Introduction

The Product Compliance Specialist (PCS) plans and schedules on-site audits.  The PCS should identify the customers who require the audit report.

Planning-90 days out

1. Determine audit is due – best practice look 90 days out
2. Determine the reason for the audit (customer requirement, best practice, etc
3. Confirm who will need to arrange the audit.  Most audits need to be booked 30-45 days before an audit expires.
4.  Contact the factory to confirm the factory is aware of the upcoming audit.  (90 days before expiration for Walmart RS audit) 60 days for most other audits)
5. Ensure customer-specific labs are used to perform audits.
6. If a CAP was performed on the prior audit, collaborate with the compliance manager on audit planning communication
   1. Proper planning helps factories avoid repeat findings

Scheduling- 60 days out

1.  If the factory is scheduling the audit, remind the factory to notify Advantus of the set audit date.
2.  If Advantus is booking the audit, complete the booking form and contact the factory to confirm booking form details and date of audit.
3.  If the customer is scheduling the audit, the audit company will contact Advantus and/or the factory to start the process.  Nothing is required if the audit is unannounced/no formal date set.
4.  (Advantus booking) Once the factory has reviewed/completed their section of the booking form, send the booking form to the audit company with the requested audit date.
5.  Arrange payment for audits that Advantus will be paying for.  The audit company will normally send a Performa Invoice.  This may go to the factory or to Advantus.  If a factory pays for the audit, the factory should send an invoice to Advantus to be reimbursed.  The factory should provide the original invoice from the audit company.
6.  (Factory booking) Follow up-to confirm dates for any factory-booked audits.

Identify customers who will accept audit reports from other NRTLs.

Factory Scheduled Audits

Responsible Sourcing Audits often are scheduled by the factory.  Advantus pays for many of these, but the factory will arrange the actual audit.  These are usually SMETA and BSCI audits for Walmart and Target.  SCAN will normally contact the factory and the factory will arrange the audit dates.

Advantus Scheduled Audits

• RS Audits – Dongguan Hui Jun Printing (Sedex) for Walmart, Henglong (Sedex) for Aldi
• Michaels SA Audits – Dongguan Hui Jun Printing, Ningbo Praise, Shenle.
• Li Long Cheng (Sparrow schedules and shares the audit with Advantus)
• JoAnn’s RS Audits and Security Audits – if there is not an audit to us from another customer, Advantus will schedule this audit.
• Walmart FCCA and Security Audits – when audits are due, these will show as “Due” on Retaillink.  Advantus can log into Retaillink and request an audit.

Customer Scheduled Audits

• Office Depot schedules the audit and will contact Advantus.
• Walmart Security Audits and FCCA audits are sometimes autogenerated by Walmart.  If this happens, Advantus will receive notification from the audit company.

Documentation

Create Audit Event in NS-UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Beginning 7/1/2020 Audit events are being tracked in NS

To determine when an audit is due:

1. Use QuickBase to pull a spreadsheet from the Factory Audit section on the Compliance Tab.

2.  Add a filter to the top row of the spreadsheet (highlight top row of the spreadsheet, click “data”, click “filter”)

3.  Delete the following columns in the spreadsheet:  Rating, Notes, Copy of Audit,  Audit Findings, Audit Invoice, Invoice Number, Invoice Amount

4.  Filter by Factory Inactive –  Filter by “No”

5. Filter audit expiration date.  Remove next year’s expiration.  Keep blanks – these may have audits that are upcoming.

6.  Filter by Factory.  Check to see what audits are due.

7.  Once you have a list, it must be verified that the audit is still needed.  Check with the divisions if unsure.

8.  To verify – there is a spreadsheet on the S: drive (Audit Organizing) that has tabs for audits by customers.  This spreadsheet shows active factories for main customers.  (Grayed out was recently inactivated)

Process Steps-Under Construction Move steps to applicable role

1.  If the customer will require a CAP, the factory should be reminded to start on the CAP.
2.  Address CAP requirements with the factory.
3.  Work with the factory to complete the CAP.
4.  Submit CAP or verify the factory submitted the CAP.

Checklist