InfoTown™
Helen's journey · Lesson 6

The audit

Before you start

In the story

No badge, no bid. And apparently it was IM's audit.

Back to the story

The right way: Backed from the top

Six weeks out

Sam tells Helen about the audit.

Helen: What do you need from me?

Audit day

Helen tells the project directors the audit is about their projects, not Sam's. On the day, the project team is in the room, answering for its own work. Sam guides; nobody hides.

Phone: SAM

Sam: We passed.

The findings get owners and dates, and the certificate goes into the framework bid. Helen stares at the phone, deeply suspicious.

"You'll sort it"Sam alone in a room, evidence nowhere, no certificate, no bid.
Backed from the topThe project team in the room, owning its work, and a certificate for the bid.
Ask this

What do you need from me to make this audit a success?

That's Helen's journey

Follow someone else

Rex's first year shows what all this looks like from the ground. Start there, or see who else is in town.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

An audit is the town's inspection. The inspector doesn't want to see the plans. They want to walk the streets and say "show me", and the people who live on those streets should be the ones showing them round, not just the planning department.

If you're the information manager

If you're the information manager

Get the team in the room, and keep the evidence findable every week, not the week before. Then tell Helen the audit was boring. That's the good news.

In the town See it in the town: someone independent walks every street. What are they checking?

Helen's view: the assessor walks the whole line, one stop at a time, asking to see the proof at each.

The whole journey, as a transit map A transit line with twelve stops in two rows. Top row: the Town (Information Management), the Buildings (Systems and the CDE), the People (Parties and Task Teams), the Order (Information Delivery Plan), The Project Site (Mobilisation), Making It Together (Information Container). It curves round to the bottom row: the Labels (Metadata), Sharing Your Work (Information Exchange), the Checkpoints (Approval Process), Handing Over (Authorisation and Acceptance), Using Information (Information Use), and the terminus, Putting It All Together: your ISO 19650 process in action. 1The TownInformationManagement 2The BuildingsSystemsand the CDE 3The PeopleParties andTask Teams 4The OrderInformationDelivery Plan 5The Project SiteMobilisation 6Making It TogetherInformationContainer 7The LabelsMetadata 8Sharing Your WorkInformationExchange 9The CheckpointsApprovalProcess 10Handing OverAuthorisationand Acceptance 11Using InformationInformation Use 12You are hereISO 19650in action Part 1 · The Place Part 2 · Getting Ready Part 3 · The Journey Part 4 · Why It Works

This is ISO 19650 Certification!

Someone independent walks the streets and says "show me".

Sam's Heads Up Audits aren't scary. Empty rooms are.

The assessor doesn't want a slideshow from me. They want to talk to the people who did the work and see the evidence where it lives.

Six weeks out, I need three things from a director: people in the room, evidence found before the day, and someone senior saying out loud that this matters.

The briefing Four lines for the board
The point

An audit tests the projects' information, not the IM team. The project teams have to be there.

Why it matters

Some clients ask for ISO 19650 certification before they'll let you bid. For them: no certificate, no bid.

How it works

Certification is run by independent certification bodies, not by the standard itself. They judge you on evidence from real projects, so the assessor wants the people who did the work.

Your decision

Back your information manager. Make the audit a project priority, and own the actions afterwards.

Take this into your next project review

Five questions to ask your information manager

  1. What information did we promise this client, and can we prove we're delivering it?

    Lesson 3

  2. Who on this job manages information day to day, and is it in the price?

    Lesson 2

  3. Who on this project owns its information? Not IM. Who on the project?

    Lesson 4

  4. Have we agreed up front what information the client needs from us, and what we hand over at the end?

    Lesson 1

  5. Is the team actually following the process, and how do we know?

    Lesson 5

A good answer is short, specific and names someone. If the answer starts with "it's complicated", ask the next question.

From the standard
For directors Certification, in plain words

Organisations can be independently certified as working to ISO 19650. An assessor from a certification body checks how you manage information, then samples real projects to see if it happens.

Some clients ask for that certificate before they'll let you bid.

The assessor willSo you need
Sample live projectsProject teams ready, not just the IM team
Ask "show me"Evidence in the shared place, not in inboxes
Interview the people doing the workProject directors and engineers in the room
Raise findingsAn owner and a date for every one, checked at board

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.