IAE & Entreprises
Qualicert : les coulisses

Required by the integration of IAE Savoie Mont Blanc into the IAE France network, Qualicert certification is fundamental to validating this entry. Each new entrant must be certified in the year following its integration, which also helps rally administrative and pedagogical teams to engage with a continuing system of improvement.

This certification has been the result of many months of work, led by Jean-Robert Compérat, in charge of the “Quality at l’IAE” mission, and Claire Salmon, Dean of IAE. Jean-Robert Compérat, Conference Leader in project management, APICS instructor, and consultant in industrial organization, led the group of teaching and administrative personnel. Students in the master’s of Industrial Management and Development (MDI) also were closely associated with this successful project.

The first front

Well before our integration into the IAE France network, groups already were working on the continuing improvement process. Starting in October 2014, Camille Leduc, Nubia Moreira, and Laura Rennard, then students in the Master 2 MDI programme, initiated a pre-audit of the different services offered by IAE. The objective was to identify its strengths and weaknesses and, as Jean-Robert Comperat explained, “to learn if we could achieve the certification without excessive work”. This first analysis by the students encouraged the IAE Directors to consolidate their involvement in the audit and pursue entry into the network. Then, on 10 June 2015, the Extraordinary Assembly General of IAE France voted unanimously in favour of admitting IAE Savoy Mont-Blanc. The detailed report by the directors of IAE noted that this decision followed an audit by Jérome Rive, President of the network and Dean of IAE of Lyon, and Virginie de Barnier, Vice-president and Dean of IAE d’Aix-Marseille.

The point

The IAE personnel, still led by Jean-Robert Comperat, then had to demonstrate their excellence, as well as the quality of their functions and programs, to achieve Qualicert certification. In November 2015, we received a blank audit; we received notice that we would be officially audited in April 2016.

Upon receiving the Qualicert criteria, we defined several preparation phases for the audit:

Comprehension and analysis of the criteria by the audit teams. Each section made a list of and assembled the required documents.
Organization and understanding of the blank audit, which took place on 26-27 November 2015, led by an auditor from the SGS society. This blank audit allowed IAE to affirm its existing quality and identify areas for improvement that demanded some effort to reach compliance. This first test helped the pedagogical, administrative, and research teams regard the official audit more calmly.
Elaboration of an action plan to ensure conformity, to be put into place between December 2015 and March 2016.
Organization and completion of the official audit in April 2016.

Collaborative and participative

To proceed through these different stages, a new group of students was recruited. To complete a required project for their studies, Grégoire Duclos, Jules Gerat, Tristan Lavelle, and Jérémy Meliard, students in M2 MDI, assisted Jean-Robert Compérat in this long, drawn-out, and complex task.

In particular, they worked together to define an action plan for conformity, by identifying any gaps that emerged from the blank audit. Demonstrating their promising future as high quality professionals, the students led several missions on their own, including the establishment of a programme for auditing classes. Dominique Kréziak, in charge of the Master’s in Events Management and Engineering, noted appreciation for the provided model PowerPoint presentation and suggestions for a documentary architecture. The four students also worked to reconcile old networks, a weak point brought out by the blank audit.

This real, participative work was done with the assistance of collaborative tools, which allowed everyone to follow the project’s development in real time, supported by frequent meetings among the different players.

Well satisfied by the involvement of these students, Jean-Robert Comperat praised their professionalism throughout the process: “At first, it was a bit difficult; the students didn’t dare say what they thought and could not find their voice. Then, time passed, and their true creative potential was revealed! It gave them confidence at that moment. They conducted themselves as true, reactive, strong and wanting to improve professionals”.

And now?

On balance, the goal is to continue this great initial effort and concentrate on further areas for improvement. For the programme, finalising a quantitative reference document for IAE and establishing actions to improve the interaction across its two sites are key goals and potential future projects for M1 and M2 students.

To learn more

Integration into the IAE France Network
Qualicert Certification
Master’s in Industrial Management and Development

Contact: Jean-Robert Comperat, jean-robert.comperat@univ-smb.fr