SNAS, the National Accreditation Body of Slovakia, has just started to implement a new IT system. One of the main objectives is to improve efficiency of SNAS assessment services.
Accreditation Information System (AIS – https://ais.snas.sk) is a new platform developed by the Slovak National Accreditation Service (SNAS) to manage more efficiently the assessment of Conformity Assessments Bodies (CABs) by digitalising internal and external procedures. The new tool is also expected to facilitate exchanges between external assessors, internal work-groups of SNAS and accredited organizations.
After a deep review of all the services provided in processing accreditation, unnecessary steps could be removed to maintain only the key assessment processes. Besides paper documents were replaced by online forms. This new platform represents a major change for SNAS in terms of technology with the integration of several software solutions, all based on cloud computing.
AIS proposes the following services:
- A sophisticated workflow management for accreditation applications, translated in Slovak, English and Russian;
- Information of Conformity Assessments Bodies (CABs) on progress with their assessment procedure;
- Facilitated access to data on accredited CABs;
- Online Management processes for surveillances and assessment planning;
- Selection of assessors to perform an assessment according to their specialisation and expertise;
- Calculation of remuneration of the assessment team members;
- Online production of contracts for the external members of the assessment team and update of the Central Contract Register automatically;
- Input of non-conformities identified during the assessment and reports made by the assessment team;
- Generation of electronic forms for the assessment process;
- Electronic and automatic communication tools to accredited bodies;
- Centralization of all documents required by the accreditation procedure;
- Management of events (trainings for assessors, meetings, etc) related to the accreditation system.
The benefits of this new platform are:
- Simplification of procedures and elimination of paperwork;
- Considerable time saving with email communication;
- A better accessibility to information, as users (assessment team, CAB, SNAS employees and management) can access and record data at anytime and anywhere;
- Possibility to benchmark, as SNAS management can evaluate and get an overview of the work done by the assessment team in an easier way;
- Reduce delays in the process thanks to electronic approval and automatic notifications;
- Facilitate the constitution of Assessment Teams, with a function called “Assessor Matrix”, to be used to select assessors.
This project, successfully managed by SNAS with the support of the selected IT supplier and partners, now provides a state-of-the-art technology to SNAS for a continuously improving service to CABs and the Slovak market.