You are conducting a third-party audit to ISO 9001 and interviewing the Training Manager. She explains that training is more
important than ever because the organisation has had to reduce the number of staff employed. Many of the remaining staff
are now required to be 'multi-skilled'. You ask to see plans for the multi-skilling training and are shown plans that look
comprehensive, and include both 'on the job" training and internal and external training courses.
The records indicate that several staff required parts of their training to be repeated one month after the first training was
provided. You ask why this was needed and are told that an investigation of customer complaints identified that several staff
members did not complete certain tasks in the correct manner. The extra training was therefore recommended as a
corrective action.
Based on this interview, which two of the tollowing audit trails would be the most appropriate to follow?
Select the two most appropriate audit trails from the following.
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You are interviewing the Training Manager (TM).
You: "What quality objectives apply to the training process?"
TM: "One of the quality objectives we aim for is a 90% minimum exam pass rate for all open training courses."
You: "How do you measure this objective?"
The Training Manager shows you a record on her computer and you see the following:
Which two of the following statements are true?
In the context of a third-party certification audit, how can the auditor demonstrate confidentiality? Select two.
You are conducting a third-party Stage 1 audit at ABC Ltd, a single-site organisation that manufactures wooden furniture. You interview the Technical Director to learn more about the organisation. The Technical Director explains that they have had a successful year and that obtaining ISO 9001 certification will support the further growth of the business. You ask for an overview of the organisation's structure and its interrelationships with external interested parties.
The Technical Director shows you a document detailing all business processes and interrelationships. You notice in this document that another organisation called Teak Ltd manufactures wooden furniture on behalf of ABC Ltd. The Technical Director confirms this capability has been accounted for in the scope of the quality management system. You learn that the furniture manufactured by Teak Ltd has accounted for 40% of the sales revenue over the previous 12 months.
Which two of the following options best describe how you would plan the audit of the interrelationship with Teak Ltd during the Stage 2 audit at ABC Ltd?
The certification body has not been able to verify the implementation of corrective actions for any identified major nonconformity within six months after the last day of the Stage 2 audit. What must the certification body do in this case?
Which of the following subjects should an auditor discuss when communicating with the auditee’s top management?
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME's revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME's documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME's representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME's top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME's operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
According to scenario 5, Li Na conducted group interviews with departmental managers and top management by herself. Is this in accordance with audit best practices?
You are carrying out an annual audit at an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for two years. The organisation offers home security
services. The scope of the quality management system covers alarm installation, alarm servicing, alarm monitoring and response. The business
operates from a single office and employs subcontract installers and service technicians across the country.
You have just completed the opening meeting. You are interviewing the Managing Director (MD).
You: "I would like to gain an understanding of how the quality management system has been supporting your business and its strategic direction."
MD: "We are continuing to face difficult times. The market is extremely competitive, and customers typically look for the least expensive option when
choosing home security services. We have not yet seen any business benefit from our quality management system."
You: "Tell me how you determine external and internal issues."
MD: "We use SWOT analysis (Strengths Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)."
You: "How have the outputs from your SWOT been used?"
Select two of the following audit trails would you take to explore the extent to which the SWOT analysis and the outputs from this
have been used to enable the business to achieve the intended results(s) of its quality management system according to ISO 9001.
Scenario 7: POLKA is a car manufacturing company based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has around 14,000 employees working in different sectors which help with the design, painting, assembling, and test drives of the final product. The company is widely known for its qualitative products and affordable prices. In order to retain their reputation, POLKA implemented a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001.
Before applying for certification, the company decided to conduct an internal audit to check whether there are any nonconformities in their QMS and if the requirements of ISO 9001 are being fulfilled. The top management appointed Sean, the internal auditor, as the team leader of the internal audit team. Sean required from the top management to have unrestricted access to the employees and executives of POLKA and to the documented information. Furthermore, Sean required to establish a team with a large number of auditors, considering the size and the complexity of the organization. The top management of POLKA agreed with Sean's requirements.
The top management, in cooperation with Sean, assigned 10 more employees to the audit team. Following that. Sean planned the audit activities and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each auditor. They began by interviewing employees of different manufacturing departments to check whether they are aware of the process of the QMS implementation. While conducting these activities, one of the auditors asked Sean for permission to audit the department in which he worked on a daily basis, as he was very familiar with the processes of the department.
Along the way, the teams findings showed that the staff were trained, documented information was updated, and the QMS fulfilled the requirements of ISO 9001. The internal audit took three weeks to complete, and on the last week the audit team held a final meeting
The team shared their results and together drafted the audit report This report was submitted to the top management of the company. The report was maintained as documented information, and was available to the relevant interested parties.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Scenario 7 states that Sean planned audit activities on his own. Is this acceptable?
Which of the following two documents does an auditor need to prepare and complete prior to the on-site audit?
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
Based on scenario 4, conducting which of the activities below is NOT the responsibility of Anne?
Read the following role descriptions. Select two roles that are not directly involved in the audit process.
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers regulatory consultancy services to manufacturers of cosmetics. The business operates from ten regional offices.
You are nearing the end of the audit and need to decide if sufficient evidence of top management leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system has been gathered.
Which four of the following would demonstrate top management leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system?
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry company with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the company. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the company cannot afford it at the moment. You learn
that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the claims on the basis of the poor quality of the laundered materials.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
When reviewing the customer complaint file, you find that the organisation is facing a legal dispute with a customer over damage to an expensive cashmere coat.
Select the best option for how this should be handled by the Quality Management System.
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to
customers.
You are interviewing the Quality Systems Manager (QSM).
You: "What risks and opportunities have the business identified?"
QSM: "I'1l show you. This was discussed with the Managing Director at the latest management review."
Narrative: The QSM shows you the latest management review record and points to the following table:
You: "How is the business planning to address these risks and opportunities?"
QSM: "The MD said that they already knew about them so it was not necessary."
During a second-party audit, the auditor examines the records that are available for the external provider, ABC Forgings, to whom manufacturing has recently been outsourced.
There are standard external provider checklists for three competitors for the contract and there are inspection records from the trial manufacturing batches produced by ABC Forgings. There is no documented evidence of the criteria used to confirm the appointment of ABC Forgings, and no contract or terms and conditions. Ongoing monitoring indicates that external provider performance is satisfactory, but no documented information has been retained.
Select two options for the evidence which demonstrates a nonconformity with clause 8.4 of ISO 9001.
You are carrying out an audit to ISO 9001 at an organisation which offers regulatory consultancy services to manufacturers of cosmetics.
You are interviewing the Technical Director (TD), who manages a team of regulatory experts responsible for providing regulatory services to customers.
You: "How do you ensure your regulatory team's competence concerning regulatory requirements is maintained?"
TD: "The two Regulatory Experts we employ full-time have years of experience of working in the cosmetics industry."
You: "How is their regulatory competence maintained?"
TD: "They are dedicated individuals with lots of contacts in the sector."
You: "How does the business enable them to maintain their understanding of current regulatory requirements?"
TD: "We leave that up to them."
Which two of the following statements related to Stage 1 of an initial certification audit against ISO 9001:2015 are true?
How can an organization ensure the objectivity and impartiality of the internal audit function?
You are leading a Stage 2 certification audit of a multi-site organisation and have received the audit schedule below;
Head Office and Site 1 - Day 1
Site 2 (150 Km from HQ) - Days 2 and 3
During Day 1 of the audit, the dient informs you that the laboratory at Site 2 has been dosed for decontamination due to a serious outbreak of an infectious disease among workers. In Site 2, all other functions could be audited as planned.
As the audit team leader, what would you do?
Choose the best acceptable action you could take:
® Ask the audit Programme Manager for direction.
Complete the audit on day 3 and report back to the certification body for a certification decision.
Continue the audit on days 2 and 3 and return later to audit the Site 2 laboratory.
Immediately cancel the audit since the audit plan cannot be completed.
Who has the responsibility for assigning work to the audit team?
You are auditing an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for ten years. The organisation is a privately-owned, multi-site car tyre fitting
organisation. You are auditing one of the sites. You are auditing the car tyre fitting service. You are interviewing the Site Manager (SM).
You: "Would you explain the car tyre fitting service?"
SM: "Of course. Customers typically call us by phone with their requirements. We ask them what they want. We check whether we have the tyres
they need in stock. If we don't have the tyres in stock, we contact our supplier to confirm when they would be able to supply the tyres. We then
determine the cost. We then check what availability we have in our busy schedule to fit the new tyres. We then inform the customer with details of
cost and when we can fit the tyres. If the customer is happy to proceed with the booking, we update our Work Schedule. The same process applies
for customers who walk into our office and for online requests."
You: "What information do you retain should there be a defect reported by a manufacturer of tyres that you have fitted?"
SM: "We maintain records of customer names, addresses and contact phone numbers. We maintain a record of the type of tyre fitted and the tyre
manufacturers batch information. We also maintain a record of the registration numbers of the vehicles we have fitted tyres to. All records are in our
Work Schedule."
Which two of the following options you would take to enable you to gather further audit evidence to validate what the Site Manager
has told you?
You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies
specialist laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: "I'd like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a
business, say, over the last 12 months?"
Auditee: "We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our
own products in house."
You: "That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that?"
Auditee: "We now mainly sell other manufacturers' products, under their brand names, and have outsourced
manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers. Unfortunately, we had to make six members
of our staff redundant. This represents about 20% of our workforce, so this has been quite a challenging
time."
You: "I'm sure. What were the reasons for making the change?"
Auditee: "Our manufacturing section was a small operation, and we struggled to cope with fluctuations in
demand. During busy periods, we found it hard to meet lead times, and in quiet periods we had staff with
little to do. This was having an impact on customer satisfaction and meant we had to charge premium prices
that made our product uncompetitive."
You: "How did you go about the change?"
In relation to the auditor's question about how the change was managed, the auditee mentions the steps
listed below. Match the ISO 9001 clauses to the steps.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then
click on the ISO 9001 clauses listed below. Alternatively, drag and drop each clause to show which step the
requirement applies to.
An audit team leader arrives at a printing organisation to carry out a Stage 2 audit for a certification body. At a meeting with the Quality Manager, she is told that they have won their biggest contract from a computer
manufacturer to print and compile computer documentation packages. They have leased the unit next door for space reasons but have never worked in this sector before. The Quality Manager wants the ISO 9001
certificate to cover the new contract.
Which one of the options is the correct response by the auditor?
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation that manufactures sacrificial anodes for the oil and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged steel structures. You, as one of the auditors, find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised the release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be Imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests very rarely fall below the required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
At the Closing meeting, the audit team leader presents the findings of the audit and comes to the above
nonconformity. The Quality Manager produces the test report for Project DK, which shows an acceptable galvanic efficiency, and presents an email from the customer confirming acceptance of the anodes. He asks that the nonconformity be withdrawn.
Which two of the following responses by the audit team leader would be acceptable?
Will the auditee be subject to an audit follow-up if a minor nonconformity has been reported by the audit team leader in the audit conclusions?
Even though past audits have highlighted a consistently large number of nonconformities within an organisation's design team, the organisation has not varied the frequency or duration of audits on its audit plan.
The decision for whether this situation is acceptable or not should be governed by which of the following?
Knowledge and skills are requirements of the auditor's competence. Select two from the following topics of knowledge that apply to every member of an audit team auditing an ISO 9001 quality management system.
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
The CEO of AL-TAX hired an experienced consultant to help with the implementation of the QMS. Is this required from ISO 9001?
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME's revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME's documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME's representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME's top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME's operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
According to general principles of sampling procedure, did the audit team select a valid sample for electrical services?
You are conducting a Stage 1 audit at an organisation that services refrigeration equipment for a large customer base.
The scope of certification is "Provision of refrigeration equipment maintenance and repair services". You are interviewing
the Managing Director to learn more about the organisation and to explore how the requirements for policy, objectives,
and risks and opportunities in ISO 9001 are addressed.
The Managing Director explains that they only use sub-contract refrigeration engineers and do not have any full-time
refrigeration engineers, which helps to optimise overhead costs. The full-time staff employed are essentially a small team
of office staff who process customer enquiries, schedule jobs and process invoices.
The Managing Director adds that the ISO 9001 requirements for competence of personnel extends to both sub-contract
and full-time staff. He also states that the full-time staff are aware of the Quality Policy, objectives and plans to address
risk and opportunities.
You ask if the sub-contract engineers have been informed of the Quality Policy, objectives and plans to address risks and
opportunities, to which the Managing Director replies that this is not applicable as they only use sub-contractors who
operate ISO 9001 certificated quality management systems. The documented information provided to the auditor
confirms this.
Which clause in ISO 9001 is most likely not to have been fulfilled in this instance?
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME's revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME's documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME's representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME's top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME's operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
After reviewing the documented information, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to report the minor nonconformities that were identified; instead, they would be discussed in the next audit phase. Is this acceptable?
Which one of the following options best describes the purpose of a Stage 1 third-party audit?
Noitol is an organisation specialising in the design and production of e-learning training materials for the insurance market. During an ISO 9001 audit of the development department, the auditor asks the Head of Development about the process used for validation of the final course design. She states that they usually ask customers to validate the product with volunteers. She says that the feedback received often leads to key improvements.
The auditor samples the design records for a recently completed course for the 247 Insurance organisation. Design verification was carried out but there was no validation report. The Head of Development advises that this customer required the product on an urgent basis, so the validation stage was omitted. When asked, the Head estimates that this occurs about 50% of the time. She confirms that they always ask for feedback and often make changes. There is no record of feedback in the design file for the course.
The auditor decides to review the training course design process in more depth.
Select three options that provide a meaningful audit trail for this process.
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which situation presented in scenario 2 is NOT compliant with ISO 9001?
Which two of the following are the key expected results of a quality management system that conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015?
Which of the following is a principle of maintaining audit work documents?
Select six of the activities that are specifically required by ISO 17021-1 as part third-party (Certification Body) surveillance audit processes.
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME's revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME's documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME's representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME's top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME's operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
Li Na chose a sampling method that sufficiently represents customer complaints from both areas of ME’s operations. Which sampling method fits that description?
TIX provides services to the informatic equipment of large organisations. They operate an ISO 9001:2015 QMS that is being audited by an important
customer (second-party audit). During the audit, the audit team has identified two nonconformities. When preparing the Closing meeting, the audit
team discussed and agreed both nonconformities with TIX's quality manager. The Closing meeting was planned for 6pm with the general manager,
quality manager and service manager at the meeting room.
At 6pm, when the audit team enters the meeting room, only two people are present and waiting for them: the Health and Safety supervisor and the
warehouse supervisor. Neither have participated in the audit.
The dialogue among them is as follows:
Audit team leader: "Good evening, could you please inform the three managers that we are ready to start with the Closing meeting?"
Health and Safety supervisor: "Good evening. We are sorry to inform you that the general manager was involved in a serious car accident, and
the other two managers have had to leave urgently to attend the emergency."
Warehouse supervisor: "They have asked us to listen to what you need to say and to sign whatever we need to sign. We also have a message
from them about the two nonconformities. They wanted us to ask you if you could contact them in a couple of days to determine how to proceed."
Which one of the following options would be your preferred response to the final comment made by the warehouse manager?
What is the responsibility of the audit committee during an internal audit?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years.
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation which manufactures sacrificial anodes for the
oil and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged steel structures. As one of
the auditors, you find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the
anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised the
release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests rarely fall below the
required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
During the audit team meeting in preparation for the Closing meeting, the second auditor disagreed with the clause of ISO 9001 selected for the
above nonconformity. He thinks it should be clause 9.1.1.
Choose three options for how the audit team leader should best respond to the situation:
The following are stages of an audit, put them in the order they would be conducted.
ABC is a service organisation that cleans and irons bed and table linen for four large hospitals in the city centre. It claims to meet ISO 9001:2015 requirements. During an internal audit, an auditor observes that
machine No. 4 is being operated with the three variables outside the limits established in the applicable documented procedure SP-701. The auditor has decided to raise a nonconformity.
Which six elements should be included in the nonconformity report?
You are conducting a third-party audit to ISO 9001 and the next item on your audit plan is 'internal auditing'.
When reviewing a sample of audit records up to 5 years previously, you find that many contain non-conformance reports and no actions have been taken. You interview the Quality Manager.
You: "I have noted that many of the older files contain non-conformances that have not had any corrective action taken."
Quality Manager: "Because the business is always changing, the departmental managers tell me that the non-conformances are no longer applicable. I made a decision that any non-conformance over 3 years old is automatically closed"
You: "Do you obtain any confirmation beforehand from the appropriate departments that the non-conformances are no longer applicable."
Quality Manager: " No, because they are so old I consider that they are no longer appropriate. Please remember that we take a risk-based approach which means we audit where and when it is considered important to do so.
Select one course of action you would now take from the options.
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which statement related to the last paragraph of scenario 2 is correct?
Auditor competence is a combination of knowledge and skills. Which two of the following activities are predominately related to 'knowledge'?
Which two of the following may be changed once a Stage 2 certification audit has commenced?
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
The quality policy was established by Leslie and approved by top management. Is this acceptable? Please refer to scenario 2.