Audit

In effect, it provides valuable data on operational efficiency and addtional service opportunity beyond the usual audit....It brings up the strong and weak points and frequently provides the basis of helpful recommendations. This book provides much useful reading guidance for the performance of a management audit.

this is a very helpful book for setting the management audit, sepecially for the big manufacturing companies.

with a lot of practical help and plenty of information to help anybody to make better operatonal effectivness.

a must buy for anybody looking for checklist and standard procedures for management audit.

i m still looking for the management audit for the smaller (small/med) companies with emphasis not on manufacturing.....

Outstanding reference source for the modern manager; very impressive.

If you manage help desk or service desk operations this book is an essential tool for achieving the best possible level of efficiency and customer satisfaction. I recommend also getting the companion CD titled, "The Help Desk Audit Toolkit" (ISBN 0974080810), which contains the forms and other artifacts used in this book.

The author approaches help desk process improvement through an audit process that examines key process areas (or lack thereof), and leads you through the audit to determine at which level of maturity your current operation is at - and what is required to get you to the optimum level based on your budget and organization.

The audit process itself is a straightforward five-step process that consists of:
1 - Assess
2 - Compare
3 - Plan
4 - Implement
5 - Assess (adjust is a better way of looking at this step)

The areas covered are thorough and address all of the key aspects of help desk operations. These areas are divided into blocks and specific areas, which are:
BLOCK 1 - Foundation. Mission/Vision, Structure and Products and Services Provided.
BLOCK 2 - People. Staff, Performance Metrics, Training and Staff Development.
BLOCK 3 - Process. Call Handling, Problem Management and Problem Escalation.
BLOCK 4 - Tools. Tools & Technologies, and E-Support and Knowledge Management Enhancements.
BLOCK 5 - Customer Management. Service Level Management, Customer Satisfaction Measurement, and Customer Communication Process.

The cycle in each block's specific area is to gather information, determine where on the maturity scale you are (immature, emergent, mature or advanced), and devise an improvement strategy. The aggregate of results from each block is used to determine your overall maturity rating.

If you are implementing ITIL, trying to improve your help desk operational efficiency, or just want to benchmark your operation against best practices, this book is the primary resource to which you should turn. Also, BLOCK 5 is applicable to call centers of companies that are implementing ISO 9001:2000 because of that standard's emphasis on measuring customer satisfaction. Finally, if ITIL is important, the key areas and approach align nicely to service desk operational areas.

As an Information Technology consultant I have executed many Help Desk assessments. I found this book by surfing the web: blueprintaudits.com. After reading the book, I have now incorporated the workbook in every assessment I do. I find that it is, by far, the most comprehensive audit technique. Not only does it provide weighted audit questions, but also it provides a roadmap for continuous improvement. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in assessing their Help Desk and improving customer service.

Phyllis Marcus
Support Techniques
[website]

As a customer service manager for a major federal agency I found this book to be an excellent resource to assist in the managing of day-to-day operations as well as plotting the path to implementing improvements throughout my organization. Clear, concise and directly to the point, the author is clearly in command of the relevant topics. It would cost an organization $10s of thousands of dollars if it was to retain a consultant with the depth of background and experience possessed by Ms. Mohr. I could not recommend this book more highly to helpdesk managers, customer service managers, and anyone interested in improving their ability to provide great service to their internal or external customers.

The best "how to" book on profitability....forget the other guys and hire these guys!!!
I was sincerely impressed with their ability to integrate business systems......and it's so easy to read!

Excellent Job--Better than the first edition !!...
Excellent Second Edition Profitability Manual !!...BR>The best program on "how to" improve your company operations and profitability. Patrick Cordon & Robert Torok did a fine job of conveying the information in a user friendly way. The 'profit'maps go into much more detail this time around. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to really strengthen their business..or their client's business!

This book is a complete reference on how to conduct a management audit. It has been an instrumental tool to me and my clients, helping them to substantially reduce their operating costs. I find the explanations to be complete, the step-by-step guidance unparalled, and the checklists particularly helpful to my clients. A valuable book that every CEO and general manager should have.

This book sets about to explain the malaise and fall from power of Modern England. Starting at a period immeadiately prior to the end of the second world war it first shows how Modern England was the product of the aesthetic and cultural elites of the governing class. These classes held values which could be best described as a combination of socialism and wishy washy Christianity with an abbhorence of technology. It also shows how the working classes of England were exploited at the time of the industrial revolution with the resultant social consequences. I found this book at an airport lobby and was unable to put it down till finished. This book is well worth the effort reading.

The books starts off slow but after a chapter or two becomes much more interesting. The Germans built planes for 30% of the manhours the English required. They did this because of the differences in the social contract and the education system. Read this book to understand what we are doing wrong and what we do right. I came away with more respect for M. Thacher and the changes she is made to England and an better understanding for the strong points and weak points of our society.

I wonder if anyone else has ever read this book?

This is a great story for anyone who has ever stopped at the end of the day to contemplate a different career or life. It's a good mix of science fiction, history and a mystery. As the story unfolds the characters develop in strong and memorable ways creating unexpected but very pleasing relationships. It takes a fun look at our culture now and some serious reflection at our past. The action develops strong characters with deep convictions which made me feel strongly about them and the outcome of the story. They interact on earth, in spaceships and in another galaxy, creating a different perspective at each location. Curiosity about what was going to happen next kept me turning the pages!

I had some good laughs with this story and I cried. The characters became real; the development of the relationships from the choices the characters made portrayed a lot of depth about how we affect those around us and who we end up close to. I ended up really liking them! It was intriguing to peal away the layers of their personalities while solving the mystery. I loved connecting the events from one time and place to another. He created images I thoroughly enjoyed and could easily visualize. They are very vivid - even down to the flying lizard catching an eclipse moth for lunch! I would love to see this made into a movie!

Richard Neumann has woven an intricate story that crosses time and galaxies. It's done with humor and sensitivity to the proper nuances of "each" culture. It truly was fun reading! You'll want to visit again the very intriguing life of Adrian Smith, CPA. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to read more!! It was a great break from my day to day life!

Richard Neumann's Adrian Smith is Douglas Adams's Zaphod Bebblebrox, with a CPA qualification (Certified Public Accountant). A larger than life satirical hero, but an accountant?!

After all, we in the US did invent Star Wars, Star Trek ... and Enron.

I thoroughly recommend this book as a very well written story, with great dialogue, memorable characters set in an interesting period of history (San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915 and the beginning of the First World War in Europe), and a very satisfying conclusion - opening the way for more Adrian Smith Chronicles?

This reader wants to see additional titles on Adrian Smith CPA's adventures at large in Richard Neumann's delightful universe.

The story, the characters! This book is sensational, probably the best I have read in years. Do not miss this. Mr. Alexander is solid.

This book provides an intimate view into the frightening world of international business. It also provides excellent political undertones to the arguably unfair connections necessary to succeed in the modern business environment. There is also a wonderful portrayal of how Giles has learned to cope with the difficulties and mask his true self to even close associates. A must read.

James Branda

This manual is intended as an comprehensive reference to do an energy analysis of any system. The book provides all the information you need to establish an energy program for your building o industrial plant. I am very pleased with the content and presentation of your Handbook of Energy Audits. Congratulation. Jaime Amigo V.

This book covers the most important subjects in Energy Audits (EA): from the Energy Audits background and Energy Accounting and Analysis, to case studies of the most common systems that an energy engineer may have to deal with

Amir Aczel is a professor of statistics whom the IRS treated badly during an unnecessary and unjustified audit. For example, the IRS auditor repeatedly telephoned Aczel at his home before dawn, depriving Aczel, his wife and small baby of sleep. Wanting to avoid such a nasty experience in the future, Aczel used his statistical skills to detect the rules that the IRS uses to choose taxpayers to audit.

He used a super computer to compare thousands of audited income tax returns with thousands of other returns which were not audited. The result is this fascinating book. It explains 14 rules for avoiding an IRS audit.

This book is invaluable...I won my audit because of the tips I learned from this book.

This book is probably the most valuable IT audit tool in terms of providing the user(reader) with guidance in conducting IT audits on informaiton systems, intruducing tools and techniques to solve security and control problems, and explaining the latest professional standards and legislations concerning IT auditing. From the fundamental concepts to best practices, this book covers every thing you want to know about IT audit in system development, network, application and IT operation environments. In addition, a large amount of valuable information, such as information about various professional associations and their standards that apply to information technology, is provided at the end of the book in appendixes. The appendixes also provides case studies, sample audit programs, and glossary that are very helpful to those who are new to IT auditing area. As a student in IT auditing major, I found that following this book is a very effective way to build up knowledge and experience in this area.

I personally love this book because of the following reasons: 1. This book is very easy to read- compared to the other books I have read, this book presents the contents in a very clear and concise way. 2. A very through book- the book provides people with detailed information about IS auditing. It covers most areas in which an IS auditor will utilize in his/her practice. 3. An informative book- the book provides people with different valuable tools, techniques as well as guidelines in addressing the audit, control and security problems. In addition, the book provides numerous research resources and case studies.

However, the format of the book may be improved by the following suggestion: the book should use different font size to distinguish different level headings.

For those who know nothing about auditing, this book provides a clear understanding of what auditing is. This book has great references to organizations affiliated with the field. The examples in the book are useful for understanding how to write an auditing program, with step - by - step methods on how to start an audit. Overall, two thumbs up for those who want to know what auditing is all about. Highly recommended.

Its not often a book comes along that not only is a pleasure to read but actually gives sound advice that can be understood and readily implemented 'straight from the page'! Tim O'Hanlon has provided such a text for those of us involved in ISO 9001:2000 audits. The practical approach that brings auditing into the realm of business reality makes this an immmensely useful read. Its on my compulsory reading list for clients who want to revamp their auditing process so as to realise the value-adding potential of audits. My advice -- buy it, read it then use the knowledge to improve your processes!

I was given the job of planning the transition of our existing system to ISO 9001:2000 and someone said "Read Tim O'Hanlon's book". I did and I am so pleased. I got much more than I bargained for. When I saw the title I thought it was not what I needed but I was wrong..it was the only thing I needed. This guy really knows what he is going on about.

For years I just did not get the point of auditors. I thought they were like police officers trying to find the culprits. This book makes it clear, their role is to add value and what's more, this book tells you how they should do it. Dr. O'Hanlon has opended the door for effective audits.