract audits as well. In the last 2 months I have done 6 ISO audits, had our upgrade audit for 9K2K, and 4 customer audits and October is not even over yet. Lets see, last time I actually had a day off was I think December of last year.

Well, you need to find some time off!! As I read, tho, are you the auditee or the auditor? (for the subcontract). Is being audited harder than auditing? Not sure I know. Probably equal on both ends in some regard. The auditee has the fear of 'failure' - the 'auditor' has that uncomfortable 'everybody hates me' feeling. I'm the auditee in my list. Those who can do....

 

[Aaron Lupo]

Well, you need to find some time off!! As I read, tho, are you the auditee or the auditor? (for the subcontract). Is being audited harder than auditing? Not sure I know. Probably equal on both ends in some regard. The auditee has the fear of 'failure' - the 'auditor' has that uncomfortable 'everybody hates me' feeling. I'm the auditee in my list. Those who can do....

For the subcontract audits I am the auditor. I would say that doing the auditing is easier than being audited. It is much easier to walk in as the quote unquote expert, people tend to take what you say as true unless you are way off base. On the other hand being audited can be very painful at times because you have someone from the outside looking at your baby (your system) and telling you that you have an ugly baby. One thing you have to remember is that your customers all want something different or they interpret a part of the standard different than you last client. Then there are the internal audits which are a nightmare, everyone hates the person doing the internal audits! If I had my choice I would rather be doing subcontract audits, then dealing with client audits and last internal audits.

Time off is just not possible.

 

[howste]

I've done a few audits myself over the past few weeks. How's this:

9/22 & 9/23 - gap analysis for new consulting client
9/24 & 9/25 - lead 1st internal audit for consulting client
9/26 - surveillance audit for registrar
10/1 ~ 10/3 - pre-assessment audit
10/10 - contract internal audit

The week with 3 audits was a killer, since I had to write audit reports for each of these on my own time. BTW, I agree with Claes - Is it OK if I take November off too?

 

[Laura M]

Audits

I guess the good news is we are busy! With all of mine being registration audits (2 new, 1 upgrade, 1 continuing) I've been doing my share of internal auditing for these folks as well.

From the song "I'm just a girl who can't say no...." I've already scheduled 2 days the first week of Nov. I've had a few unfinished projects around the house for the remaining 3. Fortunately things slow to a manageable pace for the end of the year. My biggest audit is next week. Halloween Friday is definately a play day for me!!!