The Audit Finding Classification Guide (A08) gives the definitions, the decision path, the major-or-minor tests and twenty classified scenarios. The essentials:
- Every nonconformity has three parts: the requirement (clause by number and the document that sets it here), the evidence (records, parts, places, dates, how many sampled and how many failed), and a one-sentence statement of what is not met.
- Classify the effect, not the effort or the mood. Major when a process is missing or broken down, or nonconforming product has reached or is likely to reach a customer. Minor when it is a limited lapse in a process that otherwise works.
- Check for repeats before you write. Search the findings and corrective actions for the same requirement. A repeat after a closed corrective action is a candidate for major, and says the last fix didn't work.
- OFIs describe what you saw and leave the fix to the owner. Observations note a risk building.
- Record what you checked and cleared, in the auditor's notes, so the next auditor doesn't repeat it.
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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.
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