Issue: 308
Date:
2015/04/23
To:
ANAB-Accredited and Applicant CBs and Accreditation Assessors
From:
Lori Gillespie, Director of Accreditation
Re:
Revised Accreditation Rule 18 on Scheduling Witnessed Audits
ANAB has revised Accreditation Rule 18, Scheduling Witnessed Audits Required to Maintain ANAB
Accreditation. It is essentially a complete re-write, with each step of the process revised or clarified.
You may recall AR 18 was developed in late 2013 specifically to improve the witnessed audit scheduling
process for 2014 (see Heads Up 278). ANAB began revising the AR in early 2014 to improve the process
in 2015 and beyond. Stakeholders, including CB representatives, were included in the drafting process.
The revised AR 18 was circulated for public comment late in 2014. Revisions to ANAB’s EQM database
required to support the revised process have been completed and we have published!
Because of the magnitude of changes in AR 18 the implementation date will be later than the published
date. AR 18 will be effective as of June 1.
Key changes include:
• Emphasis on the importance of the Four-year Assessment Program (see Heads Up 306)
• Revision of the Witnessed Audit Criteria form requiring the CB to complete the portion of the form
that provides ANAB the necessary detail to schedule the selected audit to be witnessed.
• Scheduling deadlines, with a penalty escalation process and a revised cancelation fee schedule
(to be reflected on the revised ANAB fee schedule)
• Revision of the type of audits to be witnessed in the four-year accreditation cycle to improve the
scheduling process and allow the EATL more flexibility in selecting witnessed audit criteria based
on the CB’s activity
• Incentive for CBs demonstrating a best practice for initial and recertification processes
• Safe harbor clause attempting to protect the CB from activity “beyond its control” (as with most of
our processes)
We ask each CB to provide by June 1 the necessary detail for ANAB to confirm as many 2015 required
witnessed audits as possible. This will minimize witnessed audits being subjected to the scheduling
threshold penalties outlined in AR 18. Please review required witnessed audits in EQM and work with
your ANAB coordinator on any detail necessary to confirm witnessed audits as soon as possible to avoid
penalties. If you have any questions, please reach out to your coordinator and work through the
scheduling process together.
ANAB will review required stage 1 and 2 witnessed audits in EQM and ANAB staff will work with the EATL
to decide if the audits are required or if they can be canceled (not required) per the revised AR 18. This
will be reviewed case by case and the CB will be notified.
As of the effective date of June 1:
• If a 2015 required witnessed audit planned to be conducted within 120 days remains
unconfirmed, ANAB will ask the CB to complete the witnessed audit criteria form with detail
necessary to confirm the audit. ANAB will provide the CB with a due date, which will be applied
under section 2.4 of AR 18. Because of the late scheduling, ANAB may not be able to support the
•
•
selected witnessed audits given that we are scheduling other assessments 120+ days in
advance. We will work with the CB as much as possible but may have to select different
witnessed audit criteria, which will further delay the process.
All other required witnessed audits required in 2015 and beyond will be processed in accordance
with AR 18.
If you believe your initial and recertification processes exceed the minimum requirements and
would like your EATL to consider this in accordance with section 4.2.2 of AR 18, please contact
your EATL directly so he or she can plan to conduct a review during the appropriate office
assessment.