ISO 9001 Auditor Training

Auditor Certification Organization certifies auditors/lead auditors based on completed ISO 9001:2015 certified auditor training, required QMS experience and auditing experience.

In addition to auditor certification, people skills combined with verbal and written communication skills distinguish an effective and efficient auditor from other auditors.

Auditors get to know various processes and risk assessment models related to diversified business sectors. This acquired knowledge and experience sets the roadmap for being independent ISO 9001;2015 consultants and for earning attractive compensation as self-employed business owners. On the contrary while being an employee, the auditing experience in driving continual improvement could trigger their promotion to Director/Vice President.

Today`s auditing approach consists of applying process approach combined with risk-based thinking. What this means is using functional processes/departments as mega processes supported by relevant clauses of ISO 9001;2015 Standard. The past approach was to audit by ISO 9001:2015 Standard clauses which was not practical and effective in terms of processes.

Virtual audits are conducted when an organization performs work or provides a service using an online environment irrespective of physical locations to execute processes. Practically all audits during COVID period were performed virtually. It is anticipated all future audits will be hybrid audits, a combination of on-site and virtual audits.

Auditors collect information based on review of ISO 9001:2015 QMS documents/records, observations of work environment/equipment/infrastructure and interviews with personnel from various functions. When the information from these sources is verifiable against each other, the verified information becomes objective evidence. The objective evidence is compared against the organization’s QMS and ISO 9001;2015 Standard requirements. Any identified gaps are classified as Major NCR, Minor NCR or OFI.

The auditor must be able to put the auditee at comfort and ease during the beginning of the interview. This is done by asking open-ended questions in a nonintimidating and non-threatening manner and by being with the auditee in terms of attention, empathy, consideration and non-judgmental. The point is to win over the auditee as a human being by using acquired people skills. Once the auditor has achieved this, then the auditee will volunteer lots of information that will lead to successful and effective interview as well as objective evidence. The interview process must be a WIN/WIN for the auditee and the auditor.

Auditing could be mentally exhausting because your brain is dealing with new changing processes/topics every 30 minutes. If you are passionate about auditing as value-added to an organization, IT COULD BE LOT OF FUN AS YOU FEEL LIKE MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO AN ORGANIZATION.

ISO 9001 audit checklist prepares auditors with the interpretation of ISO requirements for a given clause/subclause so that the auditor can ask the right questions, look at relevant documents and collect appropriate evidence in terms of records.

• Interpretation of ISO requirements for every subclause.
• Documents to be looked at.
• Observations to make.
• Records to be collected.

An effective audit plan must be based on functional processes supported by relevant ISO 9001 subclauses. In addition, the flow of audit plan and amount of time to be spent on functional departments must be risk based.

The personnel:

• who have successfully completed ISO 9001 Auditing course provided by a certified training provider.
• with understanding of organization`s management system.
• who possesses effective auditing people skills.
• with understanding of processes to be audited.
• who is independent from processes being audited.