Reports and quality
The report an auditing customer asks for
What to show, in what format, and what not to send by email.
A large customer auditing you does not want a pretty report: they want to verify that what you say is true. That changes what you send and, above all, how.
The three blocks they actually want
| Block | What it demonstrates |
|---|---|
| Current status | How many of your suppliers are up to date, with the real number |
| How you control it | That there is a process, not a review when someone remembers |
| What happened when it failed | That you detect and correct, with concrete cases |
Important
The third block separates a credible report from a cardboard one. Nobody believes a report where everything is perfect: showing two non-conformities detected and closed demonstrates the control works far better than a spotless hundred per cent.
Link or export
If they only need to verify, give scoped read access: they see what they need, what they looked at is logged, and no copy of your data sits in their inbox. Exporting is for when they must keep it.
Watch out
Do not email a report with your own suppliers' documentation inside. That is third-party information they never authorised you to share with your customer, and it is overlooked far too easily.
What makes next year's audit go the same way
Worth knowing
If the same customer audits you annually, build their questionnaire as a process. What they ask changes little, and the second time costs an afternoon.
›Can I give access only to their part?
Yes, scoped to the audited scope.
›Is what they consulted recorded?
Yes, with date and time.
›What if a figure does not add up?
Better to say so before they find it: explaining it yourself is worth far more than justifying it afterwards.
A real case
The situation
A company sends its customer a report showing 100% of suppliers up to date.
What you do
- Adds the two non-conformities detected and closed that year
What you get
The auditor believes it, and the conversation moves from checking figures to discussing improvements.
The situation
A client asks for a quarterly compliance report and it is prepared by hand each time.
What you do
- Checks the period's already-calculated data
- Saves the format as a template
- Schedules it to go out by itself
What you get
The quarterly report stops taking an afternoon and goes out even in a busy week.
The situation
Each client asks for the same figure in a different format.
What you do
- Checks once and adapts on sending
What you get
The underlying work happens once.
The situation
The report is sent and there is no record of what went out.
What you do
- Records what was sent, with its date
What you get
It can be compared with next quarter's.
The situation
The report includes other clients' data.
What you do
- Reviews the scope before sending
What you get
Information does not cross.
The situation
The client asks about a figure in the report and it has to be hunted.
What you do
- Keeps the breakdown with the report
What you get
The question is answered in minutes.
This article answers
- compliance report for a customer
- my customer audits me what do i send
- documentary evidence for a customer audit
- supplier report for a customer