External audits
Last checked on
External audits lists the audits by your certifying body for every certificate, from surveillance to recertification. You record when each took place, the outcome and what the auditor found, with the deadline for your response.
Why this protects your organisation
Your certificate only stays valid if the certifying body keeps coming back and is satisfied with what it sees. Miss a surveillance audit or the deadline for a major nonconformity, and you risk losing the certificate your customers rely on. Keeping the cycle and the findings here means nobody has to remember the dates, and every finding that needs work ends up as a nonconformity you follow through to the end.
Steps
- Open External audits in the Prove group. The audits of each certificate are already planned.
- Click Edit on an audit once it has taken place and fill in Performed on, the Auditor and the Outcome. Save.
- Under Findings, add each thing the auditor found: the kind of Finding, the Requirement if it applies, What the auditor found and the Deadline.
- For a major or minor nonconformity, click Open nonconformity to follow it up on the Nonconformities screen.
- For an audit outside the regular cycle, such as a special audit after a scope change, click New external audit.
Each row shows the Certificate with its standard, the Moment (Initial audit, Surveillance year 1, Surveillance year 2 or Recertification), the date it was Planned on and Performed on, the Auditor, the number of Findings and the Outcome. A planned date that has passed without the audit being recorded is highlighted. Use the Performed filter to see only what is still ahead of you, or only what is done.
Outcome and findings
The Outcome records the recommendation of the certifying body: Recommended, Recommended after corrective actions or Not recommended. A finding is a Major nonconformity, a Minor nonconformity, an Observation or an Opportunity for improvement. You can link it to a requirement of the standard the certificate is for, so you can see later which part of your system it concerned.
A nonconformity that you open from a finding is an ordinary nonconformity, with the correction, the root cause and the check on whether the fix worked. The finding then shows the stage it has reached. You can no longer delete a finding once a nonconformity has been opened from it.
The owner and members can record and change audits and findings, and so can advisors with edit rights for Standards and certification. Only the owner and members can delete an audit.
If it does not work
The list is empty
Audits are planned from a certificate. Record your certificate under Certificates first and its cycle appears here.
I cannot save because Outcome is required
As soon as you fill in Performed on, the Outcome is required. Leave Performed on empty while the audit is still planned.
I cannot change the certificate or the moment of an existing audit
Both are fixed once the audit exists. Adjust the Planned on date instead, or add a separate audit for a different moment.
The Deadline of a finding is highlighted
The deadline has passed and the linked nonconformity is not closed yet. Close the nonconformity, or agree a new date with the certifying body and change the deadline.
Screens this is about
- External audits