How Auditors Evaluate ISO Templates During Certification Audits?

Introduction 

When auditors look at ISO templates in the process of a certification or a surveillance audit, they have far higher expectations than merely verifying the existence of documents. Auditors evaluate the meaningful customization, sound implementation, as well as use of templates to enhance the procurement of operational excellence and constant enhancement. It is also an easy trap to use only generic or ill-adapted templates--what auditors actually want is documentation used in business that is alive and business-based and which has proven to be effective over time.

What Auditors Expect During Viewing Of ISO Templates

1. Relevance and Customization

Correlations Business

Expectation: The templates should be properly customized to incorporate the organization processes, terminology, risks, and regulatory environment, and not just completed by typing in the name and date. The auditors desire to find the documentation that is parallel to the everyday practice.

Audit Focus:

• Are organizational-specific procedures and policies mentioned regarding roles, technologies, workflows and controls?
  
  
• Are employees able to tell how the processes that were recorded are connected to actual operations?
  
  
• Does it deal with legal, regulatory, or sector requirements?

Common Findings:

• Blogs text that is canned and has little connection with the way the firm does it.
  
  
• Policy statements, which do not concern company specific objectives or risks.

2. Actualization and Implementation

Expectation:

The presence of complete documentation is not sufficient: auditors require evidence that templates have been built into operations and that they are in fact adhered to. This means:

• Scholarly, actual records by personnel.
  
  
• Examples of workflows that are based on documents, like forms, logs, and checklists created daily.

Audit Focus:

• Does procedure lead to practice (e.g. Do records of training, audit reports, logs of corrective action, etc. all up-to-date and complete)?
  
  
• Do employees know of these templates and are they trained on them?
  
  
• Do the templates contain completed forms, checklists and registers that are aligned with the template design?

Common Findings:

• Lost or missing records; forms that have been prepared, although not filled in or updated.
  
  
• Procedures that are on paper, but lacks a record of practical application.

3. Adherence to the ISO Clause Requirements

Expectation: All the required sections that are mandatory in the applicable ISO standard (ex: ISO 9001 requirements, ISO 27001 controls) should be covered in the templates. Auditors match documentation against standard requirements to make sure that nothing is missing.

Audit Focus: Do you have all the necessary procedures, policies and forms in place and aligned to standard clauses (e.g., risk management, document control, internal audits, corrective action)?

Are these templates intended to contain objectives, references, revision histories, approval signatures as well as review dates?

Common Findings:

• Lack of procedures (e.g. no risk assessment procedure documented).
  
  
• Bare coverage (policies with no objectives, forms that lack fields that are critical).

4. Version Management and Document Control

Expectation: Auditors would like strong document management, such as an effective versioning, approvals, and access controls. The controlled templates should be available, updated and well stored in case of supersession.

Audit Focus:

• Do they include version numbers, revision dates and approving signatures?
  
  
• Does it have a master list of existing controlled documents?
  
  
• What is the way of eliminating the outdated versions?

Common Findings:

• Templates in circulation which are obsolete.
  
  
• The absence of a master document register or poor document ownership.

5. Review, Training and Continual Improvement Records

Expectation: Continuous improvement is another key aspect of ISO- auditors demand that templates are reviewed and updated on a formal basis and supported by a continuous training and feedback to the users.

Audit Focus:

• Are templates audited (or scheduled) once (or as noted) with documented results?
  
  
• Are there change logs present of any updates related to audit findings, business adjustments or preventive/corrective measures?
  
  
• Do the staff get training on new or updated documents?

Common Findings:

• Templates that are not updated in years.
  
  
• Insufficient document on staff training on new documentation.

6. Understandability, Usability, and Accessibility

• Expectation: Templates should be available in comprehensible formats to users regardless of the level of operations and easily available in both hard and electronic copy. Documentation that is too complicated, full of jargon, or obscure weaken compliance.

Audit Focus:

• Are templates in use by the users and are they navigable?
  
  
• Are instructions, fields and workflows clear, concise and well-organized?
  
  
• Are outdated or draft templates eliminated on a daily basis?

Common Findings:

• Templates that all the people know but none use because they are too complicated or are poorly designed.
  
  
• Several incompatible versions offered to the users.

7. Good Co-ordination with Operations and Risk Management

Expectation: Risk management, process performance, regulatory compliance and constant improvement should be supported, and not impeded by templates.

Audit Focus:

• Do we have risk and opportunity registers as working not merely as logs?
  
  
• Are templates that are in use congruent with operational workflows and real audit data?
  
  
• Are there documented corrective/preventive actions resulting out of incident reports?

Common Findings:

• The incidents, nonconformities or risks that were logged but had no action taken on them.
  
  
• Unmaintained and un-transformed risk logs. 

Auditor Expectations-Tips to Meet

1. Completely customize each template to actual processes and risks and maintain them current.
   
   
2. Provide training to all the relevant employees, document the training and get a response to usability.
   
   
3. Have a master list or document control register.
   
   
4. Connect templates towards business improvement cycles- revise documentation with audit findings.
   
   
5. Combine templates and digital management systems to access them easily and have high version control.

Conclusion

The templates are not considered as a shortcut, but rather as means of facilitating, ensuring clarity and continuous improvement by the ISO auditors. The anticipations are great: templates have to be customized, implemented, and managed and integrated into the organization culture and work processes. Success implies showing, by very visible evidence, that all the templates documented are being lived in day-to-day work and are underpinning healthy, auditable and continually-enhancing management systems.