SC QUALITY GUILDAudit program metrics
SCQUALITYGUILD.COM/TOOLS/AUDIT-PROGRAM-METRICS.HTML
Enter quarterly audit program results and see on-time completion, findings per audit, CAR closure time, overdue CARs, repeat findings and auditor utilization trended against targets.
ON THE EXAM · CQA IV.A.4, IV.A.9 · FREE · NOTHING YOU TYPE LEAVES YOUR BROWSER
Q-BotClick for an explanation of this tool.For educational use. This page is a study aid. The method behind it has far more depth and detail than one page and one tool can cover, and what you see here is not everything the method offers or everything this site offers. For full understanding and application, use the governing standards and texts, and seek further education, training or qualified advice. Results depend on the data you enter, so check them before relying on them.
Why measure the audit program
An audit program is a process, so it needs measures like any other. ISO 19011:2018 asks the program manager to monitor whether the program is achieving its objectives (clause 5.7) and to review and improve it (clause 5.8). The measures here answer three questions: are the audits being done as planned, are they finding what matters, and are the findings being fixed for good?
The measures
- On-time completion: audits done in the scheduled month divided by audits planned. A skipped audit counts as late, so the rate cannot look good by dropping audits.
- Nonconformities per audit: majors plus minors divided by audits done. Watch the mix of majors, minors and opportunities for improvement too.
- Days to close a CAR and overdue CARs: how fast and how reliably the auditees act.
- Repeat findings: findings that repeat one already closed, as a share of all nonconformities. This is the most direct sign that corrective actions are not effective.
- Auditor utilization: audit days used against days available. Above 100 percent usually shows up later as late audits or thin sampling.
Reading the trend
Read the measures together. Falling findings per audit can mean a maturing system or shallower audits; low repeat rates and clean external audits support the first, while shrinking audit time and samples point to the second. A fast CAR closure time with rising repeats suggests CARs are being closed before effectiveness is shown. Feedback from auditees and audit clients, and the value management sees in the results, are worth adding as qualitative measures.
On the CQA exam
Expect questions on how to evaluate an audit program's effectiveness, which measure shows that corrective actions are working, and how program results feed management review.