Audit management and reporting through the World Wide Web.

Performing a single audit of a process or installation might be considered to be a relatively straightforward task. However, when many different assets, processes or organisations require auditing on a regular basis, often by more than one auditing company, the audit management can become complex.

Where multiple parties have an interest in the outcome of the audit, the job of managing the process and the dissemination of audit data becomes a time consuming and demanding responsibility. The requirement for increased accuracy and accountability has continued unabated but the management tools for rapid, interactive audit reporting have not kept pace. Until now!

METCO Services Ltd. have many years experience conducting and managing audits for some of the world's largest organisations. Ambrit Ltd. are developers of leading edge web database solutions. Together they have created Inspect™, a web based audit management and reporting solution. Inspect™ is the second in a suite of four web based metrology asset management applications created by METCO and Ambrit.

Inspect™ creates a secure interactive environment where auditors, audit managers and operations personnel across the world can share key audit information in real time regardless of location.

Using a standard web browser on the Internet or private Intranet networks Inspect™ enables audit managers to maintain control of the complete audit process, from initiating the audit criteria to the issue of the final audit report and management of corrective actions.

Audit criteria can be entered manually or imported from predefined templates or previous audits and then downloaded to an auditor’s computer. As the audit proceeds the auditor can enter the findings, include comments, and recommend corrective action, responsibilities and close out dates. The auditor's findings may be supported by images, scans or video file attachments as neccessary.

When an audit revision is completed, the findings are automatically uploaded to the server where they can be analysed using Inspect’s™ powerful filtering and search tools. Inspect™ uses inbuilt revision control procedures, alert settings and automated email mechanisms to advise audit managers when report data is available for review and alert key personnel to ensure that close out dates are met.

Once findings have been reviewed and modified if necessary, the audit is signed off then a formal audit report is published on the Internet for viewing by interested parties, authorities, clients and those given the responsibility to close out corrective actions. Reports and summaries can also be emailed to selected recipients.

For added security Inspect™ can archive remote, synchronised copies of criteria and findings for future reference.