Time sure flies so fast. It seemed only a short while ago that we went through our compliance audit. In fact it had been about 13 months.

So my time-management skills were stretched to the limit. Having been made the head of the new data centre effective February, there are many things that need urgent attention, but at the same time I also had to play my role as head of the internal audit team which is one of the critical elements of a successful quality program. I would never have been able to do both without the support of great teams in each camp. Thanks, teammates!

SIRIM QAS’ 2-day (yearly) surveillance audit of our department ended today. I think after the closing meeting, everybody could heave a collective sigh of relief: we did enough to maintain our MS ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Congratulations to all involved.

I expected a few minor nonconformances (NCs) and a bundle of opportunities for improvement (OFI) suggestions, and that’s what exactly happened. As is usually the case with surveillance audits, the scope was not as comprehensive as last years’ audit. The experience we had last year definitely helped, we were somewhat more prepared, at least mentally, this year.

I am also grateful to the auditors for allowing myself and another colleague to be in the interview room to observe how they conduct the audit. You can be sure I was furiously taking notes on my laptop.

Looking towards the future, the 2nd surveillance audit will take place a year from now, and the recertification audit the year after that. That last audit I expect to be a very tough one. But who knows, the audit team might be different that time…

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