During a second-party audit of a dairy farm (by a potential customer) complying with ISO 9001:2015, the auditor verifies that there is large variability in the daily production of the milking yard. The current agreement with their only customer is to provide 2,000 litres per day. However, in the last two years, they have noticed an increasing variability in daily production.
If they produce less than 2,000 litres, they are penalised with a fine of 1.5 pesos for every litre that they do not provide. If they produce more than 2,000 litres, they use the extra milk to feed the pigs.
This process has been in operation for decades. The dairy farm was founded by the grandfather of the current owners, who did not want to alter the established practices.
The auditor raises a nonconformity on the basis that the process is not under control (Clause 8.1).
If you had been the auditor, which one of the following actions would you have accepted?
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 the manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers.”
You: “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. The steps represent different elements of the Plan/Do/Check/Act cycle.
Select three steps which apply to the ‘check’ element of the cycle.
In the context of a third-party certification audit, how can the auditor demonstrate confidentiality? Select two.
During a Stage 1 audit, the Quality Manager asks that the audit includes coverage of a new work area they have expanded into since the application was made.
Which of the following two actions should the auditor take?
Auditor competence is a combination of knowledge and skills. Which two of the following activities are predominately related to ' knowledge ' ?
You are auditing a manufacturer of speciality tea products during a Stage 2 certification audit. In the quality laboratory, you interview one of three operatives conducting sensory testing of a batch from the production line.
You: How do you determine the consistency of the product?
Operative: We conduct sensory tests to evaluate flavour and aroma and record the results. We then allocate a quality grade.
You: How can you ensure that results are consistent between operatives?
Operatives: The three of us in the lab are well-trained and very experienced. We use the Hedonic Scale method involving a 5-point scoring system.
You: Are operatives periodically calibrated to ensure consistency?
Operative: No, but we regularly ask each other for a second opinion in borderline cases.
Select three options of evidence which could demonstrate conformance with clause 9.1.1 of ISO 9001.
Match the process descriptions below to the process names:
During a second-party audit of a fruit grower (apples, pears, peaches) by a potential customer complying with ISO 9001:2015, the auditor verifies that there is a large variability in the quality of fruit production. In the last two years, they have noticed an increasing variability in daily production quality. The auditor found a trend of delivered produce showing signs of bruising and over-ripening, which led to an increasing number of customer complaints.
This process has been in operation for decades. The business was founded by the grandfather of the current owners, who did not want to alter the established practices.
The auditor raises a non-conformity against ISO 9001.
Which one of the following options would be acceptable as corrective action by the auditee?
Which two of the following may be changed once a Stage 2 certification audit has commenced?
Select the phrase that best describes the purpose of a quality management system to ISO 9001 in relation to the performance of an organization.
(Select two applicable benefits of third-party certification of ISO 9001 quality management systems for an organisation:)
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?
Who maintains ownership of the audit report?
The following are stages of an audit, put them in the order they would be conducted.
Who would be defined as a witness during a witness audit?
Choose two of the following options:
(Select one option which defines the purpose of a second-party audit to ISO 9001.)
Select six tasks you would expect to be completed at the audit team meeting of a third-party audit team leader and his audit team in preparation for a Closing meeting for a four-day initial certification audit.
You are conducting an ISO 9001 audit of a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). The company
processes waste plastics into raw material for plastic bottle manufacturers. You reach the manual
picking line where operators are removing contaminant materials from incoming products, such as
plastic bags, plastic film and badly contaminated items that would compromise the recycling process.
You interview the line supervisor.
You: " Why are these plastic items being rejected at this stage? "
Auditee: " They do not meet our processing standards. "
You: " What is the reason for that? "
Auditee: " These items are likely to damage the machinery down the line. They can also
compromise our quality standards. We need to protect our reputation for good quality output
materials. "
You: " What happens to the rejected items? "
Auditee: " Some get melted down in another process later on and some are disposed of as waste
products that cannot be recycled. "
You: " What happens to the waste products? "
Auditee: " I ' m not sure. I suppose they go to landfill. "
After further auditing, you have gathered additional evidence.
Confidence in the audit process and its ability to achieve its objectives depends on the competence of those involved in performing audits:
According to ISO 19011, select the two participants who need to be competent in performing audits.
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers warehousing and export services to customers. Customers are invoiced for the time stock items are stored in the warehouse. Transport to and from the warehouse is controlled by the organisation and approved subcontract transport services are used. The organization does not have its own transport vehicles. Stock items are not purchased by the organisation.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 Clause 8 extract to the audit evidence.
Match the following potential audit client options to the type of audit.
Which quality management principle does an organization fulfill when it assesses risks, consequences, and impacts before taking action?
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.
A small cleaning services organisation is about to start work on a hospital cleaning contract for the local Health Trust. You,
as auditor, are conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 and review the contract with the Service Manager. The contract
requires that a cleaning plan is produced.
You: " How was the cleaning plan for the contract developed? "
Service Manager: " We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and cleaning methods to be
employed. Some of that is specified by the customer. "
You: " How does the plan deal with locations like the intensive care wards and the operating theatres, which are included
in the contract? "
Service Manager: " The basic plan covers general wards, but we will do more frequent cleaning in those areas if the
hospital requests it. "
You: " Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for cleaning standards in hospitals? "
Service Manager: " No. We depend on the hospital to look after that side of things in the contract. "
You decide to raise a non-conformity against section 8.2.2.a.1 of ISO 9001.
You decide to raise another non-conformity against section 8.2.4 of ISO 9001 when finding that the
cleaning plan was amended without the agreement of the Health Trust. A different cleaning chemical was
substituted to that specified in the contract. At the follow-up audit, the corrective action proposed was to
" obtain a concession from the Health Trust for use of the new chemical. "
Which one of the following options is the reason why you did not accept this action taken?
Which one of the following is not an ISO 9000:2015 quality management principle?
ISO 9001 is based on quality management principles. Match each of the following quality management principles to the related activity.
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. 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints
relate to customer laundry not being cleaned as customers require. 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 now. You learn that the shop managers were
told to dismiss most of the complaints because 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.
You raised a nonconformity against clause 8.5.1 of ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario, select the three options which best describe the evidence for raising such a nonconformity.
A Health Trust has contracted with Servitup, a catering services company that has been certified to ISO
9001 for one year. It provides services to 10 small rural hospitals in remote locations involving the
purchase and storage of dry goods and fresh produce, preparing meals and loading heated trolleys for
ward service by hospital staff. You, as auditor, are conducting the first surveillance audit at one site with
the Deputy Catering Manager (DCM).
DCM: " I apologise for the absence of the Catering Manager. He has called in sick today and we are really
short of staff. "
You: " I see. It really shouldn ' t affect the QMS so the audit can progress as normal. "
DCM: " The Catering Manager set up the system. I ' m afraid I ' m not as familiar with it as he is. "
You: " OK, let ' s start with the Quality Policy. What are the main issues for the QMS here? "
DCM: Give me a minute. I need to look at the Quality Policy on the noticeboard in his office.
You find that two internal audits have been carried out in the first year by the Catering Manager. One of
them indicates that complaints from patients are increasing in number, mainly due to food being served
too cold. The DCM comments that the trolley thermometer is often unreliable.
Which two of the following actions would be " correction " in dealing with the complaints?
Takitup is a small fabrication company that manufactures steel fencing, stairs and platforms for the construction sector. It has been certified to ISO 9001 for some time and has appointed a new Quality Manager. The audit plan during a surveillance audit is to cover the company’s improvement actions and the auditor asks to see the most recent management review meeting minutes.
Which two of the options would be relevant points for the auditor’s checklist for the audit?
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:
Scenario 1 indicates that AL-TAX did not ensure clear and open communication channels with interested parties. Which quality management principle did the organization not follow in this case?
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 client informs you that the laboratory at Site 2 has been closed 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:
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?
What does the application of the process approach in a QMS enable?
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 have just completed the opening meeting. You are interviewing the Managing Director (MD).
You: “Good morning. I would like to gain an understanding of your business and its strategic direction.”
MD: “Of course. We are facing challenging times. The market is extremely competitive, and customers typically look for the least expensive option when arranging health and safety training. Our annual sales revenue has struggled to grow over the past two years. Most of our employed trainers are planning to retire over the next 12 months, and we are looking for more subcontract trainers. Achieving ISO 9001 certification will, I hope, give us the capability to improve our operational performance. Also, many of our competitors do not have any form of management system certification, so I hope it will give us that competitive edge needed to secure orders. We intend to promote our ISO 9001 certification on our website and across all other customer-facing media.”
Which three of the following audit trails would you take to explore the extent to which external and internal issues have been determined and used to enable the business to achieve the intended result(s) of its quality management system?
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. "
This scenario presents a number of audit trails to different ISO 9001 requirements.
Which three of the following requirements would be relevant audit trails for this scenario?
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?
An internal auditor of a manufacturer of polystyrene packaging products for the electronics industry raised a nonconformity against
section 10.3 of ISO 9001 in Report IA202. The nonconformity (NC 3) stated:
" The reject rate of ' finished ' product of 9.7% needs improvement as it doesn ' t meet the stated objective of top management of 5%. "
Just before the Closing meeting of a third-party audit, the audit team leader is invited to a meeting with the Quality Manager. He tells
the audit team leader that a member of the audit team was seen taking photographs of the factory on his phone during the day and
wants him suspended from the Closing meeting with any nonconformities raised by him rescinded. The issue of photographs was not
discussed during the opening meeting.
Select the three options for how the audit team leader might deal with this situation.
In the context of a third-party audit, match the event with the responsibility for conducting it.
An audit team leader arrives at a printing company 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. The Quality Manager wants the ISO 9001 certificate to cover the new contract.
During the audit, a team member found that some print jobs had been rejected by several clients over some months due to spelling errors in the print run. The Print Manager blames the new employees they had to take on because of a big contract.
The auditor finds that the responsibility for checking spelling errors is placed on the printer that sets up the print run.
In line with the policy of the certification body, the audit team raise improvement opportunities in the audit report. Which
three of the following options would represent acceptable opportunities for improvement in the report?
The following actions need to be carried out during a third-party audit planning stage. Which two actions correspond to the individual(s) managing the audit program before the involvement of the audit team leader’
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?
Which of the following is a principle of maintaining audit work documents?
Select the term which best describes the quality management system process of modifying a non-conforming product to bring it within acceptance criteria.
(A third-party audit has been planned at a single-site organisation. The audit team comprises one audit team leader, one auditor and one auditor who is undertaking his first third-party audit.
During the on-site audit, the auditor who is undertaking his first third-party audit shall...)
Select one option that must be considered when determining the scope of a QMS to ISO 9001.
State the correct sequence of events in the certification process for an organisation to obtain third-party accredited certification to ISO 9001.
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?
You work for an organisation, ' ABC ' , which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other
auditors) to audit an external provider, ' XYZ ' , which provides packaging materials to your organisation. It is 4 pm, and the audit is dlose to an end;
you are having an internal meeting with the team to decide what will be presented to the auditee during the Closing meeting. The Closing meeting
was scheduled for 5 pm.
' XYZ ' has two manufacturing lines: M1 is a clean room for primary packaging materials (i.e. will be in direct contact with the food), and M2 is for
secondary materials (i.e. will not be in direct contact with food).
Auditor 1 audited the two manufacturing lines.
You: " What findings would you report? "
Auditor 1: " I have one issue. Earlier today in the morning I saw some secondary material stocked in the clean room. I would propose raising a
nonconformity. "
You: " How would you write the nonconformity? "
Auditor 1: " In the clean room, there was a pallet with secondary materials. "
What additional information would you add to this text to complete the nonconformity report? Select six.
Whistiekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organisation 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 organisation. The deaning equipment needs replacing but the organisation cannot afford it now. You learn that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the claims based on 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.
Match the ISO 9001 Clauses to the statements.
What are the objectives of the Stage 2 audit?
(Select the six statements that are required as part of a second-party audit to ISO 9001 carried out by an organisation to a key supplier (ABC), taking into account recommendations from ISO 19011.)
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 raises a nonconformity against ISO 9001. Which one of the following options is the basis for the nonconformity?
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
Based on the last paragraph of scenario 3, which audit principle did the audit team follow?
You work for organisation A. You are asked to lead an internal audit of A ' s quality management system. It has a head office in Plant A1 and a second Plant A2 nearby. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production in A2 was discontinued and it was rented to a logistics organisation B, not related to A. There are no A employees working in A2. Organisation A expects to reassume production in A2 as soon as possible.
Which of the following actions would you consider appropriate when planning the internal audit of A ' s quality management system?
You work as an external quality consultant for an organisation, “ABC”, which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other auditors) to audit an external provider, “XYZ”, which provides packaging materials to “ABC”. It is 4 pm, and the closing meeting was scheduled for 5 pm.
You, as the audit team leader, audited Top Management. You explain to the audit team that you identified two non-conformities:
a. There is no documented information on the results of Top Management Reviews, as required in clause 9.3 of ISO 9001:2015.
b. There is no evidence of Top Management commitment as required in clause 5.1 of ISO 9001:2015 (e.g., not ensuring the availability of resources to operate the QMS, not ensuring the establishment of objectives).
All agreed to present these two non-conformities, graded as major.
As the audit team leader, select the best option on how to handle the closing meeting.
An organisation wants to certify their ISO 9001:2015-based QMS for the first time. Arrange the activities in the correct sequence from 2 to 5.
To complete the sequence, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the applicable text from the options below. Alternatively, drag and drop the
options to the appropriate blank section.
In the context of a third-party certification audit, it is very important to have effective communication. Which is not the responsibility of the audit team leader?
To complete the non-conformity report, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the applicable text from the options below. Alternatively, drag and drop the options to the appropriate blank section.
An internal auditor of a manufacturer of polystyrene packaging products for the electronics industry raised a nonconformity against section 10.3 of ISO 9001 in Report IA202. The nonconformity (NC 3) stated:
" The reject rate of the finished product of 9.7% needs improvement as it doesn ' t meet the stated objective of top management of 5%. "
As the third-party auditor reviewing the internal audit process, you come across the nonconformity. For corrective action, the Quality Manager conducted an investigation into the reject rates. He reported that the collection baskets for products ejecting from the moulding machines were not large enough. About 6% of products fell onto the wet and dirty factory floor. Management stated that replacing the baskets was too costly and ordered the Maintenance Manager to ensure that the floor was kept clean and dry to prevent rejects. The auditor later checked the factory floor, which was wet and dirty in places.
From the following nonconformities, select three that the auditor could raise to 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.
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?
An organisation decides to purchase products and services only from ISO 9001 certified suppliers.
Match the four organisational functions to a potential benefit.
Match the process descriptions below to the process names:
ABC is a worldwide fast-food organisation. One of the branches, in downtown Cape Town, decided to
implement an ISO 9001 quality management system and you are the audit team leader (with two other
auditors) that will carry out the certification audits, Stage 2.
ABC receive the orders by phone or internet; some of the employees deliver the ordered food to indicated
addresses. The normal menu includes 15 different types of hamburgers; however, in the last two weeks,
due to a shortage of a special type of meat, they can only prepare six of the 15 varieties.
During the internal meeting of the audit team, you ask one of the auditors to describe what she has
observed. She audited the reception of orders from customers (via phone or internet) and the
communication of the orders to the kitchen. She noticed that the menu offering food on the website is still
the normal one, with 15 different hamburgers, and during a 30-minute period, she observed many
customers reluctantly accepting something other than the hamburger they preferred.
You, as audit team leader, inform the Quality Manager of your concern about the major nonconformity,
since you consider this a serious breach of the basic principles of quality that lasted two weeks without
action being taken.
Right at the beginning of the Closing meeting, you discuss the nonconformity with the General Manager.
She got quite upset and said she was going to make a complaint to the certification body and left the
room; the Quality Manager was the only member of ABC left with the audit team. The Quality Manager said the General Manager would not come back to the meeting.
What would you do? Choose the best from the following options:
Which of the following subjects should an auditor discuss when communicating with the auditee’s top management?
Match each of the following statements into the table below to show whether they apply to first-party audits, second-party audits or third-party audits:
Which of the following is a responsibility of a guide in an audit?
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?
(When raising a non-conformity during an audit, which two of the following items should you include in the non-conformity statement?)
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:
Consultancy ABC, which is a subsidiary of a certification body called ABC-CERT, provided consultancy services regarding the implementation of a QMS based on ISO 9001 to an organization. Considering this, can ABC-CERT provide certification services to the organization which obtained consultancy services from Consultancy ABC?
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 at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The
organisation 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. The organisation uses a software programme called SWIFT, which is used to record sales, plan production, purchase supplies, print despatch notes, track new product development, perform traceability exercises, carry out mass balance checks, raise invoices, create budgets, and support financial control.
You are nearing the end of the audit and you are reviewing your audit notes. You notice a recurring trend concerning the SWIFT database as shown below:
You ask the Quality Manager to explain how the SWIFT database is controlled. You learn that the Operations Director is
responsible for determining and progressing SWIFT software updates. You decide to meet the Operations Director (OD).
You: " Good afternoon. "
OD: " Good afternoon. "
You: " What responsibility do you have concerning the SWIFT database? "
OD: " I maintain it. If anyone wishes to propose an update to the database, they send me an email with
details of their proposal. I then either process the database update myself, or I send the request to the
consultant who designed the database 20 years ago. The necessary software changes are made, and the
amended software is immediately released to users. "
You: " Would you explain how the software amendments are controlled? "
OD: " Of course. I personally update every computer myself. "
You: " Do you inform the database users of the changes? "
OD: " No I don ' t. They find out for themselves by using the software, or they come to see me if they have
any questions. "
You: " How do you ensure that the database users use the latest version? "
OD: " That ' s easy, I update every computer myself. "
You: " During the audit, I noted there were several versions of SWIFT in use (you refer to your audit
notes). "
OD: " I know. That ' s because some versions work better than others, and depending on user needs and
experiences, we allow users to revert to using an earlier version if they find it works better for them. "
Based on the scenario, which two of the following statements are true? There is evidence of
nonconformity with a requirement defined in ...
Which of the following three options could be considered potential threats to impartiality in an audit context?
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.
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?
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.
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?
' XYZ ' has already sent to you a list with all documented procedures and work instructions related to the services provided to ' ABC ' (a quality manual is not included in the list).
To complete the audit planning which additional information would you ask to XYZ to submit? Select four.
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