How to schedule and unannounced audit?
This may be a silly question, but I've never had to do this before. At my former facility our GM scheduled the audits, now I'm having to do it, and don't really know the process.
This year is our unannounced audit.
Do I just contact our CB and ask them to set it up?
Call your Certifying Body(CB) representative to setup the time frame of the audit. During this call you can disclose any company blackout dates, dates the company closes for repairs or maintenance, for example. The CB representative and the SQF practitioner must agree on a time window for the audit to take place. The window takes place within a lapse of a few months. During this agreed time the SQF auditor can show up unannounced.
Oh, I had the unannounced audit this year too, just 3 weeks ago! Yes, you should contact your CB and ask to send you the Unannounced Audit Confirmation letter and Audit Questionnaire. (at least, that's what I got from SGS) Below is the information you should provide your CB prior to the audit - it's an excerpt from the questionnaire I've received:
INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED BEFORE THE AUDIT
Shift Pattern/normal working days/nights:
Sat:
Sun:
Mon:
Tue:
Wed:
Thu:
Fri:
Block out dates (Maximum 15)
Planned Shut Downs (these are not considered to be block out days)
Location for auditor to report to (e.g. security/reception).
Site contact for the auditor to request
ANY SPECIFIC SITE INSTRUCTIONS / HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
Yup, contact the CB and specify you need your unscheduled audit this year. You'll still need to do the paperwork and pay them, and then they'll randomly show up to ruin- er, um, I mean, make your day exciting!
We have our unannounced audit this year when i reached out to our CB, we received our 3 month window (12/07/22-02/02/23) for the potential audit. We don't have any blackout dates this year but our audit does take 2.5 days and we run Monday-Friday, so we know if the auditor isn't here by Wednesday we are good for that week.
Good luck!
I have an Unannounced Audit window opening up soon. This will be my first with the company and not really sure what to expect. Do they give any sort of notice before arrival or do the auditors just show up at our door?
Thanks everyone.
I started going thru ReposiTrak, then just emailed out CB. The auditor had us on the calendar, and told us the audit dates.
I guess we had 2 in 2021, and didn't have an audit in 2020, due to COVID. I figured this would be unannounced. Guess that's next year.
I have an Unannounced Audit window opening up soon. This will be my first with the company and not really sure what to expect. Do they give any sort of notice before arrival or do the auditors just show up at our door?
They just show up at the door - so, have all your doc's reviewed, floors/equipment clean and people trained. Good luck!
They just show up at the door - so, have all your doc's reviewed, floors/equipment clean and people trained. Good luck!
Thanks!
We are only Storage and Distribution, and not a big plant, so won't have any major issues. Just curious on how it works.
They just show up at the door - so, have all your doc's reviewed, floors/equipment clean and people trained. Good luck!
We have the situation where the Quality Manager is responsible for two sites about 30-45 minutes away from each other. We were able to request that the auditor reach out the morning of the unannounced audit to advise they are on their way to allow travel time to the site.
They haven't had their audit yet so we'll see fi it actually happens!
Ok, so the audit is scheduled with are CB, but somehow it's supposed to be registered thru ReposiTrak (I REALLY don't like that site!)
I've gone to the my audit page, filled in all the blanks, nothing.
Did audit request, same thing.
I had an email from our CB saying they don't see the registration in the database.
Can anyone help!!!
Thanks!
Ok, so the audit is scheduled with are CB, but somehow it's supposed to be registered thru ReposiTrak (I REALLY don't like that site!)
I've gone to the my audit page, filled in all the blanks, nothing.
Did audit request, same thing.
I had an email from our CB saying they don't see the registration in the database.
Can anyone help!!!
Thanks!
Can you just contact your CB and explain difficulty, and ask for the alternate way to send info?
Do they mean you have to pay for registration? There is an annual fee, I believe, for ReposiTrak that if you don't pay a CB won't schedule your audit.
I got it figured out. ReposiTrak is not user-friendly. But I was able to find a video on the SQFI website that showed how to get an audit scheduled.