Control Environment – What is it?
Those in the financial line understand this phrase very clearly around financial audit, internal audit and environmental risks for a business. For the others, this is a term of least importance. But is this term not required for others? It is my strong belief that anything and everything in this world has a control environment in which it operates – be it human body, a product, a policy, a rule, a tree or an animal.
A few questions to prove a control environment exists are as follows:
Can a polar bear live in equatorial region ?
Can a human being stay without food for a month?
Can a mango tree grow in a wet rainy area?
Can a television work under water?
Every subject or object in this world have a control environment under which it operates. How would it be if such control information of any object can be made available as part of a product or service that is procured.
Now taking the control environment for a product alone into consideration –
Every product claims of warranty, service and spares and it is so important for maintaining the control environment and it would be even better if it could be ensured that the product always operates only under the prescribed environment. For example, how would it be if a 30 tonne truck does not start the moment it is loaded over the limit? While every product/system clearly specify their requirements and operating conditions which is the control environment – they fail to make a validation during operations.
Control environment is a very key aspect for every product right from the requirements stage to concept to development to operations to service. But where is it managed? How is it managed? Why is not being managed? What can PLM do to maintain the control environment?
More on Control Environment to follow shortly. Will soon find instances of control environment – something very interesting.
