(a) Mary, an internal auditor, picked all records related to a sample (Identification T0910) which was tested 3 weeks ago, to conduct an audit. She noticed the contract was reviewed and accepted by the Sales Manager. After review, the sample was passed to the Electrical and Electronic Laboratory for a safety testing. The turn-around-time of the testing was set to eight days.

One week after the Electrical and Electronic Laboratory received the sample, the Laboratory Manager, John, sent an email to the customer to state that one of testing parameters in the laboratory was not able to meet the specification as requested by the customer. He thus asked the customer to accept some modifications to the testing method and an extension of time to complete the modified testing service. None of these issues were mentioned in the record during the contract review stage.

Mary then checked all communication records between John and the customer, and confirmed that eventually the customer accepted the modifications and revised completion date in writing. Mary suspected there might be a non-conformity but she cannot confirm. She thus came to ask for your opinion.

(i) What type of audit you conducted in the above scenario? Explain briefly for your answer and the definition of this type of audit.

(ii) Do you consider there was any non-conformity? If you think there was a non-conformity, provide the evidence observed, and quote the clause related and requirements in ISO/IEC 17025. If no non-conformity can be concluded, explain briefly for your decision by the use of relevant requirement(s) in ISO/IEC 17025.

(b) Describe any 4 information that should be included in an audit programme.

(c) Describe any 2 differences between testing and system certification.