Every company thrives in providing its customers with the highest quality of products and services. A crucial part of this is continuous enhancements to improve their satisfaction.
Successful companies know how to assess and see if they are doing the right thing in terms of their processes. This includes conducting a quality assurance audit every often.
This article explains more about QA audits and how they can help you become successful.
What is a quality assurance audit?
Quality assurance audit is the systematic process of ensuring the company’s products and services meet its quality and compliance standards.
But instead of the product or service, the QA audit analyzes and reviews the overall development process. It aims to make the development process as efficient and compliant as possible while maintaining customer expectations.
QA audits can be done in two ways:
- Internally – by forming a QA team spearheaded by an in-house auditor.
- Externally – with the help of second or third-party auditors.
A quality assurance auditor conducts QA audits, tests systems, and suggests improvements for the processes involved.
Quality assurance audit procedure
Various industries have different ways of doing a quality assurance audit according to the products and services they offer.
In outsourcing companies, for instance, QA audits mean reviewing the agents’ calls or outputs, checking their quality, and ensuring they are at par with the client’s standards.
However, QA audits undergo similar procedures as listed below:
Planning
The QA auditor reviews the process to be audited, its prior audits, and the improvements implemented. They will also examine the policies and compliance standards that should be applied in their current operations.
From here, the auditor forms a concrete plan for conducting the audit, what it should cover, and what metrics to use.
External auditors, meanwhile, will notify the organization of the audit schedule, its duration, and the release of the results.
Team formation
The company then forms a QA team to conduct the audit along with the auditor. Each team member will be trained and assigned a task in the audit plan.
When creating a QA team, businesses can include a representative of each department or a few key persons to guide the external auditors.
A large audit team is also advisable for larger operations, enough that each member has a single task assigned to them.
Execution
This is where the entire auditing process takes place. Everything, from conducting interviews to testing the processes and equipment used, will be done accordingly.
Review and evaluation
Once the QA audit is done, the team will review and evaluate their findings. The auditor drafts the report containing the results, recommendations, and points for improvement.
For external audits, the auditor will communicate with the business once their audit report is available. Recommendations will also be made according to the compliance standards applicable to the process audited.
Tips for conducting a quality assurance audit
A quality assurance audit fails for three reasons: poor planning, poor auditing, and lack of implementation or follow-through.
While the audit and the follow-through rely on team effort and collaboration, audit planning usually falls in the hands of the auditor or manager assigned to it.
Fortunately, there’s a way to do QA audits right and make them successful and effective for the organization.
Here are a few manageable tips for conducting a quality assurance audit:
Set clear objectives
Clear objectives set the foundation for proper auditing flow. Set clear and manageable objectives for QA audits, so the team knows how to accomplish their tasks accordingly.
Eradicate biases
Avoid biases as much as possible and make the auditing process transparent when needed. As mentioned, it’s best to get a representative from each department to accomplish each task in the plan.
Keep things simple
The main purpose of a quality assurance audit is to improve and standardize operational processes. Overcomplicating audits can make them lose their essence, with their results ending up ineffective.
Keep QA audits as simple as possible. Use existing templates online and create basic systems in auditing to make the process easier.
Modify your audit plan as needed
At times, changes might be needed in auditing, especially when some critical points in the operations are missed out. With this, the audit team should be ready for modifications and adjustments as needed.
Ensure follow-through
Not having a follow-through defeats the purpose of a quality assurance audit, which is improving a company’s operations.
Ensure a proper follow-through from the audit results by creating implementation measures. Set milestones and timelines for achieving goals according to the results.
Outsourcing quality assurance audit
Internal QA audits are good for companies looking to improve their operations without external influence or in preparation for one. However, it is still best to have an additional eye to check if you are doing the right thing.
You can outsource quality assurance auditing to reliable service providers such as OP360. Aside from improving your functions, tapping into outsourcing can help you do your audits cost-efficiently.
