What is Certification Oversight?

Our latest podcast discusses Certification Oversight, formerly known as Other Party Management Team (OPMT). The decision to change the name was simple—the team wanted the name to make sense to people as soon as they read it and be clear about the responsibility of the team within IAQG.

Listen to learn more about the name change and the responsibilities of the Certification Oversight team, with special guest Eric Jefferies, Senior Manager of Process Integrity with Bell-Textron, and the AAQG Sector Lead and Lead for Certification Oversight. He discusses the role of the team in writing standards, publishing, and certifying the process. 

You will gain insight into the team’s approach to moving toward consistency. Regardless of the sector, what certification body is providing the service or what auditor is onsite, the team is striving for a consistent interpretation of the requirements, and for certification to mean the same thing across the board. 

You will also hear Jefferies’ opinion on why OASIS v3 is so important to certification.

Transcript

The Quality Horizon - Certification Oversight 

[00:00:00]  

Susan: Greetings everyone and welcome. You are listening to the Quality Horizon, the official podcast of the IAQG. I am your host, Susan Matson, and with me today is Eric Jefferies. Eric is the senior manager of process integrity for Bell Textron. Additionally, he is both the AAQG sector lead and certification oversight lead for the IAQG. Welcome to the show, Eric.  

Eric: Yeah, thank you.  

Susan: Thank you. So, I know we could have a really great discussion about all things AAQG, but what I'd really like to focus on today is certification oversight. And for those who are listening and they're not familiar with that IAQG team, what is certification oversight? 

Eric: It's a team that has responsibility for implementing the processes and procedures for ensuring that the AS9104 [00:01:00] series of documents are implemented according to the requirements.  

Susan: Okay, so what is the AS9400 series?  

Eric: There's actually three documents in a series. There's AS9104-1, which is requirements for certification programs. There's AS 9104-2, which outline the requirements for oversight activities of the different entities that we can talk about in a bit. And then there's AS 9104-3 that has requirements for training programs and auditor competence and auditor authentication.  

Susan: Okay, so we talked about what, but how does the team do? How did the, how do you utilize that series?  

Eric: So essentially the team Interfaces with all the different entities and actually has oversight responsibility for those entities. So we're talking about accreditation bodies, certification bodies, auditor authentication bodies, training provider approval bodies, and then training providers. 

Eric: So those are the entities that we [00:02:00] oversee within the process. And essentially, we've got a method set up to assess each of these entities and to support them when they have questions and help them ensure that they're being compliant with the processes and requirements that are outlined within the standards. 

Susan: So it sounds like, if I understand, we've got a number of different entities making sure that certifications happen correctly and standardized across the board?  

Eric: Yeah, probably the best way to put it is, the processes that enable certification to the 9100 series of documents all starts with the 9104 series requirements. So it lays the foundation and the groundwork, so to speak, for how certification needs to be implemented.  

Susan: Perfect. And if that implementation isn't just one part of the country or one part of the globe, it's international. How does that work? How do you handle it from, whether you're in the States [00:03:00]  or you're in Europe or you're in East Asia, where, how does that all work? 

Eric: So our team is made up from representatives from all sectors. Basically, we have voting members and alternates representing each of the three sectors, which is the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. And we all work collaboratively. Now, there's some work that happens, at a sector level, but the point of the Certification Oversight Team is to bring all of those things together and make sure that things are managed consistently regardless of what sector you're operating in. 

Susan: Sounds like there must be a lot of moving parts. So how is that conversation happening? How does everyone interact because you're member companies from all over the world. Am I correct?  

Eric: No, that's right. So we do a couple of face to face meetings per year. We also have, other ongoing monthly meetings both with just the voting members and then we have open meetings where others can join in and listen and understand, the items that we're working on[00:04:00]  at any given month or, get status on the projects that we're working on. 

Susan: So the certification oversight is the implementation and you, I would assume work closely with those that are writing the standards to understand what has to transpire to make that happen. So how does that work? Where does the requirements team, which is the ones that are writing teams, writing the standards and the certification work together? 

Eric: So there's kind of two components. So when I mentioned, I've already talked about the 9104 series of documents. There's one more, which is AS 9101, which are the requirements for conducting certification audits. And those four documents are a little bit unique in that the primary responsibility for developing and maintaining those sits with inside the certification oversight team. 

Eric: Now, there's a whole other listing of standards and documents that the requirements teams works on, and our team supports them because these things are all interrelated. So we do a lot of feedback, periodically attend each other's meetings. [00:05:00] So while we're not, we don't have responsibility for those others, we certainly provide input into them. 

Susan: And I would assume that input and that feedback at the end of the day is all about how we improve the system and progress forward. The interaction of once a standard comes into play, obviously, that 9100, for instance, has been around for a while, but we have enhanced it and build upon it and taken feedback. 

Susan: Where does the certification oversight team come into that play? Is that part of just the general interaction? Or is there something more to the review cycle that happens every so many years?  

Eric: Yeah, there's not so much something or anything formal in the review cycle, but there is that ongoing communication and, a lot of, feedback of what types of NCRs or what types of issues that we're seeing that get reported back to certification oversight that feedback can go back to the writing team, [00:06:00] and we have discussions about how those particular requirements should be interpreted, and we will turn that back into periodic training for auditors, for example.  

Eric: So in, occasionally we'll have auditor workshops, for example, where we can take those issues that have been raised either within the writing team or within certification oversight and turn them into training for individual auditors so that we're helping provide a consistent interpretation of those requirements again across all three sectors. 

Susan: And again, going back to consistency, so we need to make sure that everybody understands across on a global level. Of how to conduct the audit and how to understand what needs to be done in terms of those training. So let's talk about this year in particular, because it's been a big year. A lot of work has come into play. 

Susan: One, you've changed your name. So I wanted to understand a little bit about that. And we also have a new product, the OASIS V3 is coming out. And then we have a global publisher. [00:07:00]  So lots of things. Let's start with the name change. Why did you change it?  

Eric: It was just to provide, more, make it easier to understand to make the name descriptive of what we do. And within our industry and in the IAQG, there's lots of acronyms that get thrown around. So making it easier for people to know what it is that we do as a team, we're trying to encourage participation. And that starts with understanding, what we do. And if it's right in the name, that's helpful.  

Susan: It is much easier. And just for those that are listening and don't remember, don't know, the team was called other party management team. And now it's Certification Oversight and much easier understanding and a quick visual of what it might be about, correct? 

Eric: Yeah, that's right.  

Susan: So let's talk about this single publisher. Now I know that there's a lot going on. This is something that is big across the IAQG, but how does this affect your team in particular?  

Eric: Well it king of affects our team in the same way that it will affect the entire IAQG, [00:08:00] but really, this new process is going to allow us to streamline things, again, standardize it across the sectors, previously, we've had slightly different methods for going through the document approval process, each sector, streamlining it and allowing us to move faster while still giving all the, giving all the interested parties a voice. 

Eric: It's just going to help us move faster, right? And so our industry, every year it seems to increase in terms of the pace of change, right? And so this new process is going to help the IAQG keep up with those changes and allow us to deliver products, whether it's updating a, an existing procedure or creating a standard, I should say, or creating a new one, it's going to help us to move, do that at the speed of industry  

Susan: sounds wonderful. And for those listening and don't necessarily know, we moved from a publishing by sector. So we're three different publishing methods to now one moving forward. Correct, Eric? Did I explain that? [00:09:00] 

Eric: Yeah.  

Susan: So the last thing I wanted to talk about Oasis V3. How is this going to help? Certification oversight.  

Eric: Well look, Oasis is the backbone of the whole process, right? It's where all of our information is stored. But the new version, it does a couple of things. It's going to allow us to access the data and the data more efficiently. It'll give us easier access for doing trend analysis, looking at performance, evaluating whether or not we need to take additional action or make any changes to the scheme overall. 

Eric: It also You know, this particular platform is going to be easier and more cost effective to update. So in that same spirit of making everything better that applies to the database itself, right? So having the ability to continually improve it regularly with ease, which was a challenge in the previous version is really going to help us fulfill our mission of improving aviation space and defense.  

Susan: Absolutely. And it's launching soon. [00:10:00]  So good things and more to come on that one. I'm sure. So let's switch gears, Eric. Let's talk about you. How long have you been affiliated with the IAQG?  

Eric: About 15 years now.  

Susan: So have you come up the ranks? Have you always been in the IAQG? The OPMT now called Certification Oversight. Has that always been part of your interest?  

Eric: No. So I started out just attending and listening in at the Registration Management Committee, which is what it was called at the time. That has actually changed names too. And it's now, the America's Certification Oversight Team. 

Eric: But I started out just sitting in there, was not a voting member, was not volunteering for anything. Just sat there and tried to, learn what was going on. And as time went on I volunteered for things, I got more engaged. I took on different roles within that team. Then moved into the OPMT, which is now Certification Oversight. 

Eric: And it was one step at a time, essentially. But just learning a little bit, [00:11:00] interacting with people, and trying to make things better. And just, over time, got into new things.  

Susan: And it sounds like you've seen value both for the organization, because the organization Bell-Tectron is still a member, but then you personally, so what kind of value can you share with our listeners that it's brought to you as well as to your organization? 

Eric: It brings tremendous value. So there's really two things at an organizational level. Being a participant allows you to one understand the new things that are coming up in terms of standards, and it allows you to have input into them. And if you're not engaged, you're simply going to find out when a standard is published, what's in it, right? 

Eric: So participating, you get to influence that whole process. The other thing is, I've been able to meet and interact with some really smart people. And as whether it's in my job or the things I'm doing on the committees, I have lots of people I can call on that all have a great deal of knowledge about, aviation, space and defense and the requirements. [00:12:00] 

Eric: So I really feel like there's no question that I would have that I couldn't go to somebody and get a really good answer. So that's, for me personally has been the biggest benefit.  

Susan: I can echo that. I've heard that type of response time and time again. So it really is a value, but it's what you put into it is also what you get out of it. So for our listeners that might be interested in learning more about certification oversight and the IAQG in general, where should they go?  

Eric: So go to the website, IAQG.org, and you'll find lots of information there, including specific details on certification oversight. You'll find out what upcoming events are happening, and I would recommend that just find an event that's happening and come to it. Sit in the session. All of these groups, all of our groups, have open sessions, and that's the best way to get engaged is just start off, get here, introduce yourself, and the rest will just happen naturally.  

Susan: Perfect, and a wonderful way to end. Obviously, everyone go visit the site if you want to learn more and want to potentially become involved. [00:13:00] 

Susan: Thank you, Eric. It's been a great pleasure to have you on today.  

Eric: You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.  

Susan: And I am so glad that we definitely had this opportunity to talk and share with our audience about certification oversight. This is Susan Matson, and you've been listening to The Quality Horizon. Until next time, stay safe.