FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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Smart Auditor is a digital tool that transforms audits from a reactive, time based exercise into a proactive, need based process. It uses micro audits and workflow documentation to highlight compliance gaps early, strengthen regulatory (e.g. ISO / SMS / ISM / TMSA) alignment, and support your team with clear, actionable insights.

Smart Auditor reduces the time and cost of audits while minimizing disruption to daily operations. It ensures your company is always Audit-Ready, fully aligned with e.g. ISO, SMS, TMSA, and ISM requirements. By turning workflows into step by step guidance that can be used in daily work, it reducing mistakes, ensures consistency across operations, making safety routines easier to follow. The result is fewer mistakes, measurable cost savings, and lasting compliance.

The concept originated from real operational challenges in shipping. By shifting the focus to support rather than instruction, audits became a way to strengthen quality, reduce compliance risks, and reduce cost. Smart Auditor was designed to bring this supportive, improvement driven approach into a structured digital tool, built on your company’s own strengths, expertise, and standards.

The use cases can be grouped into two main categories: Audit and Workflow Documentation.

Audit

• Micro Audits – Frequent, low impact checks revealing compliance leaks early and indicating when deep dive audits are needed, moving towards 'Condition Based Auditing'.
• Audit preparation – Actionable input for internal audits and stronger compliance against regulatory (e.g. ISO / SMS / ISM / TMSA) standards.
• Training needs identification – Spot knowledge gaps and provide input for tailored training.

Workflow Documentation

• SMS enhancement – Improve the clarity, consistency, and usability of the Safety Management System.
• Crew alignment – Ensure that daily practices match documented SOPs and SMS requirements.
• Ultimate Workflow – Build a single, standardized reference for how work is done, combining best practices with compliance and creating the base for automation.

A Micro Audit is a short, focused compliance check on a specific process. Instead of waiting for annual or large scale audits, Micro Audits can be run frequently with minimal disruption. They reveal early signs of non-compliance, identify training needs, and provide input for deeper audits only where needed. This makes them both cost efficient and highly effective in keeping your fleet and office audit ready at all times.

Traditional audits are scheduled on a time basis, often resource heavy and disruptive. They risk becoming box ticking exercises, and investigations may still miss the real root cause. Micro audits are need based, frequent, and focused. They identify compliance leaks early, highlight when a deep dive audit is required, and ensure findings address the actual root cause rather than symptoms.

Yes! Smart Auditor is designed to create bespoke workflows that reflect how your teams actually work. These workflows are then tested directly against your own standards, as well as other regulatory (e.g. ISO / SMS / ISM / TMSA) requirements. This ensures the compliance check is not generic but built on your company’s expertise, delivering insights that are relevant only to your operations.

Yes! Smart Auditor can be tailored visually to closely match your brand. Your logo & color scheme can be aligned so the system feels familiar to your team while keeping the functionality consistent.

A workflow that reflects your own standards and expertise is more than a compliance tool, it becomes a competitive advantage. It reduces variation across crews and vessels, improves efficiency, and captures best practices unique to your company. When these workflows are continuously checked against regulatory standards (e.g. ISO / SMS / ISM / TMSA), you not only stay audit ready but also build consistency, safety, and performance that competitors without such tailored systems cannot match.

Workflow documentation captures how work is actually performed, not just how it is described in manuals. It standardizes practices, reduces variation across crews and vessels, and makes SMS easier to follow. It also provides the foundation for the Ultimate Workflow, a structured system that supports automation and continuous improvement.

Smart Auditor can convert interviews and compliance into structured workflows. These workflows become clear, standardized procedures that your team can follow in practice. By documenting what teams actually do and comparing it with regulatory (e.g. ISO / SMS / ISM / TMSA) requirements, Smart Auditor creates an Ultimate Workflow, a single reference point that aligns daily practice, compliance, and improvement opportunities.

The Smart Auditor Workshop is a practical, hands on session designed to build the foundations for effective use of the system. It focuses on the basics of practical Lean, teaching participants how to recognize value versus waste, how to use workflows, and how to participate in audits with confidence. The workshop is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended. The value extends beyond using Smart Auditor, as it strengthens operational awareness by teaching the basics of LEAN Methodology, builds understanding of workflows and audit skills, and supports continuous improvement across the organization. 

Smart Auditor is currently being introduced to a select group of VIP customers. We welcome companies that want to play a leading role in shaping the tool, strengthening the service, and setting the standard for condition based auditing while at the same time enjoying the value of enhancing their own compliance performance. Please contact us if you are interested.

VIP customers are early partners who help shape Smart Auditor while using it in their operations. Beyond gaining the benefits of micro audits and workflow documentation, VIP customers can provide input into product development and may access selected customisation options as part of this collaboration. This ensures the system grows in line with both your needs and industry standards.

Smart Auditor has minimal IT impact. There is no installation required and no involvement from your IT department to get started. It can run as a stand alone system with minimal connection to existing platforms, making adoption simple and low risk. Future developments may require more IT involvement, but our aim is to keep the system "IT Light' as much as possible.