Audit readiness
Audit readiness is Sted’s measure of how much of the evidence an auditor will look for is in place: the share of done items for each standard you adopt, across approved documents, adopted requirements, closed records and completed training. Only evidence from the last 12 months counts. It is a preparation signal, not an audit result.
Where the term appears
The standards do not use the phrase. The closest formal idea belongs to certification bodies: in an ISO certification audit, the stage 1 visit reviews your documentation partly to judge whether you are ready for stage 2, the main audit. SOC 2 firms often offer a readiness assessment before the first report period. Sted borrows the word for its own count of what is in place. The audit readiness page shows how the items are counted.
Present is not the same as good enough
A high percentage says the evidence exists in Sted. It does not say a policy fits your organisation, a record shows the control working, or a sample will pass. A stage 1 auditor reads content and can still raise findings at 100%. Use the figure to find gaps quickly, then read the evidence the way an auditor would.
How Sted uses it
- Audit readiness is the share of done items per adopted standard: approved documents, adopted requirements, records and training.
- Audit readiness is visible to administrators only for now.
- Readiness counts four kinds of item per adopted standard (each linked document approved; its requirements for that standard adopted or excluded with a reason; at least one closed record per record template; each assigned person’s training completed), counts an item shared by two standards once overall, and reads 0% for a standard with nothing linked.
- Only evidence from the last 12 months counts towards readiness.
- A repeating record counts only if one was closed in the last 12 months and the next is not overdue, an approved document past its review date reads Review and its title, stale items show when they were last completed or became overdue, and the Your progress counts stay plain totals.
Audit readiness is Sted’s estimate of your preparation. A certification body or audit firm decides the audit.
Related terms
- Certification audit: the event readiness prepares you for.
- Evidence: what each readiness item counts.
- Repeating record: counts only while one was closed in the last 12 months and the next is not overdue.
- Approved document: one of the four kinds of item.
- Certification body: who decides whether you pass.