Issue 116 – Auditor notes, handwritten or use a laptop?
ISO 9001:2015…
Auditor notes, handwritten or use a laptop?
I appreciate receiving emails with questions and/or comments from readers of this Newsletter… please continue to do so since it provides me with ideas on what these publications should cover. In my last Newsletter. In my last Newsletter (ISO 9001:2015 Newsletter Issue 115) we discussed the topic of “Ever see mistakes in the External Auditor’s report?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “Auditor notes, handwritten or use a laptop?”.
The ISO 9001:2015 Element numbering…
Element 4 – Context of the organization
Element 5 – Leadership
Element 6 – Planning
Element 7 – Support
Element 8 – Operation
Element 9 – Performance evaluation
Element 10 – Improvement
Handwritten notes or typed notes on a laptop, are both acceptable?… This question was emailed to me from my Client since they were not sure if there were any rules on which approach is acceptable. Their concern with typed up notes is that you lose traceability of changes, revisions and modifications that were made to the electronic document… unless of course you use the “tracked changes” feature. On the other hand, if you use pen & paper it would be easy to see what got deleted or scratched out by the Auditor. BTW, notice that I said pen & paper and not pencil & paper… that’s because pen is an accepted method for permanently entering or logging data onto a piece of paper, whereas pencil can easily be erased.
As far as the ISO 9001:2015 Standard is concerned, either format is perfectly acceptable (handwritten notes or digital). Over the past 30 years of auditing I have always used pen and paper. I am much more comfortable with pen & paper since I will sometimes circle words… or do a drawing… or insert arrows. Once all of my notes are complete I then simply scan them into a PDF document for easy retrieval at a later date. In addition, there is software out there that will convert handwritten notes into a digital format if needed.
Having said all of that, I have noticed that most of the ISO Registrar Auditors tend to use their laptops during audits rather than take handwritten notes. I wouldn’t worry that “typed up” notes could cause added questions/scrutiny from an External Auditor… if they ever objected I would simply point out that they “type” their audit notes all of the time… so what’s good for the goose….
Be sure to watch for our next Newsletter issue where I will be answering some of the questions that I get from Readers of my Newsletters about how to implement the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 in a specific and practical way, that will also help improve business performance…
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Need Help?
ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Outsourcing (we can do it for you OR with you!)
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Internal Process Auditor Training for ISO 9001:2015
The two (2) day Internal Process Auditing for ISO 9001:2015 Training Session is focused on a process approach to auditing with the objective being not only to assess conformance of the quality management system, but also to uncover process improvements during an audit. This goes hand in hand with the process auditing requirements found within ISO 19011 and the process approach covered in ISO 9001:2015, which promotes continual process improvement throughout this Standard. An enhanced checklist is developed, and there will be workshops throughout, to reinforce learning, as well as a live, practice audit. If you are looking to meet the ISO 9001:2015 internal audit requirements and to “raise the bar” for your internal audit program then this is the course you should consider.
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Until next time…
Tim Renaud
Helping Business Professionals Reduce Risk and Remove Waste!