Horizontal audit

In addition to the detailed checking of procedures, as set out in the check-list, audit trails are particularly valuable. This is a vertical audit and refers to the examination, in chronological order, of all records relating to a particular sample, from the moment of receipt through the various analyses carried out, to the reporting of results and the ultimate disposal of the sample. These vertical audits are therefore also sometimes referred to as birth-to-death audits. In contrast, a horizontal audit covers some specific activity across a number of analyses - this may be, e.g. solid-phase extraction or HPLC. 

Assessor Audit schedule Audit trail External audit Horizontal audit Internal audit... 

A horizontal audit examines one aspect of the analysis. For example, a horizontal audit might check the balance used to weigh samples for analysis. Is the balance calibration checked as required by the quality system Has it been regularly serviced Have the weights used to perform the balance calibration themselves been calibrated ... 

Look at a horizontal slice, e.g. an audit of the organising element in the system or... 

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