ISO 19011 establishes benchmarks for a standardized and well-functioning audit system. It provides them with a solid framework to build their processes from, both for auditing management systems and establishing audit programs. As a result, organizations can plan, conduct, and manage audits in a systematic and objective manner.
While belonging to the same ISO 9000 family, these two ISO standards perform distinct yet complementary functions. Discover the differences and similarities between ISO 9001 and ISO 19011 through the comparison table below.
Within the ISO 19011 framework, an audit follows a methodical process to objectively examine and prove that an organization abides by specific rules, standards, and regulations. Proof often comes in the form of documents and reports of business operations, protocols, and practices relevant to the scope, objectives, and criteria of the audit plan.
Audit Management Systems are vital for organizations to maintain a culture of continuous improvement while achieving business objectives. There has been a recent upgrade made to the ISO 19011:2018 Guidelines for Audit Management Systems to help organizations maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
The most recent version released in July announces the ISO 19011:2018 Guidelines for Audit management systems from the basic principles of audit, audit management program, performing audits and managing the audit findings while setting out the guidelines for evaluation of the competency level for the people involved in the entire audit process.
ISO 19011 is meant for all the organizations that need to conduct internal or external audits of a quality management systems they are using. It is suitable for a broad range of potential users, including auditors. If you are also implementing quality management system, you will have to conduct audits of management systems for regulatory and compliance purposes.
ISO 19011 also includes the guidelines to conduct the external audits, for certification and supplier quality check, to support the implementation of quality management systems. These guidelines are based on seven basic principles.
ISO 19011 is the standard that provides Guidelines for Quality or Environmental Management Systems Auditing. Internal audits are a requirement of ISO 9001:2015, addressed in clause 9.2. Although internal audits are a necessity, they are often not performed equally, for this reason ISO 19011 was developed. If you are considering hiring a consultant, or are going to use internal auditors in your company, you should ensure that they follow the ISO 19011 requirements.
ISO 19011 was designed so organizations can efficiently perform audits using these guidelines. Within one single standard there are now four critical decision/support resources for the efficient planning, conduct, and evaluation of quality and environmental audits:
How can you make internal audits more effective? By using the 13-step method of audit activities outlined in ISO 19011, you can use the same trusted framework that is employed by the certification bodies. The standard also outlines audit principles, auditor competence and setting up an audit program, but in this article I will focus only on the 13 audit activities to follow.
The audit activities of ISO 19011 detail the management of the activities for the audits themselves. This formalized approach can help to ensure your internal audits are effective and consistent, and builds the integrity of the internal audit system. These steps are not mandatory (e.g., smaller companies might skip some of them), but they are a best practice for conducting an audit. Below is a flowchart of the process of conducting an individual audit:
In a QMS audit process it is important to make sure you do not miss anything important, such as auditor knowledge and proper audit planning, so using a known method to set up your process can help make implementation easy. ISO 19011 provides this method.
Clause 5 of the ISO 19011:2018 Standard concerns managing an audit program, recognising there is more involved than creating an audit schedule. The audit program should consider a management systems functionality, complexity, maturity and the type of risks and opportunities associated with it.
Clause 6.3.2 of the ISO 19011:2018 Standard provides guidance on audit planning. By adopting a risk-based approach to planning, auditors can consider the risks of the audit activities and not achieving the audit objectives. A common problem is allocating sufficient time and resources. Many leaders do not understand the time required; they see auditors interviewing team members and believe this, plus some time to compile a report, is all that auditing involves.
For the audit program to be effective in achieving its objectives, you need to have competent and qualified auditors to conduct the audit activities. Clause 7 in ISO 19011: 2018 discusses the evaluation of auditor competence and performance. If the audit team lacks knowledge or expertise, a technical expert should be used to close the knowledge gap. Auditors do not have to be experts in every single process, but they should understand the organisations;
ISO 19011: 2018 is a catalyst for these objectives and also identifies and distinguishes the potential impact that advancements in technology can have on the audit process, such as virtual or remote technology enabled audits.
This is the second installment in the ISO 19011 audit series which looks at activities required to successfully prepare for an integrated management audit. In this post we will look at pre-audit activities and elaborate on the graph below:
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