Start from your process list, not from your organization chart. The Process list tab in A06 is already filled in with 21 processes typical of a machine shop; rename, merge and add until it matches your own process map. Give each process an owner and its main clauses.
Then rate each process High, Medium or Low on four factors. The ratings are yours: what matters is that you can explain them. The count of Highs suggests an interval.
| Factor | High when ... | Medium when ... | Low when ... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer and product risk | The process makes or accepts product directly, touches key characteristics, or is a special process | It supports product (planning, purchasing, documents) | It is remote from product (facilities, general administration) |
| Performance concerns | Missing its measures, rising NCRs, a recent escape or complaint | Near target, or mixed results | On target and stable |
| Recent changes | New equipment, people, software, customers or a reorganization in the last year | Small changes | No significant change |
| Previous audit findings | A major, a repeat, or responses not yet shown effective | Minors, closed and holding | No findings, or only OFIs |
| Factors rated High | Our starting interval | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or more | Every 6 months | Production, inspection, special processes and anything with an escape usually land here |
| 1 | Every 12 months | Most processes in a stable shop |
| 0 | Every 12 months, or 18 for a stable support process | Only if your registrar and customers accept it; every process still audited within the cycle |
Plan the year on the Audit schedule tab: an audit number, a planned date and a named lead auditor for every process at its interval, with one clause-based system audit a year (A05) to show nothing in the standard is left uncovered. Spread the audits so no month carries more than your auditors can do well, and keep a gap in each quarter for audits you will need to bring forward.
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A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.