Self‐audit of process performance

Quality audit, as a methodology for evaluating system, product and/or process performance against established requirements, has experienced substantial growth in worldwide use in recent years. This is largely due to the steady increase in ISO 9000 registrations, which topped 350,000 in the year 2000. Based on the fundamental principles of independence, objectivity and professionalism, the audit is an irreplaceable tool when confirmation of compliance with standards is sought. However, it commonly fails in enabling continuous improvement and spanning the differing aspects of business performance beyond conventional “quality assurance”. This paper argues for removing one of the principles of traditional auditing, namely independence, to empower the process owner to conduct periodic self‐evaluations of process performance. Such “self‐audits” would be less formal than quality audits, and, much like the better‐known self‐assessments against business excellence models, aimed at continuous quality improvement. The concept, principles and practices of a self‐audit are focused on.