Hosted by UL (Underwriters Laboratories) at Guildford, Surrey. Two separate events on Tuesday 16 October 2007 and Wednesday 17 October 2007 - 9.30am - 4.30pm - £95 + VAT

International standards (notably ISO 9001) are inextricably linked with the idea of auditing (not only by a third party to achieve and maintain a certificate but also via internal auditing by the certificated organisation itself as one of the conditions of keeping the certificate).

The 'stereotypical' audit, although providing an important contribution to maintaining a business management system:

Provides tactical low-level detail,

Is text-based and difficult to 'digest',

Covers compliance rather than effectiveness issues,

Assesses what's happened in the business in hindsight,

Is particularly limited in multi-site, multi-national environments,

Does not compare what is happening against best practice and

Rarely links to the drivers of business performance.

Senior Management are concerned with business performance and require strategic information that reflects their need to drive effectiveness, decision-making and managing business risk. What they need is high-level and strategic - yet traditional auditing techniques are compliance focused and low-value. There is a significant mis-match.

Who should attend?

The intent of this event (sponsored and hosted by Business Improvement Solutions Group of the certification body, UL) is to bring together quality, business excellence and improvement professionals who recognize the above situation, who understand that change is needed, who want to share ideas and to work together to improve the effectiveness of auditing.

You will hear from UL about the conclusions reached in a three year study of the underlying reasons for the deficiencies in auditing, how behavioural assessments can drive business performance far more than traditional approaches and what such audits should - and can - deliver.

However, this is not a training course or a lecture. It's an interactive workshop and as well as generating a wealth of ideas on the day, it will lead to ongoing information sharing about best practice amongst the participants.

Facilitators

Jim Wade is a Director of Advanced Training and the driving force behind The Business Improvement Network (www.bin.co.uk), which offers free membership, free information and subsidized workshops on all aspects of continual business improvement.

Ian Rosam has created process based management systems as a 'living' system, something that can never be fully documented. Based on System Thinking such systems extend from ISO9001 to deliver an organisation's Corporate Social Responsibility and business objectives.

To support this strategic direction Ian has been party to the development of a behavioural-based auditing approach to help create a step change and bring auditing into the 21st Century and has been an integral part of the research.

Alex Fernando is Global Program Manager for the Business Improvement Group who has worked to develop innovative assessment methodology within UL for over 3 years (www.ulclearview.net/challenge/). Its primary aim is 'return' strategic benefit to organisations beyond 'just compliance' and further enhance the current capability and expertise of UL's traditional audit approach without compromising independence, integrity and value.