InfoTown™
Priya's journey · Assurance · Lesson 6

The dress rehearsal

Before you start

In the story

Twelve findings, two weeks. You can probably guess how audit day goes.

Back to the story

The right way

The rehearsal

Helen backs the date four months out, and the project keeps it. Priya audits the way the assessor will: "show me", on real work, with the people who did it.

Findings

Each finding gets an owner and a date. Stevie writes down how checks are done. Dave's inspection plan goes on the CDE.

A month out

Priya checks again: ten closed, two in hand. On audit day, the team has already had the awkward conversations.

Moved three timesTwelve findings, two weeks, and the evidence on leave.
Kept, and followed upFindings owned and fixed months before anyone important asks.
Think like Priya

An internal audit is a rehearsal, not a verdict. Ask "show me", not "do you?". If the answer is a person's name, the evidence is in their head, and heads go on leave.

Continue Priya's journey

Story 7: The safety file at handover

A year of safety information, put together in the last week from whatever the inboxes coughed up.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

Before the town's big inspection, someone walks the streets with the inspector's checklist. Every pothole found at the rehearsal is a pothole filled before anyone important trips over it.

If you're the site manager

If you're the site manager

Treat the internal audit like a hold point: it doesn't move. Findings are cheaper now than they'll ever be again.

In the town See it in the town: twelve findings, two weeks to go. Who booked it that late?

Priya's view: walk the whole line before the inspector does, and ask to see the proof at every stop.

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 an Internal Audit!

A rehearsal with the assessor's checklist, early enough that every finding can still be fixed.

Sam's Heads Up Your next auditor might be the client

InfoTown good practice: Rehearse before anyone outside asks.

On your job: The next audit might be the client's, a framework's or a certification body's. Same rehearsal, same "show me".

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me your last internal audit, and what happened to each finding.
  • How do you know the fixes worked?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • Internal audits held on the dates planned.
  • Findings with owners, dates and evidence of closure.
  • A follow-up check before the real audit.
From the standard
ISO 19650 Before the real audit

Internal audit belongs to your management system; ISO 19650 doesn't require one by itself. Certification against ISO 19650 is judged on evidence from real projects, which is why a rehearsal pays.

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.