Audit Management In Energy Services Company

The company had a legacy audit system which was no longer fit for purpose.

Using the system was time consuming and did not fit the company’s audit process – the lead QHSE Auditor spent ~2 days/week on working around the system, instead of the system assisting him.

The lack of a central overview of actions meant that it was difficult to take action to resolve bottlenecks caused by overdue actions. There was also a risk that staff would rely on local copies of action data which could result in local untracked changes being made.

It was difficult for actions to be allocated and there was no usable workflow which mean that it was difficult to have multiple sign-offs by reviewers, this was a major requirement for high governance actions which could arise as the result of an audit. It was also impossible to effectively audit any changes made to data since no audit trail existed within the system, so for example action due dates and descriptions could be altered without any record of the changes.

The system did not have an effective way to control access to data, for example to control which employees or contractors had access to specific audit data.

The old system was not easily accessible from all locations. This meant that local alternatives had to be used – which introduced the risk of a range of spreadsheet-based systems which had even lower governance standards than the legacy system.

A better system had to be found to:

The company selected the Pisys Action Tracking System to share audit findings and learnings, and to create and track actions from audits all the way to closure.

‘A really key feature of ATMS is the ability to quickly configure data capture forms to match customer requirements’ said Peter Henderson, Pisys director ‘We helped with the initial configuration and were able to produce audit tracking forms which allowed findings and actions to be easily managed. The system also allows unlimited attachments so audit records can have photos, documents added as the audit progresses. The system was up and running within a couple of days’

The company HSE manager gave a summary of the impact of the new system:

‘The results have ben extremely positive. We’re already seeing a time saving of ~ 10 hrs/week for the Lead QHSE Auditor and instead of working around the old legacy system, they can now spend these 10 hours more productively and focus on what is important.

We have total confidence that all audit findings and actions are captured immediately – this avoids a lot of time consuming manually checking of data !

A huge benefit has been faster, more complete resolution of audit findings. Actions are captured quickly, assigned to relevant personnel easily, and communicated automatically. Everyone involved knows what findings they need to address, collaboration is easier, and work can commence immediately. It’s also fantastic to have the assurance that teams are addressing and closing out audit actions within given timescales.

As well as a great set of reporting capabilities we’re also able to get an overview of audit results and status of actions from anywhere. Access is easy, and all information is kept in on place,accessible from anywhere.

Our communication with remote teams has improved , as they all have access to the same information’