PDF export of the audit-ready dashboard for auditor review
The audit-ready dashboard exports as a PDF you can hand to an auditor or attach to an audit pack. This article covers what the file contains, the order to work in before you export, and what the export does not claim on your behalf.
What this article helps with
Certly's audit-ready dashboard is a single-screen view of certificate status for every supplier on your site: current, expiring soon, expired or missing. The PDF export takes that same view and renders it as a document, so an auditor sitting across the table from you, or asking by email beforehand, can read it without an account.
You usually need it at three moments:
- The week before an announced audit, when you are assembling the pack.
- During the audit, when the auditor asks how supplier certificates are tracked and when each one lapses.
- After the audit, when you want a dated record of what the board showed on the day.
The export is included on every plan, Starter upward.
Exporting the dashboard for an auditor
- Open the audit-ready dashboard and read the four states
Each supplier's required certificate types, allergen declaration, CoA and audit certificate, sit against one of four statuses: current, expiring soon, expired or missing. What you see here is what the PDF will say, so read it as the auditor will.
- Settle the rows you can settle first
If you already hold a document, upload it to the supplier's certificate slot with its issue and expiry dates. If you do not hold it, send the supplier a chase with its one-click, no-login upload link so they can return the document themselves. Exporting first and chasing later just means exporting twice.
- Check your site's name is the real one
Your site's name heads the audit PDF and names your plant in chase emails. Set it in Settings, Site details before you export, so the document an auditor reads carries the plant's name rather than a placeholder.
- Export the PDF from the dashboard
The export covers the suppliers and certificates on your own site: every query is scoped to your plant, so no other plant's data can reach the file.
- Read the file before you hand it over
The status badges in the PDF use the same labels and colours as the screen, and the two-sentence disclaimer sits near the top: Certly tracks and reminds on certificate expiry, it does not verify certificate authenticity or guarantee regulatory compliance. That line is in the document deliberately, and it is the honest framing to give an auditor.
- Keep the underlying documents to hand
The PDF is the status view, not the certificates themselves. The documents stay on each supplier's record, including versions a renewal replaced, so if the auditor asks for the declaration that was valid last March you can open it rather than explain its absence.
If a row looks wrong, or the export does not
A status reads differently from what you expect
Status is computed from the expiry date on the certificate record and your alert thresholds, which default to 90, 60 and 30 days before expiry and can be changed per certificate type. Open the supplier's record and check the expiry date you entered on the document first, then the thresholds.
A certificate type you did not mean to require
A required type with nothing against it reads as missing, on the screen and in the PDF. Check the required certificate types on the supplier's record before an audit so the file only asks for documents you actually need.
The export did not open
Sign in again and retry the export from the dashboard, since the file is generated for your signed-in session. If it still does not arrive, email support@usecertly.com with the time you tried and we will look at it.
Questions
Does the PDF show the same statuses as the dashboard?
Yes. The four-state badge, current, expiring soon, expired and missing, uses the same labels and styling in the export as it does on screen and on the supplier row, so nothing reads differently on paper.
Does the export prove our suppliers are compliant?
No, and the PDF says so itself. Certly tracks certificate expiry and reminds you and your suppliers; it does not verify that a certificate is authentic and it does not guarantee regulatory compliance. The export is evidence of how you track, not a compliance certificate.
Can I export a certificate document as well as the status view?
The PDF export covers the dashboard's status view. The documents themselves, including versions replaced by a renewal, stay on each supplier's record where you can open them when an auditor asks for a specific one.
Can an auditor get the file without a Certly login?
Yes. It is an ordinary PDF once exported, so you can print it or email it. Auditors never need an account.
Does the export cover more than one plant?
No. Certly is scoped to a single site per account, with every query filtered to your plant, so the export is your site's suppliers and certificates only.
Which plans include the PDF export?
All of them. Starter at £149 a month includes the audit-ready dashboard and PDF export for auditors, and Professional and Unlimited include everything in the tier below.