Delete a supplier contact's personal data without losing the certificate record
When a supplier contact asks you to delete their personal data, you need to remove the person without removing the paperwork. Certly puts a delete contact data action on the supplier's own page, calls a right-to-erasure endpoint for supplier contact personal data, and leaves the certificate records in place.
The request arrives, and the contact details are wired into everything
A supplier's quality contact moves on, or writes to ask that you delete their details, and the request lands on the QA desk rather than with IT. You are the person who holds their name and email, because you are the person who has been chasing them for an allergen declaration since March.
In a spreadsheet, that contact is not in one place. Their name sits in a column next to certificate types, expiry dates and a link to a PDF in a shared folder. Delete the row and you have just deleted the record of which CoA was on file and when it expires, which is the evidence an auditor asks for. Leave the row and you have not done the thing you told the supplier you would do. Meanwhile their address is scattered through a year of chase threads in a shared mailbox.
The decision in front of you is not whether the request applies. Whoever handles data requests at your business decides that. The decision is whether your system can separate the person from the document, on a Tuesday afternoon, without a database administrator and without putting a hole in your approved supplier records.
How erasing a supplier contact works in Certly
- Open the supplier record
Go to the supplier's page. The contact name and email sit there alongside the certificate types you require from that supplier and every certificate you hold for them.
- Choose delete contact data
The action is on the supplier record itself, next to the contact details, rather than buried in an admin screen you visit once a year and have to relearn.
- Read what goes and what stays
A confirmation dialog states it plainly before anything happens: the contact name and email will be removed, and the certificate records will remain.
- Confirm the erasure
Confirming calls Certly's right-to-erasure endpoint for supplier contact personal data. It is the same defined operation every time, whoever on the QA team performs it.
- See it reflected on the record
Certly shows a success message and visually indicates that the contact fields have been erased, so the next person to open the supplier knows the details were removed on request and not simply never filled in.
- Add the replacement contact when you have one
Supplier contact details are editable, so when the supplier gives you a new quality contact you add them to the same supplier record and the certificate history carries on uninterrupted.
What the erasure removes and what it leaves
| On the supplier record | After you erase the contact data |
|---|---|
| Contact name | Removed |
| Contact email | Removed |
| Uploaded certificate files | Retained, still tied to the supplier and the certificate type |
| Expiry dates and alert thresholds | Retained, so the 90, 60 and 30 day alerts still compute |
| Status per supplier on the dashboard | Retained as current, expiring soon, expired or missing |
| PDF export for auditor review | Retained, exports the same single-screen status view |
| Chase emails to that contact | No address on file to send to until a new contact is added |
Why the split matters
The audit evidence survives the erasure
Certificates stay attached to the supplier and the certificate type, with their expiry dates, so the status view and the PDF export you hand an auditor read exactly as they did the day before.
No judgement call at the point of deletion
The confirmation dialog names the two fields that go and the records that stay, so nobody is guessing at the consequences while a dialog is open and a supplier is waiting on a reply.
One action instead of a search
You are not opening a spreadsheet, a folder of PDFs and a mailbox to find every copy of a name. The action lives on the record that holds the contact details.
An endpoint, not a database favour
Erasure runs through a defined endpoint rather than a one-off manual edit by whoever happens to have access, which means it is repeatable and describable when someone asks how you handled the request.
You can answer the supplier the same day
Once the fields show as erased you can reply and say specifically which details you no longer hold, instead of promising to look into it and adding another open item to your list.
What this feature does not settle
Certly is a certificate tracking and reminder system. A persistent disclaimer on the dashboard and on the PDF export says so: the platform tracks and reminds, it does not verify certificate authenticity and it does not guarantee regulatory compliance. The same plainness applies here.
- The erasure removes the supplier contact name and email you hold in Certly. It does not reach copies of that name held in your own mailbox, your shared drive or a supplier questionnaire you scanned two years ago.
- Certly does not decide whether a request is valid or who at your business should approve it. That stays with the people who handle data requests, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
- Certificates themselves are documents your suppliers issued, and they can name individuals. Deciding what to do about that is part of your own document control, not something the erasure action answers for you.
How the data is set up
Certly is single-site, one tenant per plant, with plant-scoped isolation applied on every query, so your supplier and certificate data stays within your plant. People sign in with email and password. The service is hosted on Amazon Web Services.
Certly is not open to general sign-up yet. If handling an erasure request cleanly is on your list, join the waitlist and we will tell you when your plant can start loading suppliers.
Questions
Does deleting the contact delete the supplier's certificates?
No. The confirmation dialog states it before you confirm: the contact name and email are removed, and the certificate records remain attached to the supplier and the certificate type, with their expiry dates intact.
Exactly which personal data is removed?
The supplier contact's name and email address on the supplier record. Certly's erasure action is built for supplier contact personal data, and the dialog names those fields so there is no ambiguity at the moment you confirm.
Can the erasure be triggered without using the interface?
The action in the supplier page calls a right-to-erasure endpoint for supplier contact personal data, so the operation exists as an endpoint rather than as a manual edit to the underlying data.
What happens to chase emails after I erase the contact?
There is no address on file to send to. Expiry tracking and dashboard status carry on, but automated chases need a contact, so add the supplier's replacement contact to the record when you have it.
Does using this make my plant compliant with data protection law?
No. Certly gives you a repeatable way to remove a supplier contact's name and email and to see that it happened. Whether a request applies, who approves it and what else your business must do are decisions for the people who handle data requests where you work.
Will another plant's data be affected?
Certly is single-site with one tenant per plant and plant-scoped isolation applied on every query, so an erasure on your supplier record acts on your plant's data only.
Can I still export an audit pack for that supplier afterwards?
Yes. The certificate status view still shows that supplier's status as current, expiring soon, expired or missing, and the PDF export for auditor review still includes it, along with the disclaimer that Certly tracks and reminds rather than verifying authenticity.
Is Certly available to buy today?
Not yet. Certly is at the waitlist stage, so this page describes what the product is built to do rather than what other plants have already done with it. Join the waitlist to be told when sign-up opens.