Accelerated learning is a theory/practice of learning that acknowledges that we all learn differently.  It also builds on that fact and provides the premise that we all learn better if we see, here and practice things.   The theory incorporates the concepts of left-brain vs right-brain.

We adopt the basic principles of this in our training.  We ensure that training is substantially exercise based so that you have to learn for your self, so that you dont get bored and tired and so that you learn more.  Our training is fun and effective and better than the traditional style of training.  For instance, in our lead auditor training – 5 days,  we have about 30 powerpoint slides!

We use these same principles when we customize our training and bring it in house to your organization.

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The ISO standards do not dictate how you conduct your audits.  They merely require that they are effective.  It has been argued by some ISO proponents that a one-time event cannot be effective.

Cavendish Scott performs internal audits for many organizations.  We are ISO and auditing experts and take all of the problems and worry out of your ISO system.  Outsource your internal audits and relax.

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Yes — but obviously this is controversial.

The most common issue or mistake with ISO systems is the structure of the documentation.  One approach is to structure documentation around the ISO standard.  One document is written for each requirement of the standard until all of the requirements are “explained” in a document.  This approach is very effective at meeting the requirements of the standard and is easy to “boilerplate” – which is why some consultants are comfortable with this approach.  The resulting documents don’t provide much additional value as they really only describe the standard and thus aren’t much use for improvement or even straightforward management.  Because the documentation and the processes it described doesn’t have much meaning to the organization, the documents are often ignored and thus as things change in the organization, documentation doesn’t get updated and problems occur with certification.  This approach usually requires constant and deliberate management to keep ISO registered.

An alternative approach is the “process approach” which is advocated by ISO itself.  In this approach, documented procedures are written that describe the activities in the organization.  These documents are actually quite useful as they clarify the right way of doing things and can be used for review and improvement.   The documents become a tool through which the business is organized and operated.  Maintenance is not a chore but a natural part of what is done.

These two extremes are easy to understand and one is described above as clearly better than the other.  However, it is very difficult to achieve a process based system.  What should I include in the procedure?  What level of detail?  How and where do I get the requirements?  Should the requirements from one section be in one procedure?  What if requirements seem inapplicable?  It is also true that in smaller organizations the benefits to be obtained from any ISO system are less substantial than they are in a larger organization.  Consequently the ease of implementation and simple acknowledgment of the expected maintenance effort are easy to accept as a price for certification.

If you are using a consultant you should demand a process based system.  Before contracting get them to describe and commit to that approach.  If you attempting ISO alone and you are a small organization (very small 1-5 people and not real expectation of growth) then you have more options.

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Good Question.

Conventional wisdom is that step one is to determine your current situation.  In larger and more complex organizations this is more valid than in simpler and smaller organizations.

A formal gap audit will be conducted very much like an ISO assessment audit.  Each process will be examined, details will be checked and a comprehensive report will be generated.  Perhaps it doesn’t need to be as long as a formal ISO audit but gap audits are still often quite lengthy.

In many cases it is easy to determine the current situation.  “We don’t do internal audits, we haven’t got a formal calibration program, we don’t have a management review meeting”.  Many of the supporting ISO requirements are not implemented in organizations and you don’t need a formal gap analysis to tell you that.

The primary processes in an organization – those that you do for a living, tend to be in good shape.  ISO is such a good standard that if you are successful then you are probably meeting ISO 80-90%.  Consequently it will take a really detailed gap audit to identify these issues and that may simply not be worth it.  Accept that some “tweaking” will be necessary during the project…..but not much.

In most instances, with  a project plan in place,  the gap analysis has a very short life as any gaps are fixed within a few week.

When we perform consulting projects we skip the formal gap analysis in favor of a project planning exercise.  We look at each process, ask some telling questions and focus on planning the solution.  Documenting findings which we are going to fix in a few weeks is just  “busy work”.  We do a basic review of the current situation, produce a project plan identifying the ISO processes and cross referencing to the requirements we expect (at this stage) to address.  During the project, we get into each process in detail and make sure that everything is adequately addressed.  Thus any gaps that might have been around at the start of the project are not very relevant.  Of course we also course this a gap analysis!!

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Anyone can be an ISO auditor.

Internal audits are conducted by employees who have been trained how to audit and they conduct audits within the company on behalf of the company. Contact your ISO representative and ask about opportunities for auditing.

Professional auditors work for the certification bodies. There are no mandatory qualifications to become an auditor but certification bodies are required to demonstrate that their auditors are competent. This is actually a very difficult task and a variety of techniques and records have been established by certification bodies to achieve it – to varying degrees of success. Further, just because a certification body has a lot of records in place, it doesn’t actually mean the auditor is any good. In practice, registrars insist or at least prefer that the people they hire (either as contractors or full time) are “registered” auditors. The two main auditor registration organizations are RABQSA based in Australia and America, and IRCA based in the UK. They both offer similar schemes – not surprisingly as they are governed by ISO standards.

RABQSA additionally offers a competency scheme that requires a comprehensive witnessed audit by an experienced skills examiner – although “who examines the examiner?” is a great question.

The other scheme more widely offered (and more popular) is a qualification scheme that requires you to pass a 5 day lead auditor class (with a 2 hour exam), demonstrate with a CV or resume that you have work experience of about 4 years, that you have more specific work experience of about 2 years (e.g. in quality or environmental sectors that you want to audit in) and then participate in audits to demonstrate audit experience.

Getting this audit experience is difficult for some. Some internal audits and supplier audits can count. Consulting audits can count too. If you don’t have access to this, then often a certification body will allow you to participate in audits but there is usually some payback associated with that. Some less than professional certification bodies will actually charge you to be part of a team that they are charging the client for.

You maintain a log of the audits that you have participated in and get the auditee or team leader to sign off on your logs. These, along with other evidence is submitted to the registration organization for review – and issue of your formal status as a registered auditor.

Once you have achieved lead auditor there is no guarantee that a certification body will contract with you or employ you. The work can be grueling, is not particularly well respected and not always well paid. You can use your qualification to set up as a consultant – but because many of us have had less than professional experiences of so-called professional auditors, the status doesn’t always mean much.

Most people who complete the lead auditor training course stop there claiming to be “ISO lead auditors” on their resume and most employers understand that and the value it brings.