Linking an audit of a task, activity or process to the whole quality system
The auditor should not lose sight of the overall direction of the audit, and get side-tracked by superfluous details.
It is important that the auditor keep a close eye on the information provided by the auditee in the quality manual or documentation where the auditee has defined the interaction of processes.
Interviews should also be performed in such a way that the auditors should determine the input and output of the process being audited. Keeping in mind the auditee’s process map should ensure that the auditor will be able to determine the importance of the process he is auditing at any time, and will therefore be able to keep sight of the overall direction of the audit. This will also help the auditor to understand the linkage between the processes.
During an audit, the auditor has an opportunity to check
the auditee’s description of the relationship between
its processes. The auditor should take some samples to
see if the descriptions are a proper reflection of the
actual interrelation of the processes, as this will help
determine if the process description is adequate.