First it is important to make sure you have prepared appropriately and addressing the following items in advance will make the certification audit a positive, successful experience.

• Download and review the most current version of the Best Practices and Benchmarks document.
• Review and understand the questions that will be asked based on the auditor checklist.
• Conduct an internal audit or have a pre-audit to ensure best practices have been implemented to the required scoring minimums.
• Identify and make available subject experts for specific areas during the day of the audit.
• Be ready to ask questions and have an open dialogue with the auditor to assess the results of the audit and feedback that will be provided.
• If you have questions related to scoring or implementation get clarification prior to the audit.
• Forget the excuses-we have heard them all including the dog ate my supporting metrics (yes it's been tried).

I can think of nothing more relevant than preparing for the audit and what to expect from the audit process. Auditors try and set the stage for the audit process and we do our best to explain the process, what the requirements are and what is expected as far as supporting documents and evidence; however we need your cooperation and often times a lot of coffee to get through the process.

You will be expected to furnish the required documents and procedures as identified in the Best Practices document. They will be reviewed and an evaluation made. The key point to remember is the preamble to Best Practice Document: "Please understand that this document is a set of suggestions of 'what' should be set in place and intentionally hold short of attempting to define 'how' these benchmarks should be accomplished."

As an auditor it is our responsibility to evaluate the implemented benchmarks and take into consideration the fact that each Integrator is different.

Even though the audit is a long and grueling day and we have much to accomplish, I often state that the audit is serious business, but not life threatening and, as such, I would like to keep my record intact for not losing anyone as of yet. I commonly state that an open discussion is appreciated and we could talk about sports or whatever, however all Cleveland sports teams are not to be part of the discussion. Residing close to Cleveland, I have become accustomed to those dreaded words, "Well let's wait for next year."

Please remember that the auditor can also have a certain level of stress during the audit and, as such, we ask to put a little levity into the day. Oh, and one last thing, have some good pastries. 

• June 23, 2010, 12 noon CDT - Shiv O'Neill and Mark Voigtmann of Baker & Daniels law firm. Topic TBD.
• July 21, 2010, 8 a.m., 3 p.m. CDT - Joseph Weigel of Schneider Electric. Electrical ARC Flash Safety and Risk Management