posted 08 October 1999 01:40 AM               

From: Dennis Arter
Subject: RE: Process Audit /Farrugia/Arter

>Can anyone describe what a Process Audit is and what to look for during
>such audit?

Disclaimer: These are Arter's thoughts and do not reflect the current literature. That's because there is no literature on the process audit! There is no standard, national or international. The topic receives little or no attention in the popular quality audit texts, including mine.

Process audits examine one or more processing steps. They are an in-depth evaluation of the process and those universal affectors of methods, machinery, manpower, material, measurement, and environment. They provide assurance that the process is being implemented as planned. They may also provide information on the ability of the process to produce a quality output. Done properly, a process audit is much more than verification that procedures are being followed. (There are five other affectors that should be examined.) Although preparation can take a day or two, actual audit time is about two hours per shift per application. The report should be about one page. (Leave the completed checklists in the file cabinet.)

In a compliance audit application, a process audit verifies performance of the process in accordance with defined requirements. In a management audit application, a process audit examines the ability of the process to achieve desired results.

Yours truly will be leading a session or two on this topic at the next ASQ Quality Audit Division conference, March 2-3, in Reno.

posted 21 October 1999 03:53 PM               

Why do I say that?

Well, first of all, you need to identify a process. If and when you do that, you know what needs to be audited. If there's a start, if something happens to something, and there's an ending, that process can be flowcharted. Once flowcharted, you can see opportunities for efficiency improvements; you can see compliance or noncompliance. That is, you can audit.

Is the real question, "what is a process?"? If you cannot pick it up and hold it or walk around it, you probably do not have a product on which to hold a product audit. If "it" is something you can flowchart, you have a process and can perform a process audit.