Control plan

Control plan
See also
Types of control system Cash control Quality plan Inventory analysis Workplace safety Project budget Cost risk Maintenance management Implementation of information security management system

Control plan as defined in ISO/TS 16949, it is a documented description of the systems and processes required for product inspection. In the practice of the automotive industry, it is the basic document used to plan product and process related inspections to ensure quality for customers and protect the company against complaints .

Main elements

The main elements of the control plan are:

• operation/process to which the control relates,
• controlled characteristics of the product or process admission criteria,
• test plan: sample size and frequency of inspections,
• the measuring instrument used for inspection,
• reference to the detailed checklist (if necessary),
• Controlling person (unless it is an automatic control),
• reaction plan, i.e. actions to be carried out in case the acceptance criteria are not met .

The control function consists in comparing the course or results of activities, i.e. the state achieved with the planned objective, i.e. with the assumed state.

Function

Depending on the adopted criterion of division, we may deal with different types of controls. The basic criterion is the period covered by the control. According to this criterion, we distinguish between them:

• preliminary control - it is preventive in nature and its purpose is to prevent future potential deviations from the assumptions made,
• day-to-day control - it is carried out in parallel with the operations being monitored,
• ad-hoc check - it is carried out when necessary, so it is interventional and to a large extent surprises the inspected persons,
• final control - this is the basic, most frequent type of control. It consists in comparing the final results of a given action with previously adopted standards .

There are also other criteria for apportionment. For example, according to the criterion of the control entity (who controls it), internal and external control are distinguished. According to the criterion of the scope of control (which part of the activity or effects is controlled), general or piecemeal controls can be distinguished. Finally, according to the criterion of the form of control (how control is carried out), institutionalised and formalised or non-institutionalised and informal controls can be distinguished.

Effective control

For control to be effective, it must be neither late nor too frequent, unplanned, chaotic, bureaucratic, formalistic and, at the same time, irresponsible control of the company's equipment and its operation, as this can lead to evil. It must be established who has the right to carry out checks, within what limits and at what time, and finally, what qualifications the persons carrying out these checks must have. Improper controls create chaos at work, absorb the time of senior managers, inhibit work, and sometimes it may happen that some institutions have too much work .

Elements of the control plan

The control plan consists of the following points:

Objectives and typees of control

The control of an agricultural enterprise and its components has quite different objectives to meet. One of them is proper control, the other is to provide the crew with additional motivation to work effectively . Proper control of the company consists in the evaluation of its condition, working conditions, as well as social and living conditions of the staff.

The assessment of the company's condition consists in the assessment of the quantity and quality of fixed and current assets . On the other hand, the assessment of production activity consists in determining the level of production and their dynamics. finally, the last group of issues subject to control are working and living conditions of the crew. The inspection should show the extent to which health and safety regulations are observed and the conditions in which the employees live .

The control of work and the results obtained by the crew as a kind of motivation lies in the fact that every person works better when they know that their work is needed. It is well known how depressing it is to work with the constant carrying of sand by prisoners. The crew, when controlled, works more willingly, efficiently and efficiently; nobody contributes to work that they believe is unnecessary . A distinction is made between three types of control: control in the form of permanent supervision, control during the year and control after the end of the marketing year.

• Continuous monitoring of the company's activities and the work of the staff shall be carried out within the company by the immediate superiors and of the company as a whole by a senior management level.

• Different types of institutions are authorised to carry out checks during the year and to which a number of sectional tasks are entrusted. These are institutions dealing with sanitary, fire protection, occupational health and safety issues.

• The annual control after the end of the marketing year and after the drawing up of the closure balance sheet and the profit and loss account is always carried out by the superior unit in the hierarchy of the management - unification or an equivalent unit .

Control areas

Control in organisations can focus on any of its areas: concentration on resources and at a certain level .

• Concentration on resources (financial, physical, human and informational). The management process requires the efficient and effective pooling of these resources to produce appropriate results. Control of physical resources includes stock management, quality control and equipment control. Control of human resources includes day and staffing activities, training and development of managers, evaluation of results and level of remuneration. Control of information resources includes sales and marketing forecasting, environmental analysis, production scheduling and economic forecasting.

• Level. Operational activity control focusing on one or more operating systems. One type of operation control is quality control. Organisational control deals with the overall functioning of the organisation. Strategic control attempts to determine the extent to which an effective organisation understands its environment and adapts to it .

Subjects of control

The subjects of control result from the tasks of proper control. The production and service activity of agricultural enterprises has two sides: substantive activity and financial activity. The scope of substantive activities of enterprises includes branches and activities of agrotechnical, zootechnical, agricultural processing, technical, service and other minor activities .

Financial activity is divided into investment and operational activity, i.e. production activity. In terms of investment activity, it is a matter of checking the schedule of works and the difference between the cost estimate and the costs incurred, and finally the assessment of the quality of workmanship. In terms of production activity, it is mainly about the difference between the income and expenses in the economic and financial plan and its execution. It is also, of course, about the quality of the production obtained. Finally, the annual closure is checked for the correctness of its preparation .

As far as the control of working and living conditions of the company's staff is concerned, the subjects of the control are based on the objectives set. The equipment required for health and safety at work, all fire safety measures, including the condition of tools and materials, are inspected .

References

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2002) Management Antifraud Programs and Controls
• Clinton, B.D.; Van der Merwe, Anton (2006). Management Accounting - Approaches, Techniques, and Management Processes. Cost Management. New York: Thomas Reuters RIA Group (May/Jun).
• Commission Guidance Regarding Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934" (PDF). SEC Interpretive Guidance. June 20, 2007. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Nokes, S., Taking Control of IT Costs, London (Financial Times / Prentice Hall): March 20, 2000.
• Seddon J., Freedom from Command and Control, 2003 (4586)
• Verjan, G. L. R., Dauzére-Pérès, S., & Pinaton, J. (2011, December). Impact of control plan design on tool risk management: a simulation study in semiconductor manufacturing. In Simulation Conference (WSC), Proceedings of the 2011 Winter (pp. 1913-1920). IEEE.

Footnotes

Author: Patrycja Barszcz