The JACIE pilot remote inspections are still an on-going project, however, we would like to share with you the first impressions from this new way of inspecting centres.
The first two pilot remote inspections were launched on the 7th and 14th of June, but we cannot obviate the hard work that Centres and Inspectors put on this prior to the Inspection itself. The new approach of preparing a remote inspection is considerably different from the preparation for an onsite inspection, particularly regarding the digital platform used to share documentation, the planning, and the organisation. Firstly, the preaudit documentation was uploaded by the centre and shared with the Inspectors via SharePoint. This is a platform for which centres and inspectors were given access and that JACIE will continue to use further for future inspections. Centres kindly recorded the different parts of their programmes and created videos that helped the Inspectors to assess those standards that require visual confirmation. Secondly, focus was put on preparing a well-defined agenda so that everyone involved in the inspection would know the schedule of which videoconference they were expected to join. It was thanks to this extensive preparation that the three half-day remote inspections ran smoothly and without incidents.
The actual pilot remote inspections followed a similar schedule as the onsite inspections. They started with an Opening meeting attended by the personnel from the centre and the inspection team, followed by the main body of the inspection, which consisted in interviews between the inspectors and the personnel, and finished with a Closing meeting. Additional time was reserved daily for video conferences between the inspectors, which promoted the interaction within the Inspection team. Of course, all the videoconferences were done online via Teams, where different rooms/video conferences were set to allow for the different settings needed (Private rooms for the inspectors to do the interviews and General rooms for the Opening and Closing meetings). Despite having videoconferences instead of face to face meetings, which added a layer of complexity to the Inspection, we are certain that it maintained its human touch and we were delighted to have such insightful discussions again.
JACIE would like to once again thank all the Centres, Inspectors and Committees involved in this initiative. It surely has required an extra effort and has taken us outside of our comfort zone, but we all agree that it has been an incredibly valuable adventure. Once the last pilot remote inspection has been finalised and we proceed to the post-inspection phase we will update you further on the continuity of the Remote Inspections.
Carla Sanchez - Accreditation Coordinator