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Continuing to Audit & Assess During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How TL 9000 CB’s and ANAB Do it!
Speakers:
– Sheronda Jeffries, TIA QuEST Forum Strategic Relations Director, and TIA Fellow/ IAF Director representing Users/Industry
– Brenda Bissell, Accreditation Manager, ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB)
– Tim Woodcome, NQA (National Quality Assurance) Certification Body (CB)
– Carlton Patterson, DQS Inc. Certification Body
– Laura Coplon, Quality Manager – Quality Management Systems, Infinera
If you have questions regarding the effectiveness of remote audits, be sure to listen in to hear how TL 9000 authorized certification bodies, NQA and DQS, along with the TL 9000 authorized US accreditation body, ANAB, are comparing performance pre-COVID-19 pandemic to current performance. Learn what data they have available and how they are sharing lessons learned to increase consistency amongst auditors and assessors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What data is available regarding the effectiveness of remote audits which have obviously increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
NQA reported that every audit report has a technical review conducted, which is no change from pre-COVID-19 pandemic. This allows comparison of results from pre-COVID-19 pandemic to during the pandemic. An evaluation of the number of findings has shown no significant deviation, although there was an initial drop. It is important to note that in many cases, auditors are focusing upon those processes that are easier to “audit on the screen” such as management review processes. Additionally NQA is evaluating survey results and sharing lessons learned.
To learn more, please contact NQA at: https://www.nqa.com/en-us
DQS monitors customer satisfaction data and rate of findings issuance which has shown that record sampling has increased due to greater focus in this area.
Although some customers were initially skeptical, customers now see the benefit of remote audits and look forward to continued use of remote audits. Customer satisfaction in areas related to planning has increased. DQS shared that the average number of findings per day showed a gradual increase after an initial dip.
To learn more, please contact DQS at: https://dqsus.com/
ANAB shared that from March to December 2020, their assessors conducted 506 management system assessments and 94% were remote resulting in 793 nonconformities issued. In comparison to the same period for 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ANAB’s assessors conducted 570 management system assessments resulting in 822 nonconformities issues.
ANAB also surveyed its accredited certification bodies and its assessors and used the responses to share lessons learned through town halls for increased consistency, resulting in assessor guidance documents (see https://anab.ansi.org/management-systems-accreditation/heads-ups) ANAB expects to provide a customer guidance document shortly.
To learn more, please contact ANAB at: https://anab.ansi.org/
Links provided during the webinar include:
The Currency of Credibility: Valid ISO Certification According to ISO
https://tl9000.org/abcb/overview.html
Also attendees were encouraged to check the resources made available by ISO/ CASCO STAR in the following page www.iso.org/ca-covid19.html that should prove useful to anybody who works in conformity assessment and is facing challenges related to COVID-19.
