My Reading on ASQ CQA HB Part IV

Charlie Chong/ Fion Zhang
Part IVB1
Since system and process auditing are processes for collecting and transforming data into factual information
about the organization (specifically, the activities defined by the audit’s scope and purpose), they can be useful
management tools. Audit services can range from simple verification of compliance audits that maintain a
system at its design potential operation level to determination of effectiveness and efficiency to promote
continual improvement of the organization. Management must first decide the strategies for the organization
and then use audit-generated factual information to support those strategies. In essence, auditing can provide
information upon which strategic decisions are based, or it can be a tactical tool for driving different initiatives,
including continual improvement.
Overall Systemic Interactions And Relationships
Management can benefit from the use of process auditing techniques because it requires the evaluation of
interactions and relationships of activities that compose the system. Unfortunately, many organizations have no
knowledge of overall systemic interactions and relationships between departments and activities, other than the
auditor’s working papers. Management knows what happens next in the flow of a product or paperwork, but
may not know the interactions or relationships beyond the next phase or department. Without this knowledge of
the organization’s systems, redundant, counterproductive, and unneeded actions not only may exist but may
even be included in policies and procedures and be perpetuated by conformity auditing.
Quagmire
Management can address this quagmire (a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot) by
implementing contemporary process-based audit practices that focus on the system, by reading the audit
reports in their entirety, and by using this information to allocate resources to implement changes for
improvement.