Audit-ready means that on any day of the year, without notice, an auditor could walk in and every record they ask for would be complete, verified by the right person at the right time, and on the screen within a minute. It is not the state a site reaches after two weeks of preparation. Sites that prepare for audits are, by definition, not audit-ready for the other fifty weeks, which is exactly the problem unannounced audits under BRCGS and the FSSC 22000 unannounced programme are designed to expose. Getting there is less about effort than about structure, and with the structure in place it takes five working days.
The three tests of audit-ready
Complete, meaning no gaps in scheduled records, and where a gap exists, a corrective action recorded at the time with a reason. Verified, meaning each record checked by a second person near the time it was made, not in a batch. Findable, meaning any record from the last 12 months produced on request in under a minute, with its audit trail. Paper fails all three on an ordinary Tuesday. A spreadsheet fails the first and second. A purpose-built system passes all three, every day, because the structure does the work.
What happens before the five days
Before setup starts, ASC asks for the current document set, in whatever form it exists, the current checklists and record forms, the site’s standards and scope, a list of users and their roles, and the monitoring schedule for each CCP and prerequisite programme. Most sites gather this in an afternoon. If the documents are a mess, that is useful information, because the setup will clean them up as they are loaded.
Day one: documents and structure
The ASC specialist loads the document set into ASCloud, maps each procedure to the clauses of the site’s standard, sets up the sites, areas and lines, and creates the users with their roles. By the end of the day the document register exists and the floor can read the current version of every procedure on a tablet.
Days two and three: checklists, limits and schedules
Every record form becomes a checklist or a monitoring screen. Each monitoring point gets its limit, its frequency and its alert rule. Verification is assigned to the right role. The training register, supplier list and pest control records are loaded. This is where most of the specialist’s time goes, because the checklists have to match how the site actually works rather than how the form was drawn in 2019.
Day four: running live
The site runs a full day on the system with the specialist on hand. Operators do the checks on their phones, supervisors verify, the quality manager watches the dashboard. Whatever does not fit is adjusted on the spot. The paper forms are retired that evening.
Day five: review and handover
The specialist reviews the first day’s records with the quality manager, tunes alert timings and verification rules, walks through how a mock recall and an internal audit run on the system, and hands over. From that day, the three tests are met by the structure, not by effort.
What audit-ready looks like three months later
The auditor arrives, announced or not. The quality manager opens the dashboard and shows the last three months of monitoring with any missed checks and their corrective actions. The auditor picks a supplier, a CCP and a date, and each record is on the screen in seconds with its audit trail. The traceability test takes fifteen minutes. The internal audit programme shows what it found and what was closed. Nobody worked late the week before, because there was nothing to prepare.
Book the five-day setup
A 30-minute demo on your own checklists, then five working days to an audit-ready system. From R3,800 per site per month plus setup from R5,000.
Frequently asked questions
Does setup happen on site or remotely?
Either. Remote setup is included. On-site setup is available with travel quoted, and is recommended for sites with more than two lines or complex traceability.
What if our documents are not ready?
Then setup starts with a document review. ASC’s consultants can build or update the document set as part of an implementation project, priced separately.
Can we keep paper for some things?
You can, but every record an auditor can ask for should be in one system. Paper for things auditors never see is fine.
How long before the records are audit-ready?
From day four. Auditors want to see a reasonable history, so the earlier you start before your next audit, the stronger the evidence.