Remote Auditing - Love It Or Hate It - Let's Embrace It!

The concept of Remote Auditing (often called E-Auditing) is a polarizing idea in the metrology community. Staunch advocates offer claims that audits can and should be 100% remote and that on-site visits are a vestige of the pre-internet business world. Equally staunch opponents are passionate that without a physical visit an effective audit is simply not possible. The truth is somewhere in the middle. As part of a toolbox of auditing techniques, Remote Auditing can contribute to reduction of the cost of an audit program and may offer flexibility, especially in internal auditing. Remote auditing can be used to reduce, but not eliminate, on-site visits and hence save travel costs and temper the operational impact by reducing audit interruptions to manufacturing and service. But can we ensure remote auditing techniques produce reliable, repeatable and validated results? This paper will show, through real examples, a method of incorporating remote auditing into robust audit program. Examples will be shared regarding when it is or is not an effective tool and how it can be combined with and enhance traditional on-site auditing processes. Additional examples illustrate when remote auditing is not effective and when its use may actually hinder the internal audit process. Pros and cons, data comparing potential savings, best practices and lessons learned will be presented. The conclusion of the paper is that while it is not a stand-alone process, the inclusion of effective Remote Auditing techniques can contribute significantly to the overall goals of cost and time reduction in an audit program, without sacrificing audit quality.