Trying certificate tracking software with sample data
If you want to judge supplier certificate tracking software on a populated screen rather than an empty table, the set you need is small: one certificate in each of the four states Certly reports, current, expiring soon, expired and missing. This page sets out that sample set, what each status is there to tell you, and how Certly's screens read once the board has something on it.
The sample set worth building
When you shortlist a tool like this, the question is never whether it can store a PDF. It is whether its idea of expiring soon lines up with how far ahead your suppliers really renew, and what a missing certificate looks like when a supplier has never sent one at all, because that is the row that gets written up at an audit. An account with nothing in it shows four zero counters, which answers neither question, and a tidy screen of green rows answers them no better.
So the sample set is small and deliberately awkward. Four or five supplier records, each with a contact and the certificate types you require of it, and documents dated so that every status appears at least once:
- one certificate well inside its validity, so you see the resting state of a supplier that needs nothing this month
- one expiring in about three weeks, so it falls inside the 30 day threshold
- one that expired last month, so you see an out-of-date document sitting on file
- one required certificate type with nothing uploaded against it at all, which is the state that costs a non-conformance
Building each row is a company name, a contact email, the required types from allergen declaration, certificate of analysis and audit certificate, then the document with its issue and expiry dates. Every required type is a slot, and a slot either holds an uploaded document with dates or reads as missing. That is the whole model, and four worked examples show you more about it in two minutes than any description of it.
The four statuses and how to put each one on the board
| Status | What it means | What to seed to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Current | A document is on file and its expiry date has not passed. | Upload one dated comfortably ahead, so you know what a supplier who needs nothing from you looks like on the board. |
| Expiring soon | The expiry date falls inside an alert threshold, 90, 60 or 30 days ahead by default. | Date one about three weeks out, then move the thresholds and watch the row change, which is how you test the defaults against your own renewal cycle. |
| Expired | A document is on file but its expiry date has passed. | Date one last month, so you see an out-of-date certificate on the board before one of yours is in that state. |
| Missing | A certificate type is required of that supplier and no document has been uploaded against it. | Tick a required type and upload nothing, because that is the row an auditor finds and the one a clean sample set never shows. |
What to work through once the board has data in it
- Build the supplier records first
A supplier record holds contact details and the certificate types required of that supplier, from allergen declaration, certificate of analysis and audit certificate. Four or five records is enough to make the board behave like a board rather than a list.
- Set the thresholds before you judge the colours
Expiry tracking runs on configurable alert thresholds at 90, 60 and 30 days before expiry. The alerts settings screen lists each certificate type with its current thresholds and lets you add, edit or remove one per type, or set a plant-wide default, so you can tune it to how far ahead your suppliers actually turn documents around.
- Read the four statuses on one screen
The audit-ready dashboard is a single-screen view of certificate status per supplier: current, expiring soon, expired, missing. With a populated board you are reading the only version of that screen that exists in real use, where a few rows need attention and most do not.
- Read the chase email a supplier would receive
The settings screens carry a read-only preview of the chase template, subject line and body, so you can check it reads as a plain transactional message before anything goes out to a supplier contact with your plant's name on it.
- Hand one slot to the supplier instead of filling it yourself
A supplier can upload their own document without a login, through a single-use signed link that expires. Put one of your sample certificates in that way and you learn what the person at the other end has to do, which is usually the part that decides whether this works in practice.
- Check the chase log rather than assuming delivery
Automated chase sequences go to supplier contacts for certificates approaching expiry or lapsed, with a one-click upload link, and each send is logged. Each entry in a supplier's chase history shows its send status, sent, failed or opened, with a resend action next to a failure, which is the screen that tells you whether a chase actually left.
- Export the board as an auditor would see it
The PDF export of the audit-ready dashboard uses the same four status labels, colours and badges as the screen, and carries the same two-sentence line near the top. Export your sample board once and you know what the artefact looks like before the week of an audit, not during it.
What the sample set is really testing
The status logic, not the storage
Four statuses spread across several suppliers shows you how the board sorts your attention. That is the decision in front of you: whether this screen would tell you the right thing on the morning an auditor confirms a date.
The awkward row belongs in the set on purpose
A required certificate that has never been supplied is the state that causes trouble, so seed it alongside the documents that exist. A sample set that only demonstrates renewals hides the case you most need to see handled.
The record model against your approved supplier list
Required types per supplier, documents with issue and expiry dates, and a trail that keeps what came before: a renewal never deletes the document it replaces, and archiving a supplier keeps its records while stopping its reminders. Judge that shape against how your approved supplier programme is already written.
Where the disclaimer sits, so you read it in context
A two-sentence line sits by the status badges on the dashboard and near the top of the PDF export: Certly tracks and reminds on certificate expiry, it does not verify certificate authenticity or guarantee regulatory compliance. Verifying that a certificate is genuine stays with your supplier approval process, and the directory checks you already do.
Whether the export is evidence you would hand over
Many QA teams keep a spreadsheet partly to prove the files were reviewed. The question to put to a sample board is whether its export does that job better than the column of dates you transcribe by hand today.
Where this sits while Certly is on the waitlist
Certly is not open for sign-ups yet, so this page describes what the screens are built to show and what we would want you to test with them, not an account you can open this afternoon. There are no customer numbers, results or quotes here because there are no customers yet.
When sign-ups open, Starter and Professional each begin with a 14-day free trial, with no card at the start of the trial; Multi-site declares no trial. Two weeks is enough for the sample set and then the real thing: add the ten or twenty suppliers whose certificates cause you the most chasing, set your thresholds, and see whether the board is quieter by the second week. The sibling page on the trial covers what happens on day 15, and the pricing page sets out Starter, Professional and Multi-site with their supplier and site limits.
One thing worth settling before a trial rather than after it, because a procurement review will raise it: Certly runs on Amazon Web Services, certificate documents are held in the product's own Postgres database rather than a shared file store, people sign in with email and password, and the data-handling declaration lists what is not in place yet, including an independent security certification, single sign-on or two-factor sign-in, a data processing agreement ready to countersign, and a choice of data residency region. If your group requires any of those, say so early.
If you are earlier than this and still drawing up a shortlist, the guide to choosing food safety and supplier document software as a small plant is the better starting point, and the page on certificate compliance for small and mid-market food manufacturers sets out where certificate tracking stops and the rest of a food safety system begins.
Questions
What sample data should I use to test certificate tracking software?
Four or five suppliers, each with a contact and the certificate types you require of them, and documents dated so that one certificate is current, one expires in about three weeks, one expired last month, and one required type has nothing against it at all. Pick suppliers whose documents already give you trouble rather than your easiest ones, because the point of a sample set is to see the states that cost you time.
Which certificate statuses should a sample set cover?
All four that the dashboard reports: current, expiring soon, expired and missing. Missing matters most, because a certificate type that is required of a supplier and has never been supplied is the row that gets written up, and a sample set of green rows would never show you how the product surfaces it.
Can I try Certly today?
Not yet. Certly is on a waitlist while the build is finished, so what this page can honestly give you is the sample set to put in front of any tool of this kind and what Certly's screens are built to show you once it is in. Join the waitlist and you will know when sign-ups open.
Will I need a card to start a trial?
Starter and Professional each include a 14-day free trial with no card at the start of the trial. Multi-site declares no trial. The pricing page carries the annual prices, the prepay arithmetic and the supplier and site limits for each plan.
How many suppliers do I need to add before the board means anything?
Ten to twenty is usually enough to tell you whether the status logic matches your renewal reality, and the ones to choose are the suppliers who are slowest to send documents back. Scale is a separate question: Starter covers 50 suppliers and Professional 200, so if you are near either ceiling, ask us about volume rather than reading it off a short list.
Can suppliers upload their own certificates during an evaluation?
Yes, that is one of the things worth testing early. A supplier uploads without a login through a single-use signed link that expires, and the chase email that carries that link can be read in a preview on the settings screens first, so you know exactly what lands in their inbox with your plant's name on it.
Does the audit PDF look like the screen I evaluated?
It is built to. The PDF export of the dashboard uses the same four status labels, colours and badges as the screen, and carries the same two-sentence line near the top stating that Certly tracks and reminds on certificate expiry and does not verify certificate authenticity or guarantee regulatory compliance.