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Add You - Energizing Your Internal Audit Program
As a food retailer, do you provide shopping bags to your customers? Is your company inadvertently contributing to the litter problem in the United States? Over the last twenty years, plastic or polyethylene shopping bags have become very common in the United States. Although they require less energy to produce and they generate less solid waste than paper bags, plastic shopping bags are petroleum based and can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. While customers often reuse plastic shopping bags for carrying lunch or picking up animal waste, the main problem is their ultimate disposal in land fills or as litter along our highways. A plastic bag bearing your store name floating along in the breeze is not good advertising for your business!According to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the average American makes 2.3 trips to the grocery store each week. As an average consumer, if you bring home 5-8 bags per shopping trip, you are using 600 to 1,000 bags per year. To combat the waste and litter problem, some retailers have proposed ideas such as charging a fee for each plastic bag used, or encouraging re-use by offering a small discount for each bag brought into the store. Ireland has had great success with the fee charging scheme, reducing plastic bag use in that country by 95% since 2002.Eliminate your dilemma over paper v. plastic and do the right thing for the environment! By successfully implementing a reusable bag system for your business, you will: reduce the use of disposable bags, and help the environment advertise your business in a positive manner, and generate sales foster goodwill and customer loyalty, and sustain your businessReduce the use of disposable bagsReducing the use of disposable bags will not only reduce litter, but will save retailers money and storage space. Yet encouraging customers to use reusable totes is a behavioral habit that will take time to
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The cus
Recently a new client came to me in total frustration. She had been working with another coach who had insisted she focus on offering, and aggressively marketing, only one service. Now she was out of energy, out of money, and couldn't understand why she was failing. A great salesperson in her previous work, she was struggling to sell enough of this one service to support herself.This talented and skilled professional was on a slippery slope to a failed business. She was using one of the most enticing and dangerous models for the direction of her business: Offering just one service to just one market.One service, one big client, one product, does not make a one-person business that can thrive. And, it can get you in hot water if your one client with your one product or service is corporate: you start to look too much like an employee to keep the IRS happy.So, what's the answer? For this new client, my first question was "Have you done the numbers?"Her blank look was enough of an answer. So, we walked through the numbers process:how many contacts she needed to generate a leadhow many leads to make a salehow long the sales process took in both hours and dayshow much it cost out of pocket to develop a paying customerhow long to deliver the servicehow much she needed to sell to cover her expenses, to generate enough to get by, and provide a quality life for herself, andhow long before the customer was ready for the next service session.The answer to her problems was very clear. She needed to sell six new clients a week to get by in order to pay her bare living expenses. But, it took significantly more time than 40 hours per week to generate the leads, close the sales, and deliver the service. More like 80 hours per week.She had also not taken into account the amount of money her marketing and sales was taking, as well as the money needed to produce the service. So, although her target was
The key to an effective, thorough and value added internal audit is in the preparation. If internal auditors are spending one to two hours preparing for an internal audit, it is not enough time. To properly prepare for an audit, it should take twice to three times that. If the actual audit time will take an hour, there should be at between two and three hours spent in preparation. A good rule of thumb to spend about two and half times as much time in preparation as the audit will take. Often times, auditors plan for a two hour internal audit and spend 1 hour preparing which leads to them running out of questions about 30 minutes into the audit. I can’t stress this enough if you want to be a successful internal auditor or manage a successful internal audit program then make certain you spend adequate time in preparation for the audit.
This sounds easy, but it is actually very difficult. The major obstacles to allocating enough time for preparation are time restrictions placed on the internal auditors. Chances are they have other responsibilities aside from internal auditing that compete for their precious time. One method to help remove that obstacle is to have as many trained internal auditors as possible to spread the work load.
Effective planning for an internal audit requires following a few simple steps that are listed below.
1. Learn the process (turtle diagram)
2. Identify the interfaces with the standard
3. Document review (compliance to standard)
4. Identify process interfaces
5. Identify potential process failure modes (pFMEA)
6. Value stream map process to breakdown activities
7. Review old audits
8. Develop audit questions
9. Develop audit plan.
1. Learn the process
Before you can audit a process you must become familiar with it. You need to learn how it is supposed to work, what it supposed to do, what are the inputs, outputs, activities, resources and controls. The first step would be to create a turtle diagram of the process (This may have already been done by the organization as part of their documentation, or in previous audits). A turtle diagram looks at the suppliers, inputs, activities, controls, resources, outputs, and customers. A turtle diagram is laid out such that the process activity is a box in the middle, the inputs come in from the left and outputs exit from the right of the box. The supplier is listed in the upper left hand corner and the customer is listed in the upper right hand corner. The controls are above the process activity and the resources are below the process activity. The feedback loop is an arrow from the output to the input. Let’s do an example of a turtle diagram for a process. For this example, the process will be one that applies to about every business in some way and that’s purchasing.
Inputs:
This is what the process needs for the activity. It can be in the form of information or a product. For this example the inputs are: Demand (what is driving the purchase), Quantity, Type, Specifications and Requirements, Due date and Budget (how much can be spent).
Supplier:
This is who is supplying the inputs to the process. The supplier can supply information or a material product. For our example the supplier would be whoever is specifying what to purchase, when to purchase and how many to purchase.
Process Activity:
This is the process. There are a number of associated tasks contributing to the process. For our example the process activity is purchasing
Outputs:
This is the result of the process. It can be information, energy or material. In our example the output of the purchasing process is the desired product or service delivered when needed. For our example it could be a product like a computer or piece of test equipment. It could be information such as a failure analysis, training materials, book or manual. It could also be a service such as mowing the grass, doing the laundry or processing payroll.
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The cust
This article is about the benefits, pitfalls and thinking that were involved in a building a new brand. While it’s my story of involving my speaking business, you should think about your own story, your passion, and what fits into your life. CAUTION: Realize this, it’s taken a LONG time, it was hard work, and it was painful at times. If you’re not willing to experience those things then keep doing what you’re doing.Have you asked yourself these questions? Are you happy with the answers?1. Are you working harder to secure fewer and fewer customers?2. Are you finding price to be a MAJOR concern for your buyer?3. Are you generating interest from clients but not having a good ratio of inquiries to closings?IF you said yes to these questions, you may be ready for the journey of reinvention.Two things drove me to reinvent my speaking business:1) I longed for a unique message, a brand to differentiate me in a crowded market. It is not new news that there are hundreds or maybe thousands of people who can fill an hour on a conference agenda and who present similar things as you and I. I didn’t want to be a part of that. Perhaps you don’t want to be a carbon copy in your marketplace either.2) I wanted to develop a business that would build value, something that was scalable and hopefully sellable IF and when I choose to stop speaking and do something else.My storySomewhere around the year 2000, I decided I was ready for a change but I didn’t know where to begin. A few years later, I had the good fortune of meeting Bruce Turkel, a branding expert. Bruce owns a branding firm in Miami and he agreed to help me create some new promotional materials which eventually led to creating a whole new brand. Bruce came to hear me speak; I heard his branding presentation. I read his great book Building Brand Value. We bounced some ideas back and forth over several months. Then EUREKA! Bruce had written down my name on a white
Effective planning for an internal audit requires following a few simple steps that are listed below.
1. Learn the process (turtle diagram)
2. Identify the interfaces with the standard
3. Document review (compliance to standard)
4. Identify process interfaces
5. Identify potential process failure modes (pFMEA)
6. Value stream map process to breakdown activities
7. Review old audits
8. Develop audit questions
9. Develop audit plan.
1. Learn the process
Before you can audit a process you must become familiar with it. You need to learn how it is supposed to work, what it supposed to do, what are the inputs, outputs, activities, resources and controls. The first step would be to create a turtle diagram of the process (This may have already been done by the organization as part of their documentation, or in previous audits). A turtle diagram looks at the suppliers, inputs, activities, controls, resources, outputs, and customers. A turtle diagram is laid out such that the process activity is a box in the middle, the inputs come in from the left and outputs exit from the right of the box. The supplier is listed in the upper left hand corner and the customer is listed in the upper right hand corner. The controls are above the process activity and the resources are below the process activity. The feedback loop is an arrow from the output to the input. Let’s do an example of a turtle diagram for a process. For this example, the process will be one that applies to about every business in some way and that’s purchasing.
Inputs:
This is what the process needs for the activity. It can be in the form of information or a product. For this example the inputs are: Demand (what is driving the purchase), Quantity, Type, Specifications and Requirements, Due date and Budget (how much can be spent).
Supplier:
This is who is supplying the inputs to the process. The supplier can supply information or a material product. For our example the supplier would be whoever is specifying what to purchase, when to purchase and how many to purchase.
Process Activity:
This is the process. There are a number of associated tasks contributing to the process. For our example the process activity is purchasing
Outputs:
This is the result of the process. It can be information, energy or material. In our example the output of the purchasing process is the desired product or service delivered when needed. For our example it could be a product like a computer or piece of test equipment. It could be information such as a failure analysis, training materials, book or manual. It could also be a service such as mowing the grass, doing the laundry or processing payroll.
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The cus
Interviews are often the most dreaded part of the job search process, but they need not be. With a little preparation, interviews become effortless and you can secure the job you want. When you sit to write an exam, you studied in advance. It's the same with interviews, but fortunately, not nearly as taxing as preparing for an exam. The steps themselves are simple, and don't require much in terms of preparation.First, anticipate the likely questions. Sit and think about what sort of questions you would ask, if you were conducting the interview. It's impossible to anticipate every question, but think of some big ones, and even if they don't get asked, they will be good preparation for other questions and provide you a base to answer from.First impressions last. Sad but true. When it comes to an interview, you must take care to put forward the right image. This extends to personal hygeine, being clean shaven, having clean nails and so on. You want to convey an image of professionalism.Our bodies communicate volumes of information. Trained interviewers can read your body language like a poker pro. While we can't hide the messages our body sends, we can control and shape those messages to improve the impression we give to the interviewer.This is just a brief overview, check out more information at my site, on these topics and more. The steps are guaranteed to turn your interviews in your favour, impressing the interviewers and securing the job.
Inputs:
This is what the process needs for the activity. It can be in the form of information or a product. For this example the inputs are: Demand (what is driving the purchase), Quantity, Type, Specifications and Requirements, Due date and Budget (how much can be spent).
Supplier:
This is who is supplying the inputs to the process. The supplier can supply information or a material product. For our example the supplier would be whoever is specifying what to purchase, when to purchase and how many to purchase.
Process Activity:
This is the process. There are a number of associated tasks contributing to the process. For our example the process activity is purchasing
Outputs:
This is the result of the process. It can be information, energy or material. In our example the output of the purchasing process is the desired product or service delivered when needed. For our example it could be a product like a computer or piece of test equipment. It could be information such as a failure analysis, training materials, book or manual. It could also be a service such as mowing the grass, doing the laundry or processing payroll.
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The cus
I get the sense that most providers of any service have given up and resorted to guerilla tactics. What does it say about customer service when your bank charges you to deposit money, your utility or Telco will switch you to another provider with little more than the competitors request and the cost of fuel accelerates beyond parity leading up to public holidays.We live in a world where the corporate mantra of get big or get out is nothing more than a carefully phased monopolistic statement that screams 'we don't care about you, we know who you are, you have to buy from us cos there is no where else so we will treat you as we please'. The cost of customer service is valued so poorly that it is relegated to a factory in Bangalore next to some western financed sweat shop turning out backpacks and dont worry you wont have to call them because they will call you at dinner time on a daily basis in broken english to pressure you into a lower cost plan that will cost twice as much as the deal you have. How do you respond to this treatment.Never direct debit on a credit card Get a silent number Churn everything(but dont direct debit)Why because loyality or retention is a something of inestimable value, but it is a two way street that the coporate world on longer understands or cares about. So treat as you are treated.
Supplier:
This is who is supplying the inputs to the process. The supplier can supply information or a material product. For our example the supplier would be whoever is specifying what to purchase, when to purchase and how many to purchase.
Process Activity:
This is the process. There are a number of associated tasks contributing to the process. For our example the process activity is purchasing
Outputs:
This is the result of the process. It can be information, energy or material. In our example the output of the purchasing process is the desired product or service delivered when needed. For our example it could be a product like a computer or piece of test equipment. It could be information such as a failure analysis, training materials, book or manual. It could also be a service such as mowing the grass, doing the laundry or processing payroll.
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The cus
Orange country named after the citrus fruit (California is an orange producing state) is one of the 58 counties in Southern California, located along Metro Los Angeles/Long Beach. Notice the coverage of security and protection agencies around such areas as Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino.They provide the most extensive and intensive private eye detection, surveillance, and search on the most notorious undercover characters by providing a network team from highly trained former law enforces, military men, and civilians who qualified the most rigid actual training. All are attributed with the best education to cope with expected levels of practice on certain situations to handle in private investigation.Not only are they akin to the "private eye" absolute keenness, but also, they possess capabilities to counteract any extreme whether changes, and disastrous events during natural calamities.Intelligence and physical vigor are combining factors that frame the Orange County private investigator; mostly, for reasons that a large number of cases from clients come from several surrounding counties, not exclusive to Orange County alone.There are a number of very sensitive issues having to do with family affairs; fraud, identity theft, extensive range in web/internet scams, involving damage to life and properties, and various civil offenses. Private investigation always concerns into finding the real culprit of any headliner.Orange County's Comprehensive lines of Services in Private Investigation1. Surveillance - Service "Specialty" of the Southern California Private Investigators, located in the heart of Orange County, with the most modern and complete innovative technological services, licensed under the state of California. It covers a statewide network manned with the most qualified private investigators in the whole area.2. Insurance - heavily dealt with at the Investigation Pros. This private in
Controls:
These are the items that regulate the rate at which inputs are converted to outputs. Without controls, the process would operate continuously generating the output. The controls for our example could be the material requirements planning software, the purchase requisition approval process and inventory analysis.
Resources:
These are the items used or consumed in the process activity. It could be people’s time, machine time or money. For our example, the resources would be the buyer or purchasing agent, money, the representative for the company supplying the product or service and possibly other support functions who have input for the purchase. Additional resources are in the form of computers, material planning software, phones, fax, office space, etc.
Customer:
The customer is the group that takes the output and uses it. It is most likely used as an input to another process or as a resource.
Feedback Loop:
This is the mechanism used to monitor the process. What metric is used to tell the process owner how the process is performing and when action needs to be taken to correct it. For a purchasing process it could be supplier performance, dollars spent, on-time delivery or receiving inspection information.
2. Identify the Interfaces to the Standard
The interfaces are the points where the process intersects the standard. In simple terms it is where the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard are applicable to the process being audited. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a matrix with the elements of the standard on one axis and the process name on the other.
To better discern the interfaces of the process to the standard you could break the elements down into the sub elements. For example, 7.2 Customer Related Processes is comprised of 7.2.1 Determination of requirements related to the product, 7.2.2 Review of requirements related to the product and 7.2.3 Customer communication. The left side of the matrix would become larger, but you would have a more definitive intersection of the process and standard. This activity provides you with the understanding of what areas of the standard apply to the process. You will be developing questions to ensure compliance to the standard and this tells you what areas of the standard to focus on.
3. Document Review
The document review section requires reading and understanding the associated documentation for the process you are auditing. Start with the level 1 document, the quality manual. The quality manual should provide an overview of the process and should describe how the process fits into the overall quality system. The quality manual will explain what processes feed the process you are auditing and what processes are supported by it. It will describe the interaction and interrelationship of processes within the quality system.
The main output from the review of the quality manual will be an understanding of all the processes that make up the quality system and how they interact. The quality manual should provide a good description of how the processes work.
Next, review the level 2 documentation or procedures. Procedures should describe the process in more detail than the quality manual. There could be many procedures outlining the quality system, or there could be the minimum required by the ISO 9001:2000 standard, six. The six required procedures are:
Control of documents
Control of records
Internal Audits
Control of nonconforming product
Corrective action
Preventive action
Since the ISO 9001:2000 standard requires less documentation than previous versions of ISO 9000, there may not be as many procedures to evaluate. In this case the document review portion will be reduced. During the document review of the manual and procedures your are trying to understand the process and the system and ensure the requirements of the standard are met.
4. Identify Process Interfaces
Process interfaces are the “hand off” points from one process to another. This is where the previous process in providing an input to the audited process and the audited process is providing input to another process. How are process interfaces different from inputs and outputs? An input is the deliverable the process uses and the process interface describes how and when the deliverable is achieved. For example, an input into the purchasing process is the requirements of the purchased item. Looking at the process interface we want to understand how are the requirements delivered to the purchasing process, when are they delivered and by whom? In essence we are not lookin
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