By Caleb Guedes-Reed on June 8, 2020
If you missed the episode, it’s not too late! You can watch it here.
In this webinar, we sat down with Matthew Sica to learn how to design a remote internal audit, an activity that has become even more important and relevant given the global pandemic.
Matthew Sica is a Quality Assurance Director with Phase Four Services, a management company working in the cannabis industry. His responsibilities include reviewing management systems and training programs to improve overall quality, as well as designing for scalability and efficiency of laboratory processes for internal and external clients. He has over 30 years of experience in the laboratory environment and extensive experience in statutory and regulatory compliance.
A remote internal audit is a process that uses several approaches of gathering evidence including; document and record review, interviews, and witnessing of activities, all by the use of available technology.
Now you may be thinking that this sounds like a huge headache – and it may be! A remote internal audit requires planning, a risk evaluation and the availability of tools to help you get the job done.
After reviewing these four steps, you’ll be able to predict whether or not your organization will be successful in conducting a remote internal audit.
There are obvious advantages to using digital document and record management systems. They save a lot of staff time and reduce travel costs when meetings and audits are able to be done
remotely. This gives you an opportunity to take a deeper dive into your QMS system.
Planning is a big consideration when trying a remote internal audit for the first time. It requires more coordination with the management team and the auditees than a regular audit. There also needs to be sufficient availability of resources including technology, wifi and internet bandwidth to facilitate this process.
When planning, you’ll need to use different audit techniques than you’ve probably used in the past. This may require additional training for audit team members.
You’ll also need to take challenges in scheduling into consideration. Finalizing schedules that work between the various teams is important so that everyone is on the same page and ready for the
audit process.
One aspect of remote internal audits that is often overlooked is the follow-up. Though this process will look different depending on which technology was used in the audit process, a few guidelines are:
We hope that Matthew’s vast experience in laboratories and his knowledge of remote audits has been helpful in preparing you to conduct your next remote audit.
This blog is merely a summarized version of the great information he shared during the webinar on the role risk assessment, communication, technology, and timing play in designing a highly successful remote internal audit. You can download the full webinar here(LINK). At the end of the webinar, Matthew and Karen answered your peers’ questions about audits and Qualtrax.
First off, we are an ISO 9001:2015 Certified Organization. So we know what it’s like to conduct a remote internal audit.
Second, our software is an extremely helpful tool for organizations that want to take the stress out of quality management and compliance. We are an all-in-one compliance management solution and we are able to support organizations’ remote internal audits in three very important ways:
If you’re not familiar with the Qualtrax system, let us take you on a tour and offer you a free trial! We are confident we can help set your organization up for remote audit success!
Categories: Audits, Calibration, Compliance Management, Environmental, Forensic Labs, Manufacturing, Medical Examiners, Process Management, Quality Managers, Risk, Testing Labs, Training, Uncategorized