ISO/IEC 20000 Lead Auditor Training — Lesson 2: Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, Evidence, and Trails

Learning Objectives

• Interpret the principles, requirements, roles, and dependencies shaping planning, document review, sampling, interviews, evidence, and trails.
• Apply the workflow and produce SMS audit working-paper set that another practitioner can review.
• Analyze “service procedures are sampled without examining service outcomes” and recommend a proportionate, supported response.

Detailed Topics

• audit planning
• document review
• sampling
• interviews
• objective evidence
• audit trails
• remote auditing
• working papers
• Competence, communication, governance, documented information, risk, validation, and follow-up considerations

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor demonstrates the planning, document review, sampling, interviews, evidence, and trails workflow, identifies the applicable inputs and responsibilities, records checkpoints in SMS audit working-paper set, and contrasts the accepted state with a condition where service procedures are sampled without examining service outcomes.

Hands-On Exercise

Complete a controlled implementation, audit, assessment, or foundation exercise for Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, Evidence, and Trails. Establish scope and criteria, collect or create evidence, examine “service procedures are sampled without examining service outcomes,” reach a supported conclusion, and preserve the result in SMS audit working-paper set.

1. Confirm objectives, scope, roles, criteria, stakeholders, and expected outputs.
2. Perform the planned activities while recording assumptions, evidence, and decisions.
3. Test a normal case, an exception, and a follow-up or improvement condition.
4. Document conclusions, owners, due dates, escalation, and verification requirements.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the requirement or principle with the strongest influence on planning, document review, sampling, interviews, evidence, and trails.
• Compare two defensible responses and explain their governance, risk, and evidence trade-offs.
• Determine how SMS audit working-paper set should be approved, retained, reviewed, and updated.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Separate missing evidence from ineffective practice, and distinguish a documentation issue from a control, process, governance, or competence failure. Use SMS audit working-paper set to trace the earliest divergence. Treat “service procedures are sampled without examining service outcomes” as a hypothesis until the response is validated against the applicable requirement and intended outcome.

Validation Checklist

• The scope, criteria, stakeholders, and intended outcome for planning, document review, sampling, interviews, evidence, and trails are explicit.
• The SMS audit working-paper set links statements and decisions to objective, reviewable support.
• Responsibilities, competence, communication, risk, legal duties, and change impact were considered where relevant.
• Findings, corrective actions, monitoring, review triggers, and improvement ownership are clear.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, Evidence, and Trails, explain the reasoning used, and defend the result through SMS audit working-paper set.