My Reading on ASQ CQA HB Part I-IA~IE-s

Part IA4
Evaluation & Assessment
Audit-like inquiries that do not fulfill all the technical requirements of an audit (such as an audit plan or avoiding
conflicts of interest) are known as:
• an evaluation or
• an assessment.
• a survey?
Evaluation (Compare)
Commonly, evaluations are fairly subjective audit- like activities that compare current performance with some
potential status, like theoretical capacity or capability of a system or process, for example. Evaluations are
judgments. Similarly, assessments are activities that more closely align with the definition of an audit but lack
satisfying some known and identified requirement.
Assessment (Estimate)
Assessments are estimates or determinations of significance or importance.
Audit (Processes)
The key concept is that audits, regardless of form or name, are processes. Processes consist of a set of
resources (materials, labor, finance, and so on) called the inputs being transformed through interactions to
create outputs. Outputs of processes are typically not just the desired product or service but also the
nonconforming product or service, waste, pollution, and worn equipment or tooling. In most cases, unless
management specifically requests the associated negative or less positive results, only the desired positive
outputs are emphasized, and management is provided with less than the total available data or information
necessary to manage the organization and avoid risks. For the audit process, we have inputs of competent
auditors; an authorizing, supportive client; cooperative auditee personnel; defined auditee plans and
procedures for satisfying requirements and accomplishing objectives (purpose) ; an identified audit purpose
and scope; reference documents; and appropriate administrative and infrastructure support. These inputs,
along with a planned sequence of audit activities, provide an output of accumulated data that are transformed
into useful actionable information and presented to the auditee and the client in a formal report. Appropriate
follow- up corrective and preventive actions are implemented to support improvements and mutual benefits.
Charlie Chong/ Fion Zhang