3 Definitions T 41

Terms, definitions and books related to quality and audits

The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms. Socrates

Some terms and definitions currently used in this module:

Audit client: everyone requesting an audit
Audit conclusions: outcome of an audit
AQMS: Aerospace Quality Management System
Audit criteria: everything against which audit evidence is compared
Audit findings: every deviation from audit criteria
Auditee: everyone who is audited
Auditor: everyone who is trained to carry out audits
Competence: personal skills, knowledge and experiences
Customer: anyone who receives a product
External provider (supplier): an entity that provides a product
Interested party: person, group or company affected by the impacts from an organization
Nonconformity: non-fulfillment of a specified requirement
Organization (company): a structure that satisfies a need
Product (or service): every result of a process or activity
Quality objective: quality related, measurable goal that must be achieved
Stakeholder: person, group or company that can affect or be affected by an organization

Examples of interested partiesperson, group or organization affected by the impacts from a company (see also ISO 14001, 3.2.3): investors, customers, suppliers, employees and social, public or political organizations

In the terminology of quality management systems, do not confuse the following:

anomaly, defect, dysfunction, failure, nonconformity, reject and waste
- an anomaly is a deviation from what is expected
- defect is the non-fulfillment of a requirement related to an intended use
- dysfunction is a degraded function which can lead to a failure
- failure is when a function has become unfit
- nonconformity is the non-fulfillment of a requirement in production
- reject is a nonconforming product which will be destroyed
- waste is when there are added costs but no value
audit and inspect
- to audit is to improve the AQMS
- to inspect is to verify the conformity of a process or product
audit, auditee and auditor
- an audit is a process of evaluating and improving the AQMS
- an auditee is the one who is audited
- an auditor is the one who conducts the audit
audit program and plan
- an audit program is the annual planning of the audits
- an audit plan is the description of the audit activities
communicate and inform
- to communicate is to pass on a message, listen to the reaction and discuss
- to inform is to give someone meaningful data
control and optimization
- control is meeting the objectives
- optimization is the search for the best possible results
customer, supplier and subcontractor
- a customer receives a product
- a supplier provides a product
- a subcontractor provides a service or a product on which a specific work is done
effectiveness and efficiency
- effectiveness is the level of achievement of planned results
- efficiency is the ratio between results and resources
follow-up and review
- follow-up is the verification of the obtained results of an action
- review is the analysis of the effectiveness in achieving objectives
indicator and objective
- an indicator is the information on the difference between the achieved result and the pre-set objective
- an objective is a sought after commitment
organization and enterprise, society, company
- organization is the term used in the standard AS9100D as the entity between the external provider and the customer
- enterprise, society and company are examples of organizations
organizational chart and process map
- the organizational chart is the graphic display of departments and their links
- the process map is the graphic display of processes and their interaction
procedure, process, product, activity and task
- a procedure is the description of how we should conform to the rules
- a process is how we satisfy the customer using people to achieve the objectives
- a product is the result of a process
- an activity is a set of tasks
- a task is a sequence of simple operations

Remark 1: each time you use the term "improvement opportunity" instead of nonconformity, malfunction or failure, the auditee will gain a little more confidence in you.

Remark 2: the use of definitions from the ISO 19011 and ISO 9000 standards is recommended. The most important thing is to determine a common and unequivocal vocabulary for everyone in the company.

Remark 3: the customer can also be the user, the beneficiary, the initiator, the client, the prime contractor, the consumer.
Remark 4: ISO 19011 version 2018 uses the terms procedure ( ), record ( rec ) and documented information together. We also use the terms procedure and record together with the term documented information.

For other definitions, comments, explanations and interpretations that you don’t find in this module and in annex 06, you can consult: explications rec

ISO Online Browsing platform (OBP)
IEC Electropedia
ISO 9000: Quality Management System - Fundamentals and vocabulary (2015)
Information technology -Vocabulary - Part 36: Learning, education and training (ISO/IEC 2382-36, 2019)

explications Books for further reading on internal auditssystematic and independent survey to determine whether activities and results comply with pre-established measures and are capable of achieving the objectives (see also ISO 19011, 3.1):

Denis Provonost, Internal Quality Auditing, ASQ Quality Press, 2000
J. P. Russel, The Internal Auditing Pocket Guide, ASQ Quality Press, 2002
Dennis Arter and al, How to Audit the Process Based QMS, Quality Press, 2003
Spencer Pickett, The Essential Handbook of Internal Auditing, John Wiley & Sons, 2005
Karen Welch, The Process Approach Audit Checklist for Manufacturing, ASQ Quality Press, 2005
David Hoyle, John Thompson, ISO 9000 Auditor Questions, Transition Support, 2009
Paul Palmes, Process Driven Comprehensive Auditing, ASQ Quality Press, 2009
J. P. Russel, The Process Auditing and Techniques Guide, ASQ Quality Press, 2010
Erik Myhrberg, Dawn Crabtree, A Practical Field Guide for AS9100, ASQ Quality Press, 2010
Chad Kymal, AS9101D Auditing for Process Performance: Combining Conformance and Effectiveness to Meet Customer Satisfaction, Quality press, 2011
Janet Smith, Auditing Beyond Compliance, ASQ Quality Press, 2012
Patrick Ambrose, ISO 9001:2008: Process Auditing Checklist, Amazon Digital Services, 2013
Ann Philips, ISO 9001 Internal Audits Made Easy, ASQ Quality Press, 2016
Ray Tricker, ISO 9001:2015 for Small Businesses, Routledge, 2016
K Thomas, Implement AS 9100 Rev D for Business Excellence: Quality Management System Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defence Organisations, includes ISO 9001:2015, Thomas Orchard Publishers, 2017
Edward Link, An Audit of the System, not of the People - An AS9100D Pocket Guide for Every Employee, Quality Pursuit, 2017
Gerardus Blokdyk, AS9100 A Complete Guide - 2019 Edition, 5STARCooks, 2018
Chistopher Paris, Surviving AS9100 Rev. D: Implementing the Aerospace Quality Management System Standard Without Crashing Into Anything, Oxebridge Quality Press, 2019