Quality Assurance

It is important that the integrity of the Partnerships program and CORs are maintained. To maintain the program’s integrity, a quality assurance program is in place to review all audits completed for COR purposes. This includes all certification, maintenance and qualification audits for both large and small employers. Certifying Partners are responsible for reviewing audits of their members to ensure they meet the Partnerships quality assurance standards.

When an audit has been completed, it must be sent to a Certifying Partner within 45 days for a quality assurance (QA) review in order for a COR to be issued or maintained. The review includes ensuring that:

• the auditor followed acceptable procedures when carrying out the audit
• appropriate interview, observation and documentation review techniques were used
• accurate scoring procedures were followed
• the quality of the report is sufficient
• recommendations resulting from the audit are appropriate to the findings

If any discrepancies are noted, the Certifying Partner will work with the auditor to address the issues. If there are serious quality issues that cannot be resolved with the auditor, the employer will be unable to achieve/maintain their COR.

A fee might be charged by the Certifying Partner for performing QA on audits. The fee structure varies among Certifying Partners, and depends on circumstances such as the type of audit and membership.

When the Certifying Partner is satisfied that all standards required for obtaining or maintaining a COR have been met, they will notify Alberta Employment and Immigration (E&I) for follow-up.

If an employer has concerns about how an audit was conducted, they should contact the auditor and discuss their concerns with them. The employer may also contact the Certifying Partner and let them know of their concerns as a part of the QA process.

E&I reviews the QA practices of all Certifying Partners to ensure the standards of Partnerships are maintained throughout the process. As part of its QA process, E&I may reassess a sample of audits reviewed by a Certifying Partner.