IATF Oversight

CARA NC Management Tool

Instructions for Client
1 Scope
The IATF CARA Application is intended to harmonize the audit report and NC Management
processes. The IATF Nonconformity (NC) CARA management application is used to
exchange the response between the Certification Body auditor and client to complete the
relevant problem-solving steps related to the nonconformities issued during the closing
meeting of the audit. It is mandatory for every IATF 16949 audit conducted by an IATF-
recognized certification body.

IATF CARA NC Management Tool (https://nc-cara.iatfglobaloversight.org)

The application is a software which is downloaded on startup and runs completely offline
in the browser on the user’s device without any data exchange with a centralized server.
Updates to the application are done in the background if a data connection and new
version is available.

All entered data has to be saved and send back to the Certification Body auditor.

2. Work instruction

2.1 Following the closing meeting of the audit, you should have received a file by email (or
cloud storage, etc.) containing the nonconformities along with this instruction. The data
file format will be “json” or xml. If encryption was used the file ends in “jsons” or “xmls”.
Without a password that file can not be opened. That password can be only provided by
the auditor/user who created it.

2.2 The data file must be saved in a folder created on your computer (such as “CARA
INPUT”).

2.3 In your computer's browser (preferably Chrome, Edge or Firefox) enter the NC CARA
tool link https://nc-cara.iatfglobaloversight.org. You will see the applications start
page, as shown on the next page. From this point the application is always accessible
without an internet connection.

Note: Please bookmark this website for future reference. No username or password is
required to access this website or use the install IATF NC CARA option to get an icon
on your desktop start menu.

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IMPORTANT! Do not use Internet Explorer (IE). Apple’s IOS devices and Apple’s
Safari are not supported because saving of data to a file is not possible.

You need to load the “json/xml” file into the CARA NC Management tool for entering
your problem-solving response.

2.4 Verify the Language is correct. Default setting is aligned with the language of the
Brower used. To change, go to “Settings > General” and select the “Language”
from drop down menu. If your default language is not English you can hover on each
label to see the English text.

Note: Language choices are: Castilian Spanish, Chinese, Deutsch, English, French,
Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

2.5 On the home page, click the “Load Report/BackUp” button to load the file into the
tool which was saved in ´CARA INPUT´ folder.

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 A separate window opens to allow you to select the file from the File Manager on
your computer. Locate the file you saved in step 2. Click on the file, then click
“Open”.

If you were successful, it will see this screen below, showing the NCs. Now the
nonconformities are ready to be completed by you.

2.6 You can see the different nonconformities, their classification, and due dates in the
“NC & Actions” table.

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 There are multiple buttons for each nonconformity to allow you to “Edit” and

“Save” to save this specific NC action. This function allows your organization
to work on NCs separately. When you split the whole NC management report into
separate NCs you can join them back together by using the loading function or if
allowed by your CB return them separately to the CB. You can also use the “Move
up/down in list” action to change the order of the NCs.

2.7 Click on the “Edit” button to open, enter or edit your response. You are
responsible for the section labeled “To be Completed by the Organization”.

Note: Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk ( * ). The red border around
each field indicates the information is missing.

Editable fields for the client are:

• Correction Action (Containment) including timing and responsible person
• Evidence of implementation (CO)
• Analysis of the root cause
• Systemic Corrective Actions, including deadline and responsible person
• Evidence of implementation (AC)
• Action taken to verify the effective implementation of corrective actions
• Submission / Organization Representative / data

2.8 Click on the “Add” 'button to upload evidence. You will see a separate
window open to allow you to select the file from your computer. Locate the file, click
“OPEN”.

Evidence fields allowed in:

• Root cause analysis files

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 • Root cause result files
• Systemic corrective action files
• Implementation evidence files
• Corrective action implementation verification files

IMPORTANT! For security reasons, only evidence files with the extension ´pdf´ and
´jpeg´ can be uploaded in CARA tool.

We recommend using image files which get optimized in size on attaching them.

2.9 When finished entering your response, before closing the application, please
remember to save the NC report. You don’t want to lose your work.

Click on “Save report” button at top of screen next to the NC you were working on.
This action will generate an updated individual data file in json format, including any
evidence attached for you to transfer back to the auditor. You can also use the
“Save NC for auditor” at the bottom of the page.

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On saving the browser will apply your default saving action. It will save the file in
your downloads folder and you can see the file name at the bottom of your screen.
It could look like this:

You might be also asked what to do with the file.

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 Please always select save file and do not open it with any other application.
You should save the json file in a “CARA OUTPUT” folder on your computer.

2.10 After completing your entries and creating the final saved report, you now need
to email the json files back to the Certification Body for review.

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS – Please read:

• The data is stored in the browser cache of the user’s computer or device and never
leaves the computer or device. It is important to make sure you save the NC
management report on the companies storage/servers/document management
system. If the browser cache is cleared upon exiting the browser or the browser
history is deleted by the user or an application, you will lose all data entered.
• Please make regular backups using “Save report” or “Save all Reports”. You can
also activate the auto saving function of “Save all Reports” in “Settings”->”Backup &
Database” by changing the default 14 days to 0.

• CARA INPUT received from the auditor and CARA OUTPUT you create for the
auditor shall not be in same file folder.

2.11 The auditor (or other designated person at the Certification Body) will review your
actions and may request additional information. If the CB Reviewer rejects the
response back to you, please restart at process at step 2.5 above. You are
required to enter a response to the CB Reviewer’s rejections in the appropriate
field(s) and send back another NC json file to the CB Reviewer.

2.12 You can find the CB Reviewer’s decision and comments in the “To be completed
by the CB” section of the form.

2.13 The process is completed when the Actions were accepted by the CB Reviewer.
The view in IATF CARA will show only the last rejection decisions. The final NC
management report with the acceptance of the NCs will be send to you by the
reviewer as pdf it cannot be printed from IATF NC CARA.

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IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS – Please read:
• These process steps can be repeated as often as required if the Certification Body
rejects the NC responses provided by your organization. On each NC json file
exchanged, the old data is replaced by the new data file provided.

3. Accompanying documents

3.1 IATF CARA video tutorial for Clients

3.2 Additional help in our wiki

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