Operational audit checklist
This operations audit checklist is 36 questions to evaluate your business, technology, and processes. Use this before you hire a consultant, or to understand what an audit actually covers.
Seven areas. The gaps are the point.
decodedops.co.uk · DO-ART-983 · Rev 01Prefer it in your inbox?
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Audit structure · seven areas
Six you can check today. The seventh, only the checking answers.
Work the six in any order. Growth is last on purpose: you can't plan it until you know what the first six say.
decodedops.co.uk · DO-ART-984 · Rev 01How to use this checklist
Go through each section of the operations audit checklist and answer the questions honestly. You don't need to score yourself or mark items as "good" or "bad." The goal is to identify where you have gaps or uncertainties.
The items you can't answer are the most valuable. They're where the hidden costs usually are.
IT Infrastructure & Security
Do you know what happens to your data if a key team member leaves?
Are backups automated, and do you test them quarterly?
Do you have a password policy (not all passwords are the same across systems)?
Who has access to your financial systems, and is it reviewed annually?
Are you paying for software licences you no longer use?
Do you know what IT costs you annually (licences, hardware, support)?
Systems & Software
List every system you use: ERP, eCommerce, accounting, CRM, MIS, etc. Do they integrate?
For each system, do you know: cost per month, how many people use it, and when it was last updated?
Are there manual workarounds in your workflow that are actually compensating for system limitations?
Have you outgrown your current system, or are you making it work through effort?
Is your ERP still being actively supported by the vendor, or are you on old versions?
eCommerce & Digital Sales
If you sell online, does your eCommerce platform talk to your ERP automatically?
Can customers upload custom artwork, and can the system validate it?
Is inventory in your eCommerce platform synced in real-time with your warehouse?
Do you manually re-key orders from your website into your ERP?
Are you losing orders or customers because your online process is broken?
Processes & Operations
Map your main workflows: order to invoice, stock to despatch, artwork to production. Are they documented?
For each workflow, what are the manual steps that shouldn't be manual?
How much time per week is spent on re-keying data, re-entering information, or manually reconciling systems?
Do you have duplicate data entry anywhere (same information entered into two systems)?
What process takes the longest, and why?
If a key person leaves, would someone else know how their workflow actually works?
Inventory & Stock
How often do you do physical stock counts? How often do the numbers not match your system?
Do you know the cost of holding excess inventory?
Are there stock items you never use?
How many orders are affected by stock-outs or inaccurate inventory each month?
Is your inventory in one system or spread across multiple places (spreadsheets, warehouse notes, system)?
Costs & Financial
What are your total technology costs (software, licences, hosting, support, IT staff)?
Are you billing your customers accurately and capturing all billable work?
Do you know your actual cost-per-order (including labour, materials, overhead)?
Are there revenue leaks (jobs underpriced, orders not invoiced, discounts not tracked)?
How long does it take from invoice to cash (days sales outstanding)?
Growth & Strategic
If you want to grow 20% next year, what technology or processes would need to change?
Are there revenue lines (new products, new channels, new markets) you can't pursue with your current setup?
What do your fastest-growing competitors do differently operationally?
Are you ready to hire new staff, and would they be able to learn your workflows?
Key takeaways
If you can't answer 5+ questions, you probably have a bigger operational problem than you realise.
The items about "manual work" and "re-keying" are where the money is hiding.
If your systems don't integrate, you are paying a significant amount in manual workarounds.
Inventory accuracy problems cost more than most businesses realise.
The operations audit checklist · Word document, 11 pages, free, no email needed
Download the checklist (.docx)Once you've worked through this checklist...
The real value is in seeing what you don't know. If there are gaps, an audit finds them, puts a number on them, and gives you a plan to fix them.
Or book a call directly