Approved supplier list software built around required certificate types
Certly is approved supplier list software that stores each supplier with its contact details and the certificate types that supplier is required to hold. The list of names and the list of obligations sit in one record, so the question an auditor asks second has an answer on the same screen as the question they ask first.
The approved supplier list holds names well and obligations badly
If you are searching for approved supplier list software, the part that matters is not the list of names, it is what each name owes you. Certly stores every supplier with its contact details and the certificate types required from it, so the approved supplier list and the document requirements live in the same record.
Most approved supplier lists start the same way. One tab, one row per supplier, a column added each time an auditor asks a question the sheet could not answer. Contact name, contact email, what they supply, a column for the audit certificate, another for the allergen declaration, another for CoAs, and a colour fill that meant something in March.
The list holds names well. What it holds badly is obligation. Which certificate types does this supplier actually owe you, as opposed to the one next to it that supplies packaging and never sends a CoA? On a spreadsheet that answer lives in the QA manager's head, in a consultant's report from two audits ago, or in a header row nobody kept consistent.
Then there are the quiet data problems. A contact email typed with a missing dot still looks fine in a cell, so the chase goes nowhere and nobody finds out until someone asks for the current allergen declaration. An expiry date entered as free text sorts wrongly, so it never surfaces. A supplier is entered twice, under a trading name and a legal name, and one copy is current while the other is not.
None of that is carelessness. It is what happens when a list of names is asked to do the work of a database. The list stays right about who, and goes silent about what and when, and an out-of-date certificate on file is exactly the sort of thing you are then asked to explain.
How the supplier database works in Certly
- Add the supplier and its contact
Create a supplier record with its name and the contact details you actually use to chase documents. The contact is stored on the supplier rather than in a mail thread, so anyone in the QA team writes to the same person you were writing to.
- Set the certificate types that supplier owes you
Each supplier carries its own list of required certificate types, such as an allergen declaration, a CoA, or an audit certificate. A raw material supplier and a service provider can sit on the same approved supplier list with different obligations, which is what makes the list usable as an approved supplier programme rather than a directory.
- Get told when a field is wrong, as you save it
Certly validates supplier and certificate details on the server, not only in the browser. A missing supplier name, a contact email that is not a valid email address, a missing certificate type or an expiry date that is not a real date is refused, and the reason is shown inline on the field in the add or edit form, so you correct it in place instead of discovering it later.
- Store the document against the requirement
Certificates are uploaded and stored by the QA team against one supplier and one certificate type, so the document sits with the requirement it answers rather than in a shared folder named by month. Issue and expiry dates are held with the file, and a version replaced by a renewal is kept rather than overwritten, so the requirement and the whole trail of evidence for it stay together.
- Edit the record as the relationship changes
Suppliers are edited, not re-entered. When a quality contact moves on, or a customer specification adds a document you now need to hold, you update the supplier record rather than opening a new row and leaving two versions of the truth.
- Work from the supplier list
The supplier list is the screen you open first: every supplier, its contact, and its required certificate types, with the add and edit forms on the same screen. Suppliers go in one at a time, which is slower on day one and exact from day two, and a new plant starts on a clear empty state telling you to add your first supplier rather than an unexplained blank table.
What a supplier record holds
| In the record | What Certly stores | Why it matters when someone asks |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier | The supplier name, added and edited by the QA team on the supplier list screen | The approved supplier list is one list, not one per copy of a spreadsheet |
| Contact | The contact name and email you use for document requests, with the email format checked on save | A request that goes to a malformed address is a gap you do not know about |
| Required certificate types | The certificate types this supplier owes, for example allergen declaration, CoA, audit certificate | Turns a name into an obligation you can check against |
| Certificate documents | The PDF, PNG or JPEG uploaded against each requirement, with its issue and expiry dates, including versions a renewal replaced | An auditor asking for the declaration that was valid last March has a document to look at |
| Certificate status | Where each required document stands: current, expiring soon, expired or missing | Missing is a status rather than an absence, so an unfilled requirement is visible |
What this changes day to day
The list answers the auditor's second question
Anyone can produce a list of approved suppliers. The harder question is which documents each one is required to hold, and Certly keeps that on the supplier itself rather than in a column convention you have to explain out loud.
Missing is treated as a real state
Because required certificate types are recorded per supplier, a document you have never received reads as a known gap rather than an empty cell that looks the same as not applicable. Certly's own demo and seed data is built so that all four statuses, current, expiring soon, expired and missing, each appear at least once, the missing case included.
A new team member can read it without a handover
A supplier record that states its own requirements does not rely on institutional memory. The person covering your leave sees the same obligations you do, on the same screen, including which certificate types are still outstanding.
A contact can be erased without losing the certificate trail
A supplier contact's name and email can be erased on their own from that supplier's page, behind a confirmation that spells out what goes and what stays, and any unused upload link sent to them stops working at the same moment. The certificate records remain, so answering an erasure request does not cost you the evidence.
One plant's list stays one plant's list
Each plant is a single tenant with its own scope, and every supplier and certificate query is filtered to that plant. Your approved supplier list, your contacts and your documents do not appear anywhere outside your own account.
Where Certly stops, deliberately
Certly is a certificate tracking and reminder system. It records what each supplier owes you and what state those documents are in. It does not verify that a certificate is authentic, it does not assess a supplier on your behalf, and it does not guarantee regulatory compliance or a clean audit. That statement sits as a short summary line beside the status badges on the dashboard and near the top of the PDF export, as well as here. Approving a supplier remains a judgement your QA team makes against your standard and your customer specifications.
We are explicit about it because the alternative framing is worse. A tool that implies it has checked a document it has only stored invites you to stop looking, and a certificate is only ever as good as the person who read it.
Sign-in is by email and password. Certly runs on Amazon Web Services, where the supplier records and the certificate documents themselves are held in the product's own Postgres database, and Stripe takes card payments. Deleting your account from Settings removes the suppliers, documents, chase history and settings at once.
Certly is not open yet. It is being built for QA managers at mid-market food plants who are running an approved supplier list out of a spreadsheet today, and you can join the waitlist to be told when it opens.
Questions
Is this an approved supplier list template or software?
Software. A template gives you columns to maintain by hand. Certly stores each supplier as a record with its contact details and the certificate types it is required to hold, and checks those fields when you save them.
Which certificate types can I record against a supplier?
Required certificate types are set per supplier, and include the documents food plants ask for most often, such as an allergen declaration, a CoA and an audit certificate. Two suppliers on the same list can carry different requirements.
How do suppliers get onto the list?
One at a time, through the add a supplier form on the supplier list screen, then edited in place as the relationship changes. Deciding which certificate types each supplier owes you is part of that entry, and it is your call rather than something the software infers.
What happens if I enter a contact email incorrectly?
The form refuses it. Certly validates required fields on the server, including supplier name, contact email format, certificate type and a real expiry date, and returns the error against the field in the add or edit form so you can fix it there.
Does one account cover more than one plant?
The product's scope is a single site: one tenant per plant, with plant-scoped data isolation applied on every query. Groups and consultants are covered by the Multi-site plan at $10,788 a year, which covers up to 30 sites under one agreement and lets you add and switch sites from one sign-in.
How many suppliers can the list hold?
Starter covers a single plant with up to 50 suppliers at $3,228 a year, Professional covers up to 200 suppliers at $5,388 a year, and Multi-site has no supplier cap at $10,788 a year. All three are billed annually, which is 10 percent off the monthly rate for paying up front.
Can I try it before paying?
Starter and Professional each carry a 14-day free trial. Certly is not open yet, so the step available today is the waitlist.
Does Certly check that a certificate is genuine?
No. Certly tracks certificate types, expiry dates and status, and reminds you when something is due. It does not verify certificate authenticity or guarantee compliance, and it says so on the dashboard and in the PDF export.